Africa-Press – Angola. Angolan activist Valdir Cónego announced today that he will appeal to the Constitutional Court against his “unjust expulsion from the Central Committee of the MPLA, the ruling party in Angola,” considering the decision “flawed” and containing “irregularities.”
Valdir Cónego, an outspoken critic of the leadership of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power), was expelled from the party’s Central Committee on October 31 “for committing serious infractions, failing to comply with rules, and disrespecting party bodies.”
Today, in statements to the YouTube channel “Bem Haja,” Cónego announced that he will appeal the decision to the Angolan Constitutional Court, considering his expulsion “unjust.”
“I will appeal, yes, through my lawyer, because we consider this to be an injustice, because the process was guided by intolerance, irregularity, and unconstitutionality. It was a forced expulsion and, as I have already said and I repeat, this was a unilateral expulsion,” said the activist.A month after the decision to expel him, Valdir Cónego said that during this period he “kept quiet” to analyze the process due to the “irregularities and flaws” he claims to have observed from beginning to end.
“Now I think I was wronged. In this disciplinary process, I was never heard. When I went to respond to the notification, I went with my lawyer, and when we arrived at the party headquarters, the deputy coordinator of the disciplinary and ethics committee informed us that the lawyer could not be in the room, which violates the laws and statutes of the party,” he argued.
The decision to expel Valdir Cónego was approved on October 31st during the ninth ordinary session of the Central Committee, which took place in Luanda under the guidance of its president, João Lourenço.The Central Committee, in accordance with the MPLA statutes and the regulations for the application of party sanctions, “approved the resolution on the disciplinary sanction of expulsion applied to comrade Valdir de Jesus do Sacramento Cónego, for committing serious infractions, non-compliance with rules and disrespect for party bodies, and disregard for the party’s code of ethics,” announced the MPLA’s Secretary for Information, Esteves Hilário, at the end of the meeting.
Valdir Cónego expressed to the party his intention to run for president of the political formation and for President of the Republic in 2024.
Previously suspended from the Central Committee, Cónego submitted a precautionary measure to the Constitutional Court in August for the suspension of the leader of this political organization and President of Angola, João Lourenço.In the document requesting the suspension of João Lourenço from the party leadership, the activist argued that he had sent a letter to the general secretariat of the MPLA Central Committee, with copies to all its members, as required by the statutes, requesting the scheduling of an extraordinary meeting of this body “for the suspension of the president of the MPLA,” but 45 days later he had received no response.
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