UNITA: “Having a good country is not having a long list of achievements”

O leader of UNITA, the largest party of the Angolan opposition, today argued that “having a good country is not having a country with a long list of achievements”, in reference to the speech of the President of the Republic in parliament.

Adalberto Costa Júnior spoke to the press at the end of the opening ceremony of the new legislative year, in which Angolan President João Lourenço gave a speech of almost four hours on the State of the Nation.

“ Once again, during this mandate, the President of the Republic brings to the National Assembly the list of ministries, the list of achievements,” he said.

According to the leader of the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), today he made “one learning: having a good country is not having a country with a long list of achievements”, considering that he lacked “cohesion, dialogue, consultation, inclusion” in the long list presented by João Lourenço.

Adalberto Costa Júnior highlighted that he was present on Wednesday at the inauguration ceremony of the Memorial to the Victims of Political Conflicts in the country, but refused to make statements because he considered that “national reconciliation has disappeared from the political agenda since 2017”.

The pending assumptions of peace and reconciliation still exist today, continued Adalberto Costa Júnior, stressing that thousands of Angolans still today “are dying to be included”.

“There are aspects related to the peace protocols that have not been fulfilled, but since 2017 they have disappeared from the General Budget of the State (...), our budgets had points for the pending peace. Since the mandate of João Lourenço began never again we have included the aspects of reconciliation in the budgets, in the political agenda, these outstanding that make the country”, he said.

For the leader of UNITA, the Angolan nation is more distant “when social cohesion does not happen, when consultation and dialogue are not improved”.

“A long list does not make a happy country,” the politician reiterated, lamenting the departure of a large number of young people from the country and questioning “why does it leave an ideal country”.

“ They just heard an ideal country here. Angola is a wonderful country, it has exceptional health systems, but are the rulers involved in the hospitals that have been portrayed here? Are you here? Is the Minister of Health here? These are the realities of the country, at a time like this”, he added.

Regarding the implementation of the local authorities and the approval of the local legislative package, the president of UNITA attributed his non-fulfillment to the leader of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, party in power), João Lourenço.

“ The MPLA bench receives orders from its president, his name is João Lourenço, if we do not have approved municipalities it is because the president of the MPLA did not allow, unfortunately ", he stressed.