Africa-Press – Angola. UNITA (opposition) accused the president of the Angolan parliament of “obstructing the oversight action” of that body and considered that the investigation into its deputies has a political orientation and aims to intimidate and coerce them in their oversight mission.
“This investigation was politically motivated and aims to intimidate and coerce MPs from their oversight mission to the Government’s actions,” said the president of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, the largest opposition party), Liberty Chiyaka.
Speaking at a press conference, about an inquiry opened to the five deputies of his parliamentary group, for verifying the functioning of the Luanda Central Morgue and the Huambo General Hospital, the politician contested the measure, admitting “political motivations” in this decision.
“[Parliamentary] oversight is a democratic form, without violence (…). There is no basis for sanctioning the deputies, because they have not committed any infraction”, he said, stressing that the right to oversight cannot be denied to the deputies, “regardless of the control of the parliamentary majority”.
At least five UNITA MPs are under parliamentary investigation for having recently visited the Luanda Central Morgue, “where they noted the deplorable state of conservation of corpses”, and the Huambo General Hospital, the politician recalled.
The visit took place in mid-April and drew criticism from the National Assembly, which accused UNITA deputies of taking advantage of the “distress of family members” to film and release images “that violate civility and the rules governing the exercise of parliamentary functions” with “undisclosed ends”.
In view of “the recurring reprehensible behavior from an ethical and moral point of view, the competent committee of the National Assembly responsible for matters of Ethics and Parliamentary Decorum has already been instructed to investigate the reasons that motivate such behavior”, announced the parliament at the time, in a statement signed by the institutional communications department.
Chiyaka, who also addressed the National Assembly’s control and oversight powers, regretted that the president of the Angolan parliament, Carolina Cerqueira, had not responded to UNITA’s requests to hold 16 parliamentary hearings of members of the Government, after more than 100 days.
“More than 100 days have passed and the president of the National Assembly has not deigned to make the requested hearings possible”, he said, considering that Carolina Cerqueira “cannot block or hinder the exercise of the deputies’ potestative power”.
According to the UNITA deputy, the president of parliament “has repeatedly and blatantly obstructed the deputy’s right to perform the control and oversight functions safeguarded by the Constitution”.
Stressing that deputies and their respective parliamentary groups are autonomous, he assured that his party will fight against any act that obstructs the free exercise of the functions of sovereign bodies.
According to Liberty Chiyaka, UNITA has sent, since the beginning of the year, several requests for urgent parliamentary hearings to members of the Angolan executive, especially on public security, health and finance, but has not received any response.
For the president of the UNITA parliamentary group, the president of the National Assembly “has acted as a blocking factor in the monitoring of the acts of the management of the holder of executive power by the people’s deputies”.
“And no one has any doubts, either, that this blocking attitude constitutes a blatant violation of the Constitution, which seriously undermines the regular functioning of institutions, in this case, the National Assembly,” he criticized.
Liberty Chiyaka said that her party intends to hear from the Minister of Youth and Sports to “clarify” the country’s expenses with the football match between the Angolan and Argentine national teams (world champions), as part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence.
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