The administration of the Angolan parliament condemned on Tuesday the prayers of the religious in the plenary hall, stating that the “slip” was due to “emotional factors of the pastors and the neglect of a parliamentary employee”, guaranteeing that “administrative measures” were taken. .
The act is reprehensible, what happened is not correct, we also repudiate it, this was a slip that resulted from emotional factors of the members of the visit and our staff that accompanied them, who indeed must have the discernment to say no to the pastors ”, the secretary general of the National Assembly (parliament) told Lusa on Tuesday.
Pedro Agostinho de Neri perceived that the parliament, “despite being the house of the people, did not authorize the prayer session in the main plenary room, but its doors are open to any visitor”.
The parliament “does not authorize this type of prayer, the parliament is the house of the people, and in the house of the people when you express interest in coming to visit, we are obliged to facilitate this visit, here we have the modus operandi that you ask for, what we authorize and we have guides, which show where and how parliament works”.
“Unfortunately what happened is that the priests were moved, when they arrived at the plenary hall and saw that monstrous room they were moved, our colleague who accompanied the visit did not have enough discernment to say that this act was not done”, he is stressed.
“Shortly after also we discover the truth and we have already taken the corresponding administrative measures and everything else that the parliamentary groups may express interest in knowing that they have a space, this house is theirs, and they do not have to go to third parties to ask for explanations, “he said. .
A video broadcast on social networks in Angola shows a group of more than a dozen religious, most of them kneeling, praying in the main hall of the plenary session of the Angolan parliament, in Luanda.
The Social Renewal Party (PRS), the Angolan opposition, condemned and considered on Tuesday “a big mistake” the holding of prayers in the main hall of the plenary session of parliament, urging the leadership of the legislative body to “apologize”.
“Certainly it is necessary for the leadership of parliament to issue an apology because it was a big mistake that he was allowed to pray in the plenary hall,” PRS deputy Benedito Daniel told Lusa on Tuesday.
UNITA, the largest opposition party, demanded, on Monday, the president of the Angolan parliament to determine responsibility for the “secret religious ceremony” held in the plenary hall of the legislative body, considering it the “peak of promiscuity” between the State and religion.
The parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) also considered that holding the aforementioned ceremony, “in favor of the campaign of the candidates for President of the Republic and deputies to the National Assembly (parliament) of The party of the regime for the elections of August 24 represents the “reification” of faith”.
“As well as the instrumentalization of religion for purposes contrary to the social doctrine of the church,” reads a press release from the UNITA parliamentary group released.
Pedro Agostinho de Neri also mentioned that the parties have spaces where they should put their concerns, “fundamentally in a plenary session or in a board of directors where all the members are or at a table, and not like this.”
According to the head of the parliamentary administration, the video circulating on social networks was recorded by one of the pastors of the so-called “platform of Christian churches” to “show that he visited the people’s house.”
This case “is an issue only because we are living in this political environment, because if we all look back, all the inaugurations we were doing were churches invited to come and inaugurate,” he stressed.
“It is the political moment (pre-election period) and there is a relative use of it, but the act is reprehensible, what happened is not correct, we also repudiate it, this was a slip that resulted from emotional factors of the members of the visit and our employee who accompanied them must indeed have the discernment to say no to the pastors”, concluded Pedro Agostinho de Neri.
The Angolan parliament, whose legislature is in its final stage, is made up of 220 deputies, mostly from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power), followed by UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS and FNLA.
Angola holds the fifth general elections in the country’s political history on August 24.
Source: Observadora
