Africa-Press – Angola. Yesterday, in Luanda, the Executive began a series of assessments of municipal administrations on the degree of compliance with the measures of the Project for the Simplification of Acts and Procedures in Public Administration in versions 1.0 and 2.0. from Simplify.
The evaluation program started with the visit of the Secretary of the President of the Republic for State Reform, Pedro Fiete, to the municipality of Viana, which will be followed by a comprehensive schedule of visits in all provinces until the 23rd of December. .
At Jean Piaget University, the Secretary of the President of the Republic for State Reform, Pedro Fiete, underlined that the Public Administration must serve and satisfy the requests of citizens.
The Public Administration, he continued, must promote quick responses to the requests of users who come to its services daily: “If this objective is not observed, there is no point in having a Public Administration that works for itself and does not meet the interests of the citizen”.
For this reason, he stressed, “we, as officials, have to observe compliance with the approved measures and we cannot give reasons to citizens to discredit the project and other actions approved by the Executive”.
The citizen, he continued, must be at the center of any administration’s concerns, especially in the current context of modernity in which citizens demand better services.
When addressing the Viana Administration officials and those responsible, Pedro Fiete recalled that the citizen is the focus and the satisfaction of the citizen’s interest and the reason for being of “our existence as a Public Administration”.
With the Institutionalization of Simplifica and the approval of several measures, he stressed, the challenge now emerges of observing the strict fulfillment of these actions, with emphasis on the duty of obedience.
On the occasion, Pedro Fiete stressed that the evaluation program on the degree of compliance with the Simplifica Project results from the concern of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, about the need to intensify strict compliance with the measures that have been approved within the scope of the execution of the Project.
The official noted that the Executive has approved and continues to approve various policies and concrete simplification measures, always with a view to the major objective of improving the provision of public services to the citizen.
“Now it is necessary, from the outset, to monitor the implementation and practical application of these measures to make life easier for citizens and to guarantee a more simplified, modern administration that has the citizen’s interest at the center of its concerns”, he reinforced.
Pedro Fiete, who made a small foray into history, recalled that for many years the Public Administration “was tied” to various traditional rituals and procedures, many of them inherited from the colonial period.
“Often, we did not even know how to explain the reason for the existence or requirement of such procedures on the individual. Probably, due to the lack of specific regulations on the issuance of documents and licenses acts”, he observed.
In the post-Independence and monolithic period, he added, the historical context of centralization and economic planning did not allow private property to free competition, which is why the State over-conditioned access to public services for certain activities.
Given the current context of economic liberalism and the broad recognition of fundamental rights, he said, it makes no sense for the Public Administration to continue to restrict citizens from certain public goods and services.
“It was on the basis of this strategic measure that the President of the Republic made a commitment to institutionalize the Simplifica Project to facilitate citizens’ lives in accessing public services”, he said.
Viana presents good indicators
Regarding the visit to the most populous municipality in the country’s capital, he said that they chose Viana as the starting point of this evaluation program, taking into account its importance. The visits, he explained, will be extended to the other municipalities of Luanda, followed by the 17 provinces.
Pedro Fiete, who gave a positive assessment of the “satellite” municipality, said there was room to continue working, informing and permanently investing in the training of staff, so that some procedures observed yesterday are not repeated in the future.
At the end of the observation visit by the Administration of Viana and the Municipal Directorate for the Promotion of Integrated Economic Development of the same municipality, the secretary of the President of the Republic said that Viana presents good indicators in terms of compliance with the Simplifica measures.
He acknowledged that there is still work to be done in order to spread the message to all employees and workers. The main concern, from the outset, he indicated, is the need for permanent dialogue.
“Many times, municipal administrations do their part, but then the collaboration of other institutions is also necessary, including private ones, in order to observe the determinations contained in the decrees”, he stressed.
Then, he mentioned that he became aware of some private institutions that continue to demand discontinued documents, such as the Residence Certificate and others that reject the Municipality Card.
These episodes, he said, took place in a private banking institution. It is for this reason and others, he stressed, that we have to continue the dialogue and the dissemination of information, thus guaranteeing a simplified Public Administration.
Users recognize improvement in service
In both institutions, some of the users who spoke to Jornal de Angola recognized improvements in the administrative services of this district in Luanda.
Asked if he was aware of Simplifica, citizen Francisco Joaquim said he was informed about the Project, as well as the news in the document.
Francisco Joaquim said, in summary, that Simplifica is a mechanism that has allowed citizens to see their concerns resolved without much bureaucracy and demand more responsibilities from the employees themselves.
Rosita Catunda, who addressed the Municipal Directorate for the Promotion of Integrated Development in Viana to deal with the Commercial Permit, was also satisfied with the service and the novelties of the Project, having highlighted the fact that she could process the Commercial Permit from home, using the Internet.
Simplifica, he said, came to eliminate some of the bureaucracy that exists in administrative institutions.
The deputy governor for Political and Social Area of the province of Luanda, administrator of Viana and senior administration officials participated in the meeting.
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