Africa-Press – Cape verde. On January 20, the Cape Verdean President defended an increase in the level of political debate in the country, when speaking, in Praia, at a ceremony commemorating National Heroes Day, a holiday that coincides with the 51st anniversary of the murder of Amílcar Cabral.
“ Republican ethics is to raise the level of political debate in Cape Verde ”, said José Maria Neves, calling for “ a debate of ideas and not of cases, a debate of proposals and not of people ” and “ a debate of policies that can respond to the desires and demands of Cape Verdeans ”.
“ This is the ethics that the Republic asks of us today ”, he added.
The appeal came in a context of tension between the head of State and the Government, after episodes in which José Maria Neves accused the executive of acting alone, bordering on “ unconstitutional disloyalty” .
In December, the head of state asked for a position from the Court of Auditors and the General Inspectorate of Finance following a controversy involving the First Lady’s perks, which was the target of criticism from the Movement for Democracy (MpD, in power).
The head of state said today that “ republican ethics is the search for consensus on essential points of national designs ”, on “ the common good ” and “ never the capture of the State ” by other interests.
The intervention came after the ritual of the date, with the laying of a wreath at the Amílcar Cabral memorial, in the Cape Verdean capital, and which this year marked the beginning of the celebrations of the centenary of the birth (which will be marked on September 12th) of the leader of the independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde.
Pedro Pires, former Cape Verdean President and leader of the Amílcar Cabral Foundation, also intervened today to say that celebrating the iconic figure does not have as its purpose “ the satisfaction of the foundation: it is much more than that. It is, above all, a duty of memory” .
José Maria Neves remembered the independence leader as an inspiring figure who should be remembered “every day” .
Today’s holiday praises him, as well as all those who “ did everything, some giving their own lives ” for the independence and development of Cape Verde, he said.
Son of Cape Verdean Juvenal Cabral and Guinean Iva Pinhel Évora, Amílcar Cabral was born in Guinea-Bissau on September 12, 1924, and left for Cape Verde at the age of eight, following his family, where he lived part of his childhood and adolescence.
Later, he was the founder of the then PAIGC, leader of the independence movements in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and was murdered on January 20, 1973, in Conakry, at the age of 49.
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