Political scientist and author of the book ‘Transition through transition: an analysis of democratization in Angola’, university professor Nelson Domingos analyzes the circumstances and the meaning of the latest changes in the Angolan Executive, warning that “the legacy of João Lourenço depends mainly on the choices made at present, not just from the burden inherited from its predecessor. On the other hand, he stresses that “Covid-19 may come to serve as an umbrella for government failures”.
You are the author of a book on political transition in Angola. About three years after João Lourenço became president, what assessment can made of President João Lourenço transition?
(…)
President João Lourenço’s mandate is characterized by a mixture of rupture and continuity.
In the initial phase of his government, João Lourenço sought to distance himself from the worn out image of his party and his predecessor, criticized the State’s partisanship, flattery, so-called superior orders, encouraged the exercise of press and demonstration freedoms, adopted a strong speech to fight corruption, rescinded some contracts that were harmful to the State and removed certain governors linked to the previous government, in clear rupture with its predecessor.
However, after almost three years in office, former rulers and reprehensible practices of yore have reappeared. The continuity overlaps the rupture.
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