"With regard to local elections, my party, therefore the MPLA, defends, at least until now, the need for gradualism, because it is something new. In Angola, there have never been local elections. We understand that it is much safer to start with a certain number of municipalities and move forward. The opposition does not think like that. Okay, it is free to think as it wants, and that is why this matter is under discussion in Parliament", said the head of state, in an interview with Voz da America (VOA) in Washington.
In this sense, he referred that the decision rests with Parliament: "Therefore, it is Parliament who will decide, in the end, whether the implementation of municipalities will be gradual or if it will be done all at once. Parliament is sovereign. The parties are there and it is there in Parliament they must discuss this matter. And it is from the discussion that the light comes, as they say".
João Lourenço also said that it is known that local elections cannot take place while the local legislative package is not completed, thus dispelling the idea that local elections have not been held so far due to "lack of political will".
"We know that there cannot be municipal elections until the municipal legislative package is completed. We defend a rule of law and in the rule of law the rule of law must be defended. Therefore, without law, municipal elections cannot be held. And, sometimes one gets the idea that municipal elections have not been held so far due to lack of political will by the President or the MPLA party. This is not true, because whoever took the initiative to, for the first time, speak I was responsible for the municipalities, in the Council of the Republic, and, as soon as that happened, we started preparing the proposed laws – there are several laws, it is not one law, there are several laws – which were submitted to the National Assembly and which, in their majority, they are all approved", said João Lourenço to VOA.
"Therefore, whoever had the initiative, whoever announced it, had the initiative immediately to produce the proposals and send them to the National Assembly. The National Assembly, obviously, with the support of the MPLA, approved all of them, with the exception of one that was not approved because it encountered difficulties, and for that reason alone. So, it is necessary that at the level of Parliament these difficulties are overcome", he added.
Asked if he rejects the accusation that the law to be approved is being deliberately delayed so that municipal elections do not materialize, João Lourenço was clear: "I certainly reject that point of view".
He also referred to the political-administrative division, pointing out that this does not invalidate the holding of municipal elections. "Now regarding the other part of your question, whether what will happen first are the municipal elections or the political-administrative division, one thing does not prevent the other. That is, the administrative division does not come to replace the local authorities, the two things will coexist. It needs to be clear, because sometimes there is the idea that 'well, now they have launched this new political-administrative division, they are going to increase the number of municipalities and that is to forget the municipal elections' No", he said, in an interview with VOA.
He also stressed that these are "two different powers". "Autarchic power is one power, and the power of the State is another. The new political-administrative division has to do with State power, with the way of administering the State. What will happen first, I don't know. It can either be one thing or the other or both happen simultaneously. But one does not interfere with the other", he said.
In the VOA interview, the head of state also made a positive assessment of the US-Africa Summit, which took place between December 13 and 15, in Washington.
"In our view, it was a very good summit. We African countries left here satisfied. We believe that the objective for which President Joe Biden held this summit was achieved, insofar as American funding was guaranteed, public funding for the infrastructures that the continent needs, but also export credits for American companies that want to make private investment in Africa", he indicated.
João Lourenço once again affirmed his interest in American private investment in practically all areas. "Regarding our interest in American private investment, in which areas? In practically all of them, apart from those where they have been for decades, which is in the oil sector. So, in addition, we intend to see American private investment in the transition energy - investing in renewable energy sources and in agriculture, in the transformation of our minerals. We want to industrialize our countries, we do not want to continue to be mere exporters of raw materials, and there was this commitment on the part of the Americans. They will indeed help in that sense," he said.
Among other matters, in the interview, the President of the Republic also spoke about the possible revision of the Constitution, indicating that when talking about "the possibility of any constitutional revision, we are not necessarily talking about the possibility of changing the number of mandates that the Chief of State in office can or should have, we are not necessarily talking about that".
"When you talk about the possibility - see what I'm saying, possibility, not necessity - of the possibility of any constitutional revision, you are not necessarily talking about the possibility of changing the number of terms that the head of state in office can or should have, we are not necessarily talking about that, and the proof of that is that, in 2021, we revised our Constitution and, at that time, nobody ever mentioned that possibility, because when there is a constitutional revision, someone has to present a specific proposal and say what you want to change the Constitution", he said, adding that "if in 2021 there was no such intention, why would people think that, in the case of changing in the Constitution, is it because there is an intention to change the number of terms of office of the President of the Republic? I think this is a false problem. We never referred to this. We always said that the Constitution and the law must be complied with a, and therefore we will comply".
