PAICV/Congress: "We need the party as a whole without divisions or subtractions" - Pedro Pires

Pedro Pires made this exhortation on Friday night, 27, at the opening ceremony of the 18th National Congress of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV, opposition) before delegates from the different islands of the country and the diaspora, and foreign national figures.

On the occasion, Pires greeted the newly elected president of the PAICV, Francisco Carvalho, wishing him success, hard work and a lot of wisdom.

In the same way, he greeted the outgoing president, Rui Semedo, a companion, as he said, of "many battles" over these 50 years, praising his work and his stance as a leader, which "made it possible for the party to win" in the last local elections.

"We need the PAICV as a whole. There is no such thing as who is more PAICV or who is less PAICV. There are PAICV militants. I often say that in politics I only know two operations: adding and multiplying. I don't know subtraction or division. They are excluded from my vocabulary and my perspective," he said.

Sharing his experience, as Cape Verde is celebrating 50 years of independence, Pedro Pires said that July 5 is "the zero hour", the moment when the country overcomes the condition of being colonized, changing from a colony to a sovereign state.

The moment, he continued, of the founding of the Republic of Cape Verde and that PAICV militants should not be "ashamed of the one-party regime, but proud of it".

"This does not repeat itself, just as a child is not born twice. Independence means that we take responsibility for the future of our country. If it went badly, we'd be badly off. If it went well, we'd be fine," he said.

Therefore, he added, it was the audacity to take responsibility for the future, "for our lives, for everything that concerns our country", in a "catastrophic, extremely complicated" context.

"We were sincere, we were honest with Cape Verdeans. We promised a lot of work, a lot of commitment, sincerity, loyalty and honesty. And so we moved forward, we managed to overcome the difficulties and create the conditions for Cape Verde to develop, with the support of friends, international organizations and so on. This experience is fundamental because we have to tell people the truth," he noted, citing, on the other hand, some "critical points" in the PAICV's journey.

Speaking of the various reforms carried out at the time, Pedro Pires said that they reached the point of understanding to change the regime, whose reform, he assured, was led by the ruling party itself.

"This is the coherence that many people don't like to hear, and say no to. The same people who say: let's change this, are the ones leading the transition. There is no more honesty than that, there is no more coherence than that, there is no more political maturity than that. Many people in the PAICV have a one-party complex, they don't have to have a complex (...) what we should have is pride," he said.

When sharing these and other experiences, Pedro Pires said that we have to interpret history correctly.

Finally, he said that, always with Cape Verde in mind, the Pedro Pires Institute for Leadership (IPP) was created to train leaders.

The PAICV Congress, the first after the 2025 autarchic process, takes place on the eve of the celebration of 50 years of Cape Verdean Independence.

This "important political moment" for the PAICV, bringing together 512 delegates, will take place at the Uni-CV Convention Center in Palmarejo over three days, and will end on Sunday, the 29th.

Inforpress/End