Africa-Press – Cape verde. The president of PAICV, Rui Semedo, stated this Sunday, 18, that Cape Verde is “on the wrong path” and that the Government has demonstrated itself to be “insensitive” to the problems that Cape Verdeans face, namely unemployment, which is predominantly among young people. .
According to the leader of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV, opposition), who was speaking in the city of Praia, this is the “conviction of the majority” of Cape Verdeans, “ almost 60% expressed in the Afrobarometer study, presented in January 2023” .
“ In fact, this study confirmed the manifestations of discouragement of anonymous citizens in their daily lives, in relation to the most varied aspects of their lives: in employment, in health, in education, in economic activity, in security, just to list a few ,” declared Rui Semedo.
The opposition leader was speaking to Inforpress on the sidelines of this year’s first ordinary meeting of the PAICV National Council, which met on Saturday, 17th, and today, to assess the national political situation and Cape Verde’s current challenges.
As he mentioned, in addition to the direct impact of international crises, Cape Verde is experiencing another crisis, with “ more harmful effects, that of the country’s governance ”.
“ The crisis that is plaguing Cape Verde has the composition of the republic’s government as its first factor. An oversized Government that absorbs huge resources from the public treasury, with unusual expenses that could well be channeled to alleviate the precarious lives of many Cape Verdean families ”, considered the same source.
This is, according to Semedo, a Government that is “insensitive to the problems” that the population faces, “unfocused on the reality” of the country, “ closed in on itself ”, which “ does not listen to the population, does not dialogue with the opposition and prefers insist on mistakes ”.
Many of which, he continued, were already committed in the previous MpD governance cycle and “ impregnated in its DNA”, such as those related to “transparency, privatizations and concessions ”.
For the president of PAICV, the country lives under “the sign of degradation at all levels”, namely in the supply of jobs, in purchasing power and in people’s quality of life, with a predominance of young people, who are looking for a way out of Cape Verde, falling to waste the high costs invested in training and wasting qualified labor “much needed” for Cape Verde’s development challenges.
“ Degradation has worsened poverty, caused an exponential increase in social inequality, with an inordinate impact on key areas for the country’s overall development, such as, for example, education and the air and sea transport system, in which the responses that the Government was able to offer to Cape Verdeans, they failed dismally ”, said Rui Semedo.
He also highlighted that the Government has not yet realized that since Cape Verde is an archipelagic and island country, the sustainability of any and all policy measures depends, “crucially ”, on the mobility of people and goods within and between islands, as well as the connection with abroad and with our vast diaspora, constituting the cornerstone and vital axis for the development of Cape Verde.
The Government also failed to realize that, more than an end in itself, a modern, efficient and effective transport system represents “the main lever” to enable national economic development and guarantee Cape Verde’s integration into the world, enhancing competitive advantages that the country can offer.
Therefore, he explained, several other crisis factors affect the lives of Cape Verdeans, including the energy crisis, with power cuts in the capital and beyond, the water supply crisis, with communities and neighborhoods spending months without having the precious liquid and looking, once again, for self-transported water.
Regarding the state of democracy, he decreed that Cape Verde is “stuck in the same score without any evolution for a long time ”, and that there is a “ certain manipulation ” of the scoring and ranking parameters to convey the idea of gains achieved.
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