Category: Corruption

There is a question so puzzling that is leaving many with open mouths. Why would a country rapidly trying to construct its infrastructure (which needs cement) suddenly ban the importation of the same material? The same country is not able to manufacture the product in the necessary quantities. This is a question that has been prompted by the recent investigation by Rafael Marques de Morais about the wheeling and dealing in the setting up of the cement manufacturer FCKS (Fábrica de Cimento do Kwanza Sul). A recent investigation by Rafael Marques de Morais, about the wheeling and dealing in the setting up the cement manufacturer FCKS (Fábrica de Cimento do Kwanza Sul), has prompted the abovementioned question. Every year, Angola needs about 7 million tonnes of cement, but the local production does not meet half of this amount. Therefore, many wondered about the rationale behind the Executive Decree no 15/14, […]

Angolan business practices are under the microscope again after a US$800 million  government-backed cement factory suspended production, and its recently dismissed CEO announced a sell-off of shares whose ownership is in question. An investigation by Maka Angola suggests the confusion surrounding the state of affairs at the Kwanza Sul Cement Factory (Fábrica de Cimento Kwanza Sul) can be traced directly to Angola’s ‘unique’ business practices under the current MPLA government, led for the past 36 years by President José Eduardo dos Santos. The Angolan colonel who founded the company has been sacked, the operating costs have become uneconomic and the Danish company LNS in charge of running the plant says it’s owed US$20 million in unpaid fees.  Legal experts have told Maka Angola that the uncertain future of the Kwanza Sul Cement Factory (FCKS) is directly related to its tangled history. Ownership and finances as clear as mud The origins […]

The crisis, which the government blames on falling oil prices, has been used to disguise a much older and deeper crisis  that already existed long before the reasons given by the government lately. The Court of Accounts provides some alarming evidence in its report to parliament on the Government’s Budget Execution Report for 2013 . According to the Court of Accounts report, reviewed by Maka Angola, in 2013 the state was paid dividends to the tune of 95.4 million Kwanzas (US$954,000) on its direct shares in a total of 37 companies. The sum is ridiculously low given the government’s multi-billion dollar investments in the private sector. Apart from the national oil company Sonangol, the state only made a profit on beer sales from its shares in three beer producers. Dos Santos’ government billed Cuca for 67.9 million Kwanzas; a further 23.5 million from N’gola and another 4 million from Eka. […]

As the current economic crisis in Angola has deepened, citizens are finally beginning to ask how tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues have been spent. In its report on the 2013 state budget spending, the Court of Accounts sheds light on how many members of the government engaged in squandering and pilfering  public funds. The court carried out fact-finding visits to the Ministries of Construction, Health, Education, Transport, Energy and Water, as well as Urbanisation and Housing. The report will be discussed by the National Assembly next June, but Maka Angola is providing an exclusive preview of some of the disturbing findings. At the top of the list is the Construction Ministry, which entered into contracts to the tune of US $2 billion without “prior authorisation from the CA [Court of Accounts], and which were not submitted to prior oversight” as required by law. The CA highlights the […]