Angolan Catholic bishops say hope is stifled by toxic influences
Bishops at CEAST's second plenary assembly in Lunda Norte call for people to be placed at the centre of public policy.
Catholic bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST) are holding their II Plenary Assembly in Lunda Norte, in eastern Angola, running until Thursday. The conference's president, José Manuel Imbamba, an Angolan archbishop, said citizens' hope remains suffocated by social, political, cultural and religious toxins.
Imbamba said this environment seriously compromises people's emotional and psychological balance. The bishops said remote communities remain distant from the development table and are often subject to manipulation and exploitation. Imbamba said social exclusion remains an open wound and that people must be placed at the centre of all public policies.
Imbamba called for transparent management of resources, real priority for family agriculture and local production, and recognition of teachers and doctors, and urged a relentless fight against corruption, waste, favouritism and partisanship. He also praised the government's continued efforts on peace and national reconciliation, and welcomed the inauguration in Luanda on 14 October of the Memorial to the Victims of Political Conflicts, honouring those who died between 11 November 1975 and 4 April 2002.
Why it mattersThe call for family agriculture and local production priority bears directly on farmers, and the call to fight corruption and waste bears on public spending.