By Jorge Montezinho,<\/b><\/p>\n
Africa-Press – Cape verde. <\/strong><\/span>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 Ju\u0301lio Correia, this was a very lively political year.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Of the total of 351,935 registered voters, 176,756 voted \u2013 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, Sa\u0303o Lourenc\u0327o dos O\u0301rga\u0303os, 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.<\/p>\n Sa\u0303o 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 \u2018specter\u2019 of instability in governance on the island of Monte Cara.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cCape 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\u201d, said Fernando Eli\u0301sio Freire.<\/p>\n The PAICV considered that the results of the local elections represent a \u201cgreat censure of the government\u201d, expressing the population\u2019s discontent with the direction the country is taking. \u201cThis victory is a clear message that power belongs to the people and not to those who hold it forever\u201d, said the party leader, Rui Semedo.<\/p>\n The National Board of the MpD will meet on 11 January. The meeting will serve to \u201cdefine strategic guidelines to reposition the party and strengthen its political action\u201d, highlighted the vice-president of the MpD, Eli\u0301sio 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.<\/p>\n First Lady<\/p>\n 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 \u201cfull-time functions\u201d. Jorge Tolentino ended up being replaced by Avelino Bonifa\u0301cio in October.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cthe expenses related to the remuneration of the First Lady, after due discussions, justification and arbitration with the Ministry of Finance\u201d and that after the President of the Republic had \u201cpublicly declared Mrs. Debora Katisa Morais Braza\u0303o Carvalho as the First Lady\u201d, \u201cthe process of her requisition in the original framework, at CV Telecom\u201d 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\u201d.<\/p>\n Claiming that the First Lady has \u201cfull-time duties\u201d, the directive stated that it was justified to \u201creceive a monthly remuneration equal to that received in the position in the original framework\u201d in the amount of 310,606$00, \u201ctherefore, the citizen and professional in question is not prejudiced in her rights by the fact of being the First Lady\u201d. The problem is that in Cape Verde there is no status for First Lady nor any regulation for the role.<\/p>\n For this reason, in August, the Inspectorate-General of Finance concluded that the salary paid to the First Lady \u201cis irregular\u201d and \u201chas no basis in law\u201d \u2013 IGF report<\/p>\n The Inspectorate-General of Finance concluded the \u201cInspection of Personnel Expenses of the Presidency of the Republic\u201d and considered that the amount paid to the First Lady as a monthly salary was \u201cirregular\u201d and had no \u201cbasis in law\u201d.<\/p>\n The inspection, focused on personnel expenses, aimed to verify the legality and regularity of the \u201cPersonnel Expenses of the Presidency of the Republic\u201d in the period between 9 November 2021, the date of the inauguration of the President of the Republic, until January 2024.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n At the end of that month, Expresso das Ilhas interviewed experts and Casimiro de Pina, lawyer, legal consultant, writer and academic, called it \u201cthe worst scandal involving a head of state in Cape Verde since 1975. That didn\u2019t even happen during the dictatorship. Jose\u0301 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\u201d.<\/p>\n At the time, Casimiro de Pina even advocated the resignation of the President of the Republic. \u201cIt 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\u201d. At the same time, constitutionalist Wladimir Brito argued that everyone made mistakes in this process. \u201cI 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\u201d. \u201cThe first lady is not a constitutional figure. She does not exist\u201d, stressed Wladimir Brito. \u201cIn 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\u201d. 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, Jose\u0301 Maria Neves attacked the government, which he shared responsibility for the entire situation.<\/p>\n In November, when he marked three years as President of the Republic, Jose\u0301 Maria Neves defended the need to review the Organic Law of the Presidency of the Republic and that there are \u201cbudgetary constraints\u201d that condition his actions.<\/p>\n Cape Verdeans distrust institutions<\/p>\n Cape Verdeans\u2019 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Following this, the President of the National Assembly, Austelino Correia, asked politicians to consider the study that revealed this \u201cdecline in trust\u201d in all of the country\u2019s institutions. \u201cWhat 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\u2019 perception of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Former President Jorge Carlos Fonseca also responded to the study, stating that democracy in Cape Verde is \u201cirreversible\u201d, highlighting that consolidation depends on \u201cstrong institutions\u201d that generate trust in those in power, to ensure its advancement and modernization.<\/p>\n Changes and departures<\/p>\n 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. Abraa\u0303o Vicente\u2019s departure from the government to run for mayor of Praia \u201cforced\u201d the changes. Evandro Monteiro also left the government to run for mayor of Santa Catarina do Fogo.<\/p>\n In October, it was Jose\u0301 Filomeno Monteiro\u2019s turn to take over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. \u201cWhat 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\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Slamming the door with a bang<\/p>\n But the loudest departure of all was that of PAICV’s historic figure, Ju\u0301lio Correia, who slammed the door and left the party in July. In the letter sent to the party’s president \u2013 \u200b\u200band made public on his Facebook page \u2013 Ju\u0301lio Correia refers to the \u201ccitizens’ discomfort with the growing political dirigisme that goes against the internal democracy that once existed\u201d. From Fogo, the former PAICV secretary-general, minister, deputy and mayor explained to Expresso das Ilhas what led him to make this decision. \u201cThere is no respect for anyone. There is no respect for anyone’s path. There is a lowering of values \u200b\u200bby 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\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the PAICV we need more Cabralologists and fewer Cabralists. Because I see that people quote Ami\u0301lcar Cabral without any care. They quote Ami\u0301lcar Cabral and do exactly the opposite of what Ami\u0301lcar Cabral proposes,\u201d is another phrase from that interview.<\/p>\n Ju\u0301lio Correia also reiterated that a possible return of Janira Hopffer Almada to the leadership of the PAICV would not be good for the party. \u201cWho 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\u201d.<\/p>\n The president of the PAICV regretted the decision to leave \u201ccomrade and friend\u201d Ju\u0301lio Correia, but Rui Semedo declined to comment on the reasons given.<\/p>\n Rankings<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Another ranking showed that Cape Verde, in first place, and Sa\u0303o Tome\u0301 and Pri\u0301ncipe, in third, are among the best-ranked countries in Africa in respect for political rights and civil liberties, with Angola appearing as \u201cnot free\u201d in the report published by Freedom House.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n expressodasilhas<\/b><\/p>\n For More News And Analysis About Cape verde<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 Ju\u0301lio Correia, this was a very lively political year. If there is a vote in a year, the issue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":27672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,7,8,244],"tags":[328],"class_list":["post-27673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-to-homepage","tag-cape-verde"],"yoast_head":"\n