Africa-Press – Cape verde. The president of Siacsa denounced this Friday, in Praia, “a series of irregularities” in the recent appointments of prison officers published by the Ministry of Justice, classifying them as “illegal, incoherent and motivated by reprisals”.
In a press conference, at the headquarters of the General Industry, Food, Civil Construction and Services Union (Siacsa), Gilberto Lima stated that several officers placed in September 2023 on the islands of Santiago, São Vicente, Santo Antão, Sal and Fogo are now being transferred again.
These transfers, he stressed, are taking place less than a year after their placement, and in a process that he described as “revenge” on the part of the Directorate-General for Prison Services.
According to him, these transfers mainly affect officers who participated in demonstrations and demanded better working conditions, which is why he believes that this is a “clear attempt” to “silence the union struggle”.
“Forced mobility is part of the appointment, with people who participated in the negotiation, people who participated in the demonstration of their rights, people who showed their faces and showed that things were wrong,” he said, also highlighting that some officers were excluded from the list, while others appear as repeat candidates.
Gilberto Lima stressed that of the 99 recently trained prison officers, only 95 are on the list of appointments.
He also pointed out the human and financial impact of mobility, indicating that some officers spent more than three months at home without receiving salaries and have now been sent to other islands without the means to pay for travel, transportation of families, furniture and accommodation.
He accused the Director General of Prison Services of acting with “total autonomy and lack of respect” for legal norms, for which he called for his “immediate resignation,” considering him to be “an extra man within the Ministry of Justice” and “without the skills to be in charge of the central prisons” in Cape Verde.
He also criticized the lack of ministerial approval for the decisions and pointed out the violation of the law by transferring union delegates without prior consent.
Gilberto Lima assured that if the situation is not resolved, it will be taken to court and to the International Labor Organization (ILO), highlighting that many agents live in insecurity and fear of exercising their rights.
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