ECHOES FROM THE ANGOLAN PRESS (24)

Starting with some features from Novo Jornal (NJ):

Picture of the week

Sounds and Colours of the Campaign

A campaign that is truly a campaign also has lots of partying in the middle. The ideology counts, of course, but the music, the walkings, the eatings and drinkings are also part of the electoral period: they give it another colour and help to pass the message. In Angola it’s not different. It’s just seeing them walking the streets trying to “sell their fish” with loudspeakers in hand, horns firmly pressed down and ‘sound systems’ with decibels well high up. It’s a symphony of colour and sound showing that here too the election campaign can be a party of all, for all.

A Woman for Prime Minister?

Speculations mount about the probability that the next Angolan Prime Minister might be a woman: “the future government to come out of these elections might have a woman as Prime Minister, the NJ has learned from various sources linked to the different legislative candidatures. Neither the MPLA nor UNITA confirm, although none of them dismisses the possibility. ‘It’s a competency of the President of the Republic’, they say.
The name of Ana Dias Lourenco, currently the Minister of Planning, is being aired for that position as a result of her association with the “Economic Team”, comprised among others of Finance Minister Pedro de Morais and Vice-Prime Minister Aguinaldo Jaime, a team hailed as the maker of the curent ‘macro-economic stability’ and high rates of GDP growth in the country. However, neither Lourenco nor any of the other members of the team belong to the MPLA’s Political Bureau, which leaves the question out in the open, perhaps to be filled-in by a man so far operating in the shadows, Manuel Nunes Junior, who, thanks to his position as that party organ’s Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs, might be more likely to be named for the role. He says, however, that he hasn’t been approached so far about the issue.

Moving to other papers:

In an interview to the A Capital, Reginaldo Silva, a.k.a. Wilson Dada, comments on the prospect of a political bipolarisation of the country between the MPLA and UNITA:

“I honestly believe that the political future of Angola, bearing in mind the need to safeguard all the interests cohabiting in our large and diversified geographic square, will be best served by a scenario of party equilibrium, even if it is based on a Legislative Assembly clearly bipolarised. In its more than thirty years of independence, Angola has always lived under a political regime controlled by one single political force, despite all the cosmetic nuances observed during the Second Republic, with its pathetic GURN (Government of Unity and National Reconciliation).
I think that it is time for Angolans to experience a more open regime, in respect to an effective compromise and consistent political dialogue among its protagonists, which should not allow any of the parties to take major national decisions alone. This need makes all sense in a country that, in all truth, still hasn’t democratised itself structurally or even psychologically, this being extensive equally to the institutions and the people.
Among us, I know that the adepts of the regime of absolute majority are more than many, most of whom take that position more out of an ‘epidermic’ (emotional) option than of a rational one, if I am allowed to enter others’ field. Some of these adepts think that it is only possible to govern with efficacy without dependence on consensuses with the other political forces. I believe that it is much more easy to govern that way. But it is also more easy to misgovern and commit all sorts of tampering with the law and abuses of power, ‘products’ well known to Angolans.”

Jose’ Kaliengue, in the Semanario Angolense, reports that the Luanda provincial command of the police presented to the public, last Wednesday, the presumable authors of the sordid “Frescura massacre” happened last July in the neighbourhood of Sambizanga:

“They were policeman. The revelation did not surprise anyone. Firstly, because the killers were identified on location. Secondly, because the hurry with which the second commander of the local police went to Radio Ecclesia to announce the event is not at all common in Angola. Thirdly, because the assassins used a unidentifiable car, acted with the coldness of who has the situation under control and doesn’t fear the police and, fourthly, because the locals told the media that at the time of the killings there were police cars patrolling the area that did not react, did not follow the murderers’ car and, therefore, could only be there to protect them. The police was left without any exit option except to admit that the assassins were among themselves. For that, it must be said, the pressure from the private media and the civil society was instrumental.”

Back to the NJ:

The Angolan BB Africa III contestant

Ricardo Venâncio “Ricco”, 23, a university student born in Luanda, is the Angolan representative at the third edition of the popular contest. More than a hundred people gathered in one of the leisure hangouts in the Island of Luanda showed their solidarity to him.
He is the first male contestant from Angola to enter the most supervised house in Africa, where for three months the participants’ behaviour, attitudes and personalities will be evaluated. At the end there will be only one winner.
The house has been open for five days already and until November we will see what will be Ricardo’s story. His friends and relatives who watched the contest’s opening ceremony in Luanda expect a higher level of participation from him than those protagonised in past editions by Bruna Tatiana and Tatiana Durao.

Some interesting news on the football field

While Manucho Goncalves is presented as Ferguson’s bet to reinforce the Manchester team this season, Santana says: “My dream is to play in England”.

Santana, a 24 year old leading Angolan striker, reveals to the NJ that he gets his inspiration from Thierry Henry and dreams of wearing the Arsenal shirt.

