Jose Eduado dos Santos did not see the fireball coming, after many years of his despotic rulership in Angola, he eased himself from power by installing his protege Joao Lourenco in 2017 to take the baton of running the Angolan government.
Little did he know that the chicken that he raised will come back to the roost. Since his assumption of office, Joao Lourenco has broken all the party’s protocol of political godfatherism in Africa,
The nation’s resources from oil revenue that was siphoned by Eduardo Dos Santos and his family has come under stiff scrutiny. The first daughter of the former President Isabella Dos Santos and other cronies, who spearheaded many fraudulent business transactions are now under prosecution by the Lourenco led government.
Foreign firms have hesitated to invest in Angola’s economy, wary of losing profits to corruption. Two years into Lourenco’s presidency, Angola ranks 177 out of 190 countries on the World Bank’s 2019 Ease of Doing Business Index.
A more diverse foreign investment portfolio is a key part of Lourenco’s road map to economic stability. Angola’s growing debt and dependency on China leaves the country vulnerable to harder bargains in future dealings. By prosecuting key members of the political establishment — such as Jose Filomeno and Isabel dos Santos — Lourenco hopes to convince potential investors of his commitment to purge Angola of corruption.
According to ANGOP, the state-run news agency, the government’s anti-corruption campaign recovered more than $5 billion in illegally grafted assets in 2019 alone.
Some detractors are equating Lourenco’s anti graft war as a ploy to boost his political standing in the next Angola’s Presidential election. But my take is that for whatever reason, he has shown brazen ingenuity in fighting corruption which is comparable to Jerry Rawlings in Ghana.(Which I fondly call the Jerry Rawlings Option)
The people of oil rich Angola whose resources have been grossly mismanaged are now hopeful for economic and social upliftment.
If this kind of bravado by a successor against a despotic predecessor transcends from Angola to other developing countries in Africa, we may be on our way towards economic freedom and better social welfare for our citizens.
Ike Agbatekwe
Editor @ Large
Life and Times News
Los Angeles, California
