Campaigning in Porto de Leixões, the presidential candidate accuses the State of constantly failing and that this is the result of appointments of “boys” to positions of technical competence in public administration.
Presidential candidate Gouveia e Melo criticized this Wednesday the appointments of “boys” to positions of technical competence in public administration and promised to demand responsibility and put an end to “excuses” from political power in the face of failures in the State.
These positions were taken by the former Chief of Staff of the Navy at the end of a visit to the Port of Leixões, after being confronted by journalists with the case of a man, in Seixal, who died on Tuesday after almost three hours waiting for help from INEM.
“A State that consistently fails is a State that must deserve the attention of political power. We cannot continually fail, fail, fail and think everything is fine”, reacted the admiral, before leaving a set of questions about determining responsibilities in the face of serious cases that occurred in various areas of the State.
The candidate for Belém also demands accountability for yet another case, considering that there never seems to be anyone responsible for anything.
“Who are responsible? Why did it fail? Nobody knows. Is it known why the planes that were on the ground failed when we needed them to fight fires? It seems to me that there is never anyone responsible for anything”, he criticized.
In this context, he made an indirect reference to what is happening in the health sector, denouncing a tactic used to avoid taking responsibility.
Gouveia e Melo then stated that “political power cannot go around changing those responsible for structures whenever there is a problem, as a way of apologizing.”
“The State has to change a lot and Portuguese politics has to change a lot”, he declared.
The admiral accepted that some appointments to state positions must have a political component, but “below this political component, there must be no political administrations, there must be professional administrations”, he maintained.
He also left a question: “Do we want a professionalized State, capable of giving us answers, or do we want a State that basically serves to house a group of political party clientele?”
Debureaucratization in Portuguese ports praised
Previously, during the visit to the Port of Leixões, Gouveia e Melo praised the reduction in bureaucracy introduced in Portuguese ports in the last 20 years, especially in the loading and unloading of goods, through the adoption of national software.
However, he then issued a warning: “We must not let political structures infiltrate places of high technical competence, entirely based on knowledge.”
“A ‘boy’ can’t come and control something he doesn’t know just because he has a political card. Unfortunately, this happens a little throughout public administration,” he added.
If he is elected President of the Republic, Gouveia e Melo said that one of his causes will be the “mission to renew the State, so that it has a high level of efficiency, with much less bureaucracy”.
“The State also needs to pay better to retain talent and for there to be a more vibrant economy in Portugal”, he added.
