Between wastefulness and fun maneuvers

Apparently, for the more unsuspecting, one might think that the recent announcement of the construction of a monument to freedom and democracy by the government, in the midst of implementing emergency measures to deal with the calamity that shook the island of São Vicente, was the result of haste and a lack of political tact, especially given the sums involved, in the order of 150,000 escudos. However, it is just (yet another) expression of the lack of a sense of state and the absence of a political line centered on the public interest, which, roughly speaking, is the DNA of this government and the party that supports it.

Unlike the national consternation and the active solidarity campaigns for the people of the island of Monte Cara, which have been involving individuals and institutions in the country and beyond, in a context of obvious economic difficulties, the government has decided to bet on waste.

A monument to the vanity and self-esteem of the ruling party

The monument itself is not in question, but rather the timing of its announcement, especially in the clear context of its construction for purely partisan purposes, paid for by the public purse. And this is evident in the narratives that underlie its construction, very evident in the excitement reflected in comments by eminent militants and leaders of the more extremist wing of the MpD, who have been emphasizing that the party's founding origins (sic) cannot be denied.

At the same time, a fierce attack is being made on those who, despite not having a party or being militants of the "original MpD", oppose the construction of the monument at this very moment, accusing them of being an instrument of the opposition and agents of a supposed "communist danger" (who knows what that is).

Instead of focusing on what is fundamental, namely the reconstruction of the devastated island of São Vicente, the government chooses to erect a monument to the vanity and self-esteem of the party that supports it, rehashing arguments that are three decades behind the times, in the midst of the Cold War, as if the country were leaving the single party or entering a new version of it. Complete insanity!

This is undoubtedly tactical idiocy on the part of those who have apparently given up hope of staying in power and are desperately seeking to win the loyalty of the most radical and/or manipulable sectors of the fan universe.

Hiding in complicit and compromising silences

Now that next year's parliamentary elections are approaching, diversionary maneuvers are taking place, with the respective production of political facts, more often than not without factual proof and/or blatant manipulations, aimed at diverting the public eye away from what really matters, concealing facts in complicit and compromising silences.

The concealment in complicit and compromising silences

The phonies and their shock troops strive to wallow in the last crumbs, snatching up the last perks, trying to postpone the inevitable: the fall of the crystal towers that illusorily sparkle the antechamber of the end of any ephemeral power.

And what is interesting to know, and what is confronting a wall of systemic silence, is a clear and factual explanation of the disaster of the despicable contracts signed between the government and foreign private companies for air and maritime transport (in the latter case, with the alteration of a draft approved by the Council of Ministers), without anyone taking responsibility, even though it is known who actually has them.

It would also be important to clarify the circumstances (surgical and dubious) of the resignation of the then coordinator of the State Business Sector Monitoring Unit (UASE), Sandeney Fernandes, and his arrest the following day, with a large police apparatus and when the court was already closed, trying to make him the convenient culprit (preventive detention was even requested) in order to convey the (false) idea that "you don't play with the public interest", while at the same time erecting a wall of silence about the fact that people from the government - and even a senior official from Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde - were involved in the purchase of shares, using inside information. A smokescreen to hide something far more serious, such as the ruinous contract with CV Interilhas.

Or, possibly, to stifle persistent rumors in the police and judicial circles of schemes to demand commissions or stakes in foreign investment deals.

A new company project

Back to the tragedy that befell São Vicente, it should be an opportunity to find new directions, particularly in terms of strategies to combat poverty and chaotic urban development policies, and it can be seen that the problem lies in the governance model and, above all, in a project for society that does not safeguard the national interest or the interests of the majority of the population.

The tragedy that befell São Vicente should be an opportunity to find new directions, particularly in terms of strategies to combat poverty and chaotic urban development policies.

In fact, Ulisses Correia e Silva's government, which raised so many hopes in 2016, has already proved which interests it defends: those of a tiny privileged minority, leaving out the poorest and the middle class, and a line of supposed development that translates into handing over strategic sectors to private individuals.

This line of submitting the national interest to private capital, not subsidizing constitutionally guaranteed services to the population with demagogic and economistic arguments, demands the construction of a patriotic and developmentalist national project (*), which guarantees the country's sovereignty, the rights of the majority of its people and social progress, cutting off neo-liberal policies and entreguismo once and for all.

This is, in fact, what should be on the table!

Article published in Santiago Magazine