The Secretary-General of Juntos Pelo Povo (JPP), Élvio Sousa, established this Monday a relationship between the “permanent refusal” of the PSD/CDS Government to comply with the law on access to administrative documents of government management and the “pompous way” in which the same executive recently presented an Autonomous Office of Transparency and Corruption, “curiously chaired by a PSD appointed individual.”
Élvio Sousa notes that “this PSD/CDS Government, despite being supported by an absolute majority by a partner who is more noted for his absence than for his presence, has proved to be inconstant, with a lack of direction, disorganisation, concealments and successive contradictions, such as the Social Mobility Allowance (SSM), Pedestrian walking routes and now the hospital building.”
“The government’s lack of transparency was once again evident when, in November 2025, the JPP requested the golf course contracts from the Regional Secretariat for Equipment and Infrastructures. Two months later, there’s still no response, despite legal obligations, passing deadlines, and a clear lack of cooperation with the largest opposition party. It’s hard not to conclude that the government is deliberately withholding these contracts from both the JPP and the public, but this issue is far from over.”
In a press release, Élvio Sousa considers that “when the PSD/CDS Government deliberately hides documentation, it violates the right to access information and hides data that serve as political scrutiny and interpretation, so we are facing an authoritarian, autocratic, opaque and non-transparent executive.” For the largest opposition party, the concealment of documents that should be public “only thickens the suspicions that they are covering up possible dealings,” when the amounts in question already point to 50 million euros of taxpayers applied in the construction of the Ponta do Pargo golf course.
This is a figure much higher than that initially advertised by the PSD/CDS Government, to which is added another 23 million euros included in the 2026 Budget for this sector. “We have every reason to believe that this governmental behaviour is a deliberate act of cover-up to hide, from the population, the errors and favours of governance, the fact that these ‘private golf courses’ are being paid for by public money, in addition to the complete disregard of the priorities and real needs of the populations, particularly in the area of housing and health.
The comments section proved interesting reading..
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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