{… I also have a Santana like that around here… actually he was responsible for taking me for the first time in my life to watch a football match at a big stadium… more precisely, the Arsenal stadium!}

And finally…

Starting with some features from Novo Jornal (NJ):

Picture of the week

Sounds and Colours of the Campaign

A campaign that is truly a campaign also has lots of partying in the middle. The ideology counts, of course, but the music, the walkings, the eatings and drinkings are also part of the electoral period: they give it another colour and help to pass the message. In Angola it’s not different. It’s just seeing them walking the streets trying to “sell their fish” with loudspeakers in hand, horns firmly pressed down and ‘sound systems’ with decibels well high up. It’s a symphony of colour and sound showing that here too the election campaign can be a party of all, for all.

A Woman for Prime Minister?

Speculations mount about the probability that the next Angolan Prime Minister might be a woman: “the future government to come out of these elections might have a woman as Prime Minister, the NJ has learned from various sources linked to the different legislative candidatures. Neither the MPLA nor UNITA confirm, although none of them dismisses the possibility. ‘It’s a competency of the President of the Republic’, they say.
The name of Ana Dias Lourenco, currently the Minister of Planning, is being aired for that position as a result of her association with the “Economic Team”, comprised among others of Finance Minister Pedro de Morais and Vice-Prime Minister Aguinaldo Jaime, a team hailed as the maker of the curent ‘macro-economic stability’ and high rates of GDP growth in the country. However, neither Lourenco nor any of the other members of the team belong to the MPLA’s Political Bureau, which leaves the question out in the open, perhaps to be filled-in by a man so far operating in the shadows, Manuel Nunes Junior, who, thanks to his position as that party organ’s Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs, might be more likely to be named for the role. He says, however, that he hasn’t been approached so far about the issue.

Moving to other papers:

In an interview to the A Capital, Reginaldo Silva, a.k.a. Wilson Dada, comments on the prospect of a political bipolarisation of the country between the MPLA and UNITA:

“I honestly believe that the political future of Angola, bearing in mind the need to safeguard all the interests cohabiting in our large and diversified geographic square, will be best served by a scenario of party equilibrium, even if it is based on a Legislative Assembly clearly bipolarised. In its more than thirty years of independence, Angola has always lived under a political regime controlled by one single political force, despite all the cosmetic nuances observed during the Second Republic, with its pathetic GURN (Government of Unity and National Reconciliation).
I think that it is time for Angolans to experience a more open regime, in respect to an effective compromise and consistent political dialogue among its protagonists, which should not allow any of the parties to take major national decisions alone. This need makes all sense in a country that, in all truth, still hasn’t democratised itself structurally or even psychologically, this being extensive equally to the institutions and the people.
Among us, I know that the adepts of the regime of absolute majority are more than many, most of whom take that position more out of an ‘epidermic’ (emotional) option than of a rational one, if I am allowed to enter others’ field. Some of these adepts think that it is only possible to govern with efficacy without dependence on consensuses with the other political forces. I believe that it is much more easy to govern that way. But it is also more easy to misgovern and commit all sorts of tampering with the law and abuses of power, ‘products’ well known to Angolans.”

Jose’ Kaliengue, in the Semanario Angolense, reports that the Luanda provincial command of the police presented to the public, last Wednesday, the presumable authors of the sordid “Frescura massacre” happened last July in the neighbourhood of Sambizanga:

“They were policeman. The revelation did not surprise anyone. Firstly, because the killers were identified on location. Secondly, because the hurry with which the second commander of the local police went to Radio Ecclesia to announce the event is not at all common in Angola. Thirdly, because the assassins used a unidentifiable car, acted with the coldness of who has the situation under control and doesn’t fear the police and, fourthly, because the locals told the media that at the time of the killings there were police cars patrolling the area that did not react, did not follow the murderers’ car and, therefore, could only be there to protect them. The police was left without any exit option except to admit that the assassins were among themselves. For that, it must be said, the pressure from the private media and the civil society was instrumental.”

Back to the NJ:

The Angolan BB Africa III contestant

Ricardo Venâncio “Ricco”, 23, a university student born in Luanda, is the Angolan representative at the third edition of the popular contest. More than a hundred people gathered in one of the leisure hangouts in the Island of Luanda showed their solidarity to him.
He is the first male contestant from Angola to enter the most supervised house in Africa, where for three months the participants’ behaviour, attitudes and personalities will be evaluated. At the end there will be only one winner.
The house has been open for five days already and until November we will see what will be Ricardo’s story. His friends and relatives who watched the contest’s opening ceremony in Luanda expect a higher level of participation from him than those protagonised in past editions by Bruna Tatiana and Tatiana Durao.

Some interesting news on the football field

While Manucho Goncalves is presented as Ferguson’s bet to reinforce the Manchester team this season, Santana says: “My dream is to play in England”.

Santana, a 24 year old leading Angolan striker, reveals to the NJ that he gets his inspiration from Thierry Henry and dreams of wearing the Arsenal shirt.

{… I also have a Santana like that around here… actually he was responsible for taking me for the first time in my life to watch a football match at a big stadium… more precisely, the Arsenal stadium!}

And finally…