Henrique Gouveia e Melo reacted to the dismissal of the Minister of Internal Administration. In an interview with SIC, the former Chief of Staff of the Navy maintains criticism of the Government and Civil Protection’s response to the storms, which left more than 60 municipalities in a calamity situation.
A caught Henrique Gouveia e Melo about to join SIC’s Jornal da Noite. The admiral ended up seeing confirmation, by herself, the reflection I had madethe opinion article published this Tuesday in . The former candidate for President of the Republic had criticized Maria Lúcia Amaral’s performance following the storms that ravaged the country, saying that the leadership had failed and that someone should take responsibility for the consequences.
“Apparently, the minister thought so too”, he began by saying, adding that the minister’s departure protects the Government and “benefits the population”.
As already done, the former Chief of Staff of the Navy, criticized the response of the Government and Civil Protection. Gouveia e Melo says that the Minister of Internal Administration failed across the board, from command, to preparation, to the way in which the State was present on the ground and among the populations. In the opinion article, he even called for a profound remodeling of Civil Protection.
On the ground, the admiral believes that a “task-force” was needed, a term that takes us to the role he played in the pandemic, when he was responsible for the vaccination plan against covid-19. However, he himself wanted to avoid personal readings, guaranteeing that he “is not looking for a job”, that he does not plan to be the new Minister of Internal Administration, although he admits that he will be “always available to work for the Portuguese State and for the Portuguese population”.
The article, Gouveia e Melo insisted, had no other objective than the exercise of the right to participate in the country’s political life as a citizen. “And this political participation is not of a caste. Nor is it reserved for a fund”, he said, arguing that “all citizens can contribute”.
“I think the country needs answers. There are a lot of people capable of giving these answers. I don’t believe that there is a D. Sebastião who solves all the problems. Therefore, there are a lot of people with the capacity and knowledge to give these answers. The Government will have to find these people. What this does not mean is that I cannot criticize the way the Government acted and by making this criticism, in some way, contribute to the public debate”, he continued.
Experienced in leading teams in extreme scenarios, the until recently candidate for President of the Republic argues that extreme phenomena, increasingly frequent, require a response at another level, that is, more coordinated, faster and with more awareness of the capabilities that the State has at its disposal, including the Armed Forces. He considers that, in disaster situations, a type of mission must be carried out, which brings together various entities and branches of the Armed Forces, with no room for “farms” and institutional disputes.
“The Armed Forces are a capability that the country has. And like all capabilities, in times of crisis, they should not be put on the shelf or used in small pieces. One of the big problems, which many of these actors on the ground do not understand, is when they ask the Armed Forces or Defense for anything,They cannot ask for a generator or a vehicle or ten soldiers. They ask for an ability to execute a mission. This lack of capacity, of perception, of how the Armed Forces act and how they can develop their maximum potential on the ground is an error in the system itself”, he pointed out.
