2024: Elections, Presidency and Matches

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2024: Elections, Presidency and Matches
2024: Elections, Presidency and Matches

By Jorge Montezinho,

Africa-Press – Cape verde. From the local government sweep to the First Lady’s salary, the departure and arrival of new ministers, and the loud slamming of the door by the PAICV’s historic candidate Júlio Correia, this was a very lively political year.

If there is a vote in a year, the issue has to be highlighted at the beginning. That is what happened this year, 2024, on December 1, when the local elections changed the municipal political map with the resounding victory of the PAICV: it won 15 of the 22 councils in dispute.

Of the total of 351,935 registered voters, 176,756 voted – a turnout rate of 50.23%. The PAICV won in municipalities such as Santa Catarina (Santiago), Maio, Brava, Ribeira Brava, Santa Catarina do Fogo, Porto Novo and, by one vote, São Lourenço dos Órgãos, which until now had been run by the MpD. In the capital, Praia, a city council that has always been emblematic, Francisco Carvalho was re-elected with a higher vote share than he had in 2020.

São Vicente was one of the municipalities where expectations were highest. The constant instability experienced over the last four years raised the expectation that this time there would be a solution. This did not happen. Augusto Neves won the elections, but again without a majority. In the City Council, the MpD elected four councillors against three from the PAICV and two from the UCID. In the Municipal Assembly, the MpD won 9 seats while the PAICV and UCID won 6 seats each, which once again raises the ‘specter’ of instability in governance on the island of Monte Cara.

The vice-president of the MpD, after the meeting of the National Political Committee after the elections, acknowledged the difficulties faced and the challenges that arise from this scenario. “Cape Verde is a plural country, it is a heterogeneous country, it is a country of many wills, of many desires and of diversity. For this reason, the causes can be many. The important thing is to have humility, the ability to understand the path we have to take to win again”, said Fernando Elísio Freire.

The PAICV considered that the results of the local elections represent a “great censure of the government”, expressing the population’s discontent with the direction the country is taking. “This victory is a clear message that power belongs to the people and not to those who hold it forever”, said the party leader, Rui Semedo.

The National Board of the MpD will meet on 11 January. The meeting will serve to “define strategic guidelines to reposition the party and strengthen its political action”, highlighted the vice-president of the MpD, Elísio Freire. In the PAICV, the current president, Rui Semedo, has not clarified whether he is a candidate for his own succession in the Congress that will be held in April.

First Lady

This was probably the biggest controversy of the year: the salary paid to the First Lady. As reported by Expresso das Ilhas in January, a directive signed by Jorge Tolentino, Chief of Staff of the Presidency of the Republic, established the salary of the First Lady justified by the fact that she has “full-time functions”. Jorge Tolentino ended up being replaced by Avelino Bonifácio in October.

But let’s go back to the first month of the year, when the directive stated that the Budget of the Presidency of the Republic for 2023 already included in the Personnel heading “the expenses related to the remuneration of the First Lady, after due discussions, justification and arbitration with the Ministry of Finance” and that after the President of the Republic had “publicly declared Mrs. Debora Katisa Morais Brazão Carvalho as the First Lady”, “the process of her requisition in the original framework, at CV Telecom” was initiated, which materialized with her placement in a special committee under the terms of the rules in force at that institution so that she could fully assume the role of First Lady”.

Claiming that the First Lady has “full-time duties”, the directive stated that it was justified to “receive a monthly remuneration equal to that received in the position in the original framework” in the amount of 310,606$00, “therefore, the citizen and professional in question is not prejudiced in her rights by the fact of being the First Lady”. The problem is that in Cape Verde there is no status for First Lady nor any regulation for the role.

For this reason, in August, the Inspectorate-General of Finance concluded that the salary paid to the First Lady “is irregular” and “has no basis in law” – IGF report

The Inspectorate-General of Finance concluded the “Inspection of Personnel Expenses of the Presidency of the Republic” and considered that the amount paid to the First Lady as a monthly salary was “irregular” and had no “basis in law”.

The inspection, focused on personnel expenses, aimed to verify the legality and regularity of the “Personnel Expenses of the Presidency of the Republic” in the period between 9 November 2021, the date of the inauguration of the President of the Republic, until January 2024.

The IGF recommended the reinstatement of the total amount of 5.396,352 escudos, corresponding to 24 months of net salary paid as remuneration during the period in question.

At the end of that month, Expresso das Ilhas interviewed experts and Casimiro de Pina, lawyer, legal consultant, writer and academic, called it “the worst scandal involving a head of state in Cape Verde since 1975. That didn’t even happen during the dictatorship. José Maria Neves dishonored the Cape Verdean state, pure and simple. Inventing, outside the law and the Constitution, a salary of 310 contos per month just to please his girlfriend is truly unheard of in a Republic”.

