CLOSING ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT JOSÉ EDUARDO DOS SANTOS
AT THE 6th CONGRESS OF THE MPLA
Luanda, 10 December 2009
Comrade delegates,
Comrade Central Committee members,
Distinguished guests.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The proceedings of the 6th congress of the MPLA have been successfully concluded. The content of the documents prepared by the outgoing leadership was enriched and they were adopted, as you all just heard. These documents will be the main working tools to guide our activities over the next five years. They will enable the MPLA to strengthen and deepen its internal democracy, improve its working methods and, above all, guarantee that its participation in the country’s political life is geared to fulfilling our people’s legitimate interests.
We therefore reaffirm the commitments and promises made in the 2008 legislative elections, recalling some that should be put into effect during the four-year mandate:
- Increasing crop areas by about four million hectares to produce more than 15 million tonnes of grain;
- Achieving food self-sufficiency in green vegetables, roots and tubers, producing more beans, groundnuts, soya, cassava, potatoes and sweet potatoes;
- Increasing the production of chicken and beef to meet at least 70% and 50%, respectively, of our needs, and ensure about 60% of our need for sugar;
- Increasing the output of electricity and water, and improving the figures for health, education and human development in general;
- Promoting the building of one million homes, among other things.
We want to be concrete. We were dealing with general issues and we must now move from general issues, principles and goals to concrete ones, which means committing ourselves to targets to be achieved to improve the Angolan people’s quality of life.
We also have as a permanent guideline the five main aspirations of Angolans set out in the National Consensus Agenda and endorsed by the congress.
- Peace, justice, democracy, social stability, unity and national cohesion, internal and external security;
- The elimination of hunger and poverty, ensuring jobs, economic growth and the fair distribution of national income;
- Sustainable development and human development, welfare for all and the country’s harmonious development;
- Transparency and good governance;
- Angola’s growing inclusion in the world economy, winning respect and consideration in the concert of nations.
Fullfilling these commitments should go hand in hand with the modernisation of Angolan society and the industrialisation of the country, which are other challenges we face.
This will of course be facilitated when the constitution now under discussion is approved. There is every indication that the constitution will change the current system of government and establish new periods for the mandates of elected state bodies.
Under these circumstances, it is desirable that the MPLA completely fulfils the mandate to govern the country that it gained in the polls last year. In this connection, I am going to make proposals aimed at strengthening the leading executive bodies of the party and government and refining working methods and the administration and management of party and state resources. More discipline, parsimony, rigour and transparency will be required in administration and management.
As regards members of the leadership, the logic of the proposal implies reviewing the less dynamic areas of the secretariat of the Political Bureau and moving some government officials to the parliament.
As for those who have been repeatedly criticised by the public, their cases will be examined and the appropriate party bodies will subsequently investigate the purported irregular activities ascribed to them. Following this assessment, measures to be taken internally or by the state should be recommended.
Regular and periodic monitoring and assessment, by the appropriate party bodies, of the performance of party members who hold government posts or leading positions in the administration or public companies could help to improve our service to the public.
Another criterion we intend to apply is that of continuity, renewal and respect for established hierarchies. No more than 25% of the officials in the party’s executive bodies will be renewed and the people who stand in for the president of the party and head of state in his temporary absence will continue to perform the same duty, to be adapted to the new constitution, unless for reasons of force majeure.
The congress has reaffirmed that the MPLA faces big challenges and the elected Central Committee must find big solutions to meet them. Everything will be done to ensure that the party leadership is in a position to face those challenges with tenacity, a sense of mission and optimism in a democratic and participative process, availing itself of the goodwill and energy of all those who wish to contribute.
Everything is in our hands. Our future depends on our work! We are going to work harder and with a greater sense of responsibility. I feel sure that our party’s members, officials and leaders will be able to live up to present requirements and will do their utmost to honour our history and, in particular, those who laid down their lives to make the triumph of our ideals possible.
I congratulate the new members of our party’s Central Committee and hope they will be equal to the trust placed in them by members.
I cannot end without once again thanking all the friendly parties that have shown us their solidarity, sending us delegations or messages that honour us and encourage us to continue our work.
I also thank all those who ensured the success of this congress, creating the technical, material and security conditions for it.
My most heartfelt thanks to all the comrade delegates from all our country’s provinces who, over these days, gave proof of lucidity, vitality and great loyalty to our party, as clearly shown by the way the proceedings of the 6th congress took place.
The end of our congress was transformed into a virtual festival of comrades, a festival of companions in the struggle in which OMA showed how Angolan women have contributed to the greatness of this party and of the Angolan nation.
Dear comrades, fifty-three years ago today the precursors of the liberation struggle said there was a need to launch a broad national liberation movement.
The movement is there. Today it is a party. It has fulfilled its dreams and those of following generations and this will always be so!
Our thanks go to the precursors of our struggle, particularly Agostinho Neto, the founder of the Angolan nation.
Congratulations to everyone on this happy day!
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
VICTORY IS CERTAIN!
The 6th congress is closed.
