During his speech on the commemorations of the 64th anniversary of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), this Saturday in Luanda, João Lourenço defined as the main challenges posed to Angola by the economic crisis of 2014, "derived from the significant drop in oil export revenues," the high external indebtedness and the harmful effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
"With the restrictions on the workforce of production units and trade and restrictions on mobility, we have seen an increase in the cost of living and unemployment, a situation that concerns the MPLA," said Lourenço, referring to the impact of the health crisis in the country.
However, the MPLA's president acknowledged that 18 years after the end of the armed conflict in Angola, "another constraint as harmful for the country as the war has developed, which has taken the coffers of the state by storm" and a relevant part of the economy: corruption.
"Today, better than three years ago, the country has a better appreciation of the gravity, seriousness and depth of the abyss dug by corruption in Angola," said the President, who came to power in 2017.
João Lourenço assumed the MPLA's role in the fight against corruption, even though it is the party that has been at the forefront of Angola's destiny since 1975 and many of its former leaders are now the target of investigations to fight it.
"The MPLA's merit consists in the fact that, as a ruling party, it has guided the Executive to engage in this crusade to fight corruption, even knowing of the presumed involvement of its militants and leaders at the most different levels of the party hierarchy," Lourenço admitted, applauding the courage of the "discordant voices of civil society," who have condemned this problem for several years.
"MPLA has nothing to be ashamed of, on the contrary, with our stance of courage and total transparency, we just have to be proud and walk with our heads higher and higher," he said.
The President promised a "political agenda that strengthens patriotism, respect for the rule of law, respect for difference, that promotes political tolerance and national reconciliation", saying that its cause is the "economic and social development of Angola".
