Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Independent and Democratic Cape Verdean Union (UCID) is advocating for the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to determine all responsibilities in the case of the inter-island maritime transport concession. The Christian Democrats want the disclosure of all data related to the arbitration court proceedings.
The statements were made today by the party’s president, João Santos Luís, at a press conference in São Vicente, in response to the arbitration decision in favor of the Inter-Island UCID.
“This is a national scandal, and we will not accept it being swept under the rug. We demand that the Prime Minister address Parliament and the country and explain what is happening. That the original concession contract be published in full. That the Arbitration Court’s ruling be released point by point. That a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry be created to determine all political, technical, and financial responsibilities. The Cape Verdean people are already suffocating. With the high cost of living and difficulties in accessing healthcare, education, and adequate housing, they now want us to pay, with our taxes, for this government’s errors, omissions, and complicity with private interests,” he emphasizes.
The UCID denounces what it calls “secrecy” in the management of structural processes for Cape Verde, such as transportation, and without proper accountability.
The UCID president asserts that the government had the opportunity to redeem the concession contract due to the concessionaire’s numerous defaults.
“From the outset, the UCID was clear and straightforward: this contract is unfair, disproportionately favors the concessionaire, penalizes the State, and fails to establish minimum guarantees of quality, continuity, and accountability. Since then, we have witnessed a veritable operational and strategic collapse: ships grounded and essential routes cut, goods rotting in ports, passengers spending the night on docks without transportation, tickets at prohibitive prices, and an increasingly precarious service. The most peripheral islands have been particularly penalized. Isolation worsens, and the Government remains complicit. It fails to demand compliance, imposes no penalties, and fails to defend the national interest. As if that weren’t enough, we are now faced with a new scandal: a secret dispute between the State and the ETE Group, adjudicated in the Arbitration Court, far from public scrutiny and without any prior information to the parliament and the Cape Verdean people,” he warns.
João Santos Luís recalls that the UCID, in addition to public complaints, sent a formal complaint to the Attorney General’s Office in 2019, warning of signs of illegalities, lack of transparency and potential losses to the public treasury, which “resulted only in simple explanations from the government to parliament.”
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