“The Government of Madeira is absolutely in the dark” about what was said in the hearings in the Assembly of the Republic (AR) about the fires that broke out in Madeira in August and assures that it is the Regional Parliament who supervises the regional executive.
Words woven this morning by Miguel Albuquerque, President of the Regional Government, who understands that “a set of disputes” has already begun to be said, giving the example of “some gentleman from civil protection are offering an opinion,’ referring to the President of the Portuguese Association of Security and Civil Protection Technicians (Asprocivil), Ricardo Ribeiro, who considered it “a strategic mistake by the Regional Government” for not integrating Madeira into the national rural firefighting plan.
While talking to journalists, Miguel Albuquerque did not stop there. He derogatorily said that, “this gentleman, by the way, must be responsible for the brilliant work that was done during the last mainland fires. If this is the case, do not come here and give us advice.”
The governor considers that these hearings are “a colonial eccentricity that derives from the propensity of the PS that has always been intrinsically colonialist in its views.”
“Don’t come to Madeira to give lessons on Civil Protection and talk about fires about a geographical, insular reality and the characteristics of Madeira when you have no idea what Madeira is. Maybe they’ve never set foot here and have the habit of talking about what they don’t know. That’s why they have entertainment on television for 24 hours,” he commented, also criticizing the “clowning” that there will be “experts of nothing” talking about “subjects they have no idea about, about realities they don’t know and about skills they don’t have. Here in Madeira it doesn’t work,” he reinforced.
The minister also said that there is, in these hearings, a situation of “dysfunctionality,” stressing that the Madeiran executive does not recognise any power to the AR to supervise the Government of Madeira.
“Who supervises the Government of Madeira is the regional parliament. The national parliament does not have any supervisory powers within the framework of the autonomy that was conquered in 1976.”
Miguel Albuquerque stresses, that the Government of Madeira will respond to the commission in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira. “I will respond to the ALRAM commission. The Regional Assembly has the power of inspection and scrutiny over the government, whereas the AR does not.”
Miguel Albuquerque also said that what the State should do is assume, within the framework of its constitutional responsibilities, its competencies in Civil Protection. “What I find regrettable is that, after all these years, the State makes fewer and fewer transfers in the National Cohesion Fund to Madeira as you can see. In other words, it does not assume the costs of insularity and the Madeirans themselves are the ones who have to ensure the costs of Civil Protection, including the 2 million euros that we paid for the helicopter that has been extraordinarily effective.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: JM
