Presidential Self-Dealing Has Corrupted Society
In August, I sent a letter to the President of the Republic, in which I drew attention to the fact that the Attorney General of the Republic was breaking the law by serving as managing director of various private firms, something that is incompatible with the office that he holds.
Several people have asked me about the lack of a response from the Head of State and Government regarding these complaints. My response has been that one cannot and should not expect any positive reaction from the President of the Republic concerning corruption and respect for the law. I argued that José Eduardo dos Santos embodied the same practices of conflating public duties with private interests, which he himself had condemned as the worst evil of his government. I also stated that disregard for the law was common practice for Dos Santos.
In response to these questions, I present a brief investigation into the practices of the Eduardo dos Santos Foundation (FESA) as a case study of the President’s behaviour in relation to the institutions of state, the current law, and corruption. While serving as President of the Republic, José Eduardo dos Santos also serves as chairman of his foundation, a private entity whose structures include members of the government, members of parliament, multinational corporations and private businesses. Research reveals several articles of legislation which have been ignored by FESA since it was founded in 1996, and which outlaw the use of public powers to personal ends, conflict of interests, influence-peddling and other corrupt practices.