Huambo – The ruling MPLA party’s vice president Luísa Damião presented Tuesday the electoral manifesto and the governance programme of her party for the five-year period 2022-2027.
This was during a meeting with academic community of the central Huambo province held at the Osvaldo Serra Van-Dúnem multipurpose pavilion.
Luísa Damião also presented the party’s candidate for Vice President of the Republic, Esperança Maria da Costa.
Addressing academic community, the politician noted that young people and women occupy a special place in the MPLA's strategy, as they represent two groups that make up the majority of the population.
“In the 21st century, visionary leaders have to walk with youth and women, hence the fact that the party President João Lourenço bet on a woman, believing in the potential of this group of society”, she said.
Likewise, she highlighted that the head of the MPLA list is seriously committed to the ability of women.
Ensuring the promotion of gender equality, the balanced and harmonious development of the territory and human capital, expanding access to health services, knowledge and technical and scientific skills, culture and sport, is part of the broad programme of the MPLA.
The party leader also said that she hopes that the general elections will take place in a peaceful and orderly environment, so that, in fact, they become “a true party of democracy”.
She urged the community of the V Academic Region of the Central Plateau country (Huambo) to vote en mass for her party, whose number on the ballot is eight (8).
Candidate for Vice President
In turn, the candidate for vice president of the Republic, Esperança Maria da Costa, said that education is, for the MPLA, crucial for structuring of families and, at the same time, crucial in the building of society.
In her speech, she appealed to the academic community to write the evolution of the history of higher education in this region, at a time when the MPLA continues to invest in improving the quality of education, to achieve excellence and prepare young people for Africa and for the world.
Highlighting the commitment of the president João Lourenço, the politician said that the MPLA leader managed to generate more than 480,000 jobs, promote agricultural production, livestock and entrepreneurship.
The president’s commitment also enabled the implementation of public policies for the transition of the blue economy, valuing natural and maritime resources.
In case of victory in the general elections, added, the MPLA will increase the alternatives of scholarships for young people with low financial income, guarantee the well-being of children, women and the elderly, since the greatest wealth of a country is family.
Governance programme
She said that MPLA favours democracy, the fight against corruption, the promotion of sustainable development, the reduction of social inequalities, administrative deconcentration and decentralisation, with a focus on the implementation of municipalities.
MPLA also proposed to modernise infrastructure, develop a more competitive workforce, capable of responding to market needs, with support for subsidized credit to strengthen the young business class, make the economy more inclusive, led by the sector private sector, ensure national security and promote Angola's image in the national and international context, among other actions .
The province of Huambo, V Academic Region of the country, has the José Eduardo dos Santos University, which includes the faculties of Agrarian Sciences, Law, Economics, Human Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, in addition to the Higher Polytechnic Institute.
Also include the Higher Institute of Education Sciences (ISCED-public) and the private ones of Technologies and Humanities (ISUPE-Ekuikui II), Catholic, Lusíadas, Sol Nascente and Caála.
Seven political parties and one coalition are running for the general elections on 24 August.
They are MPLA, UNITA, PRS, FNLA, APN, PHA and P-NJANGO and the CASA-CE coalition.
Roughly 14.3 million voters are eligible to vote, including 22.560 who are residing abroad.
