AM suspends approval of the 2025 budget to make improvements to the document

This decision was taken and agreed by both parties, who at the beginning of the session noted that the budget plan for 2025 had many flaws and therefore decided to leave it to rectify the errors and present the document later.

In a statement to the press, the mayor