The ruling MPLA government led by José Eduardo
dos Santos (JES) has led the country to a quite disastrous state;the result of
a mismanagement of institutions exacerbated by corruption.
Education, health and justice are three good
examples of how the State has not function, or has worked terribly badly,
leaving the citizens at their mercy, the outcomeq of systemic corruption.
With regard to the Angolan justice system, the Paramount
sector of any country, we have recently noticed the problems with the Attorney
General of the Republic (AGR) regarding the strike decision of the National
Union of Legal and Administrative Technicians of the AGR. It was also reported a
separate notification required by the Association Judges of Angola concerning
the executive power. From what has been heard, this request has led to a
"witch hunt", within the judicial magistracy, by elements attached to
power. Besides these panoply of inoperative and harassment acts, there is a
tremendous lack of conditions in prisons.
Against this background, a strike was called by
the Supreme Court officials, starting in July 2017. Basically, they defend leveling
wage, promotions, professional training, health and wage complements. In
addition, they denounce the absolute lack of means to work - lack of paper,
stamps, information technologies, bathrooms, printer cartridges, etc.
These claims appear to be very similar to other
strikes already carried out. The corruption of power instituted, put the Santos’
family as one of the wealthiest families in Africa and its subservient elite is
salso very wealthy. On the other hand, this scenario led to the State bankruptcy.
Nowadays, there is no money to meet the compromises that ensure the public
services operation.
It all boils down to vague government
responses, or decisions postponements invoking the lack of money.
It is clear that the Government had a good
budget, more than enough to offer citizens good services in the area of
education, health and justice. The problem is that almost all the money is
being consumed by corruption. If we have 500 and we take 400 for corruption,
there are only 100 left for the rest!
Thus, it’s urgent to find out where this money
is (much of it is abroad), and “repatriate” it to Angola, so that the country
can have respectable public services.
João Dias - Senior Consultant, Professor of
International Relations
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