Luanda - Angola parliament approved Friday unanimously the Bills on the Institutionalization of Local Authorities, on Local Elected Officials and on the Municipal Guard.
Presenting the bills to the National Assembly, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Dionísio Manuel da Fonseca, said the institutionalization of local authorities represents an important step towards strengthening and consolidating the democratic process underway in the country.
Dionísio da Fonseca emphasized that institutionalizing local authorities is a constitutional design and a national objective, enshrined in the country's main governance instruments approved by the Head of the Executive Branch.
The Proposal for a Law on the Institutionalization of Local Authorities proposes to define a set of essential tasks linked to official registration, granting of identity cards, approval of local legislation, territorial delimitation, human capital, assets, budget management and information and communication technologies.
According to the minister, these tasks should be carried out by sharing responsibility between the government and the National Assembly.
The government has proposed that Parliament set up an Eventual Commission, which will be responsible for monitoring the materialization of these tasks, and will also be responsible for assessing the circumstantial report that should serve as the basis for creating each local authority specifically and by law.
Statute for Local Elected Officials
Law no. 25/20 of 20 July on the Statute of Local Elected Officials lays down a series of duties and rights, including monthly remuneration, representation, expenses and holiday allowance and the respective social benefits.
The Article 12 of the same statute states that the salary of the mayor and other members of the municipal council are fixed by law.
In terms of remuneration, the mayor of the municipality is entitled to a basic salary equivalent to 75 per cent of the salary of the provincial governor and will also receive a representation allowance of 50 percent of the respective basic salary.
The mayor will also be entitled to a rent allowance of 45 per cent of his basic salary if he does not live in an official residence.The Municipal Guard provided for in the Bill is an administrative service of the local authority designed to exercise the function of administrative police in the respective area of jurisdiction and to ensure compliance with the rules in force in the local authority.
The Minister for Territorial Administration clarified that the Municipal Guard is not to be confused with the National Police, which is a national, regulated and non-partisan institution organized on the basis of hierarchy and discipline tasked with the protection and public security of the country, while the Municipal Guard will essentially be made up of municipal inspection agents.
The proposed laws, the last of the municipal package, will now be discussed in detail, with a view to final overall approval.
The Municipal Legislative Package includes 13 pieces of legislation that will regulate the exercise of municipal power in the country, ten of which have already been approved by the National Assembly and published in the State Gazette.DC/ART/TED/AMP
