Luanda, ANGOLA, March 14 - The ruling MPLA president, João Lourenço, acknowledged last Friday, in Luanda, the damage caused on the economy, Angolan citizens and the country's external image, as a result of corruption, nepotism and the impunity installed by the party's previous government.,

João Lourenço, who was speaking at the opening session of the Third Ordinary Meeting of the MPLA Central Committee, said that his party today has the courage and determination to lead the fight against these negative and reprehensible phenomena.

“It is evident that the breaking of the status quo and the sudden loss of abysmal privileges, which some think is an unquestionable divine right, had to create organized resistance in an attempt to curb the momentum of the measures underway, stop or even revert to the previous situation”, he said.

To the party leader, the fight against corruption is no longer a banner of the MPLA and the opposition, but also of the entire Angolan society that will penalize those who give up or intend to return to the past.

In this context, he said, the entire Angolan society defends the need to continue combating the phenomenon, due to the moral, reputation and economic damage, from which the country will benefit.

He criticized the dissenting voices of how the fight against corruption has been carried out, since many of them argue that the fight should only be carried out with education, awareness and appeal to patriotism campaigns, doing away with the need for legal justice.

In his opinion, all actions are important and necessary, whether carried out by politicians, the media, churches and civil society organizations, as they only serve to educate, prevent and warn citizens not to take the wrong path.

He declared that, since corruption is classified as a crime, for those who are presumably already involved in it, there is no way to avoid the hand of justice.

Benevolent State

Even so, he said, the State was benevolent and magnanimous in establishing a period of six months, equivalent, almost, to an amnesty, for the voluntary repatriation of the large assets that some have abroad or the assets illegally acquired in the country.

He stressed that the Angolan people, the main victim of the previous situation of corruption, applaud the measures underway and want the situation reversed.

“The previous situation has benefited many people inside and outside who are obviously not satisfied with the current situation and, therefore, struggle with all their strength to see if it is still possible to reign in paradise again”, he said.

He denounced that all means have been used to discredit the ongoing process, to denigrate the good image of the Angolan Executive, to create the division and the weakening of the MPLA ranks.

To the ruling party leader, the ambition of those involved in corruption was overwhelming. "They should be grateful for what we are doing, because if we’d allowed the feast to go on, they might have died of congestion from eating so much," he said.

He reaffirmed the continuity of the self-censorship posture and political courage, transparency and uprightness in the face of the corruption phenomenon, because this way the party emerges stronger and stronger before its militants, society in general, and in better conditions to face the challenges of the future.

Healthy relations with the opposition

In his speech, the president of the MPLA expressed the intention to continue to maintain healthy relations of work and friendship with the new leaders of political parties represented in Parliament, in order to safeguard the highest interests of the nation.

He took the opportunity to congratulate the new leaders, on behalf of the MPLA leadership and its Central Committee, underlining a continuous openness to constructive dialogue with all political formations and organizations representing civil society.  

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