At the time, Casimiro de Pina even advocated the resignation of the President of the Republic. “It is obvious that a PR so weakened and with such serious blemishes, which call into question, in fact, the foundations of the Republic and the rule of law itself, cannot, under any circumstances, continue in office. It would be completely incomprehensible. Where is the civic judiciary, which imposes itself by example? JMN broke the solemn oath he took in 2021 before the National Assembly. He is someone who does not deserve any credit and can no longer function as the guardian of the Constitution”. At the same time, constitutionalist Wladimir Brito argued that everyone made mistakes in this process. “I think there are reciprocal failures. The President of the Republic sent a request for regulation of the matter and the government put it in a drawer. On the other hand, the President of the Republic had no legal basis to grant a salary to his wife, because nothing was regulated”. “The first lady is not a constitutional figure. She does not exist”, stressed Wladimir Brito. “In other countries, there are first ladies who have taken on an auxiliary role to their husbands. They do not have any appointment, constitutional status, or even legal status”. Also in August, the President of the Republic responded, in a press conference without the right to questions, to say that the First Lady was already working for a national company and that the remuneration received had been returned in full to the State coffers. In the same communication, José Maria Neves attacked the government, which he shared responsibility for the entire situation.

In November, when he marked three years as President of the Republic, José Maria Neves defended the need to review the Organic Law of the Presidency of the Republic and that there are “budgetary constraints” that condition his actions.

Cape Verdeans distrust institutions

Cape Verdeans’ trust in the main political and social institutions has fallen significantly, according to the results of the most recent Afrobarometer study, carried out between the end of August and the beginning of September this year and published near the end of the year.

The study covered topics such as the quality of democracy, governance, corruption, government performance and relations between the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, and found a decline in trust in all institutions: from the President of the Republic, through the Prime Minister, the National Assembly, including the National Electoral Commission, and even the Armed Forces, the institution that traditionally enjoys the highest level of trust, which fell from 74% in 2022 to 54% in 2024.

Following this, the President of the National Assembly, Austelino Correia, asked politicians to consider the study that revealed this “decline in trust” in all of the country’s institutions. “What politicians think is one thing, what citizens perceive on a day-to-day basis is quite another. My first impression is that politicians should take this data into account impartially, objectively and rationally, in order to improve Cape Verdeans’ perception of politics.”

Former President Jorge Carlos Fonseca also responded to the study, stating that democracy in Cape Verde is “irreversible”, highlighting that consolidation depends on “strong institutions” that generate trust in those in power, to ensure its advancement and modernization.

Changes and departures

In August, there were ministerial changes: Augusto Veiga took over the Ministry of Culture, Jorge Santos took over the Ministry of the Sea, and Evandro Monteiro left the State Secretariat for Health. Abraão Vicente’s departure from the government to run for mayor of Praia “forced” the changes. Evandro Monteiro also left the government to run for mayor of Santa Catarina do Fogo.

In October, it was José Filomeno Monteiro’s turn to take over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “What Cape Verde can expect is my total commitment, the energy I still have as a person and the experience I have accumulated throughout my diplomatic and political career”, he declared at the inauguration. Rui Figueiredo, the previous minister in charge, left citing personal reasons. Miryan Vieira was reappointed as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

A month earlier, there were changes in the leadership of the MpD parliamentary group, with CelsoRibeiro to succeed Paulo Veiga. Problems in coordination between the MpD parliamentary group and the government were the basis for Paulo Veiga’s decision to resign.

Slamming the door with a bang

But the loudest departure of all was that of PAICV’s historic figure, Júlio Correia, who slammed the door and left the party in July. In the letter sent to the party’s president – ​​and made public on his Facebook page – Júlio Correia refers to the “citizens’ discomfort with the growing political dirigisme that goes against the internal democracy that once existed”. From Fogo, the former PAICV secretary-general, minister, deputy and mayor explained to Expresso das Ilhas what led him to make this decision. “There is no respect for anyone. There is no respect for anyone’s path. There is a lowering of values ​​by the devaluation of internal democracy itself. (…) I will not accept being told to shut up and being part of a party that spends all its time telling people to shut up, a party that is hostile to reflection”.

“I cannot condone, because I never condone, the lack of respect that was a trend with the leadership that took over in 2016. It was the worst leadership the party has ever had. It brought back democratic centralism, something that the PAICV had abandoned a long time ago,” he added.

“In the PAICV we need more Cabralologists and fewer Cabralists. Because I see that people quote Amílcar Cabral without any care. They quote Amílcar Cabral and do exactly the opposite of what Amílcar Cabral proposes,” is another phrase from that interview.

Júlio Correia also reiterated that a possible return of Janira Hopffer Almada to the leadership of the PAICV would not be good for the party. “Who would want to see that in a positive light? In these things, nothing is better than the facts. I see pompous slogans, tremendous phrases, that say that that mandate did wonders, but can anyone point out anything that that leadership did? I and several of us can point out: many evils, many cruelties, a great lack of democracy, a retrograde arrivism that returned to the party from 2016 onwards”.

The president of the PAICV regretted the decision to leave “comrade and friend” Júlio Correia, but Rui Semedo declined to comment on the reasons given.

Rankings

We like rankings in Cape Verde. In 2024, the archipelago maintained 3rd place in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) and stood out for investing more than 10% of its GDP in health and education.

Another ranking showed that Cape Verde, in first place, and São Tomé and Príncipe, in third, are among the best-ranked countries in Africa in respect for political rights and civil liberties, with Angola appearing as “not free” in the report published by Freedom House.

A recent ranking indicated that Cape Verdean democracy ranked third on the African continent and reached 35th place in the global panorama, according to the 2023 Democracy Index report organized by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Within the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), Cape Verde is positioned just behind Portugal, being the second best ranked country in the index.

The report, organized by the Economist Intelligence Unit, provides an annual portrait of the state of democracies in 165 countries and territories, and also revealed that the number of countries with democracies (full or defective) rose from 72 to 74 last year.

expressodasilhas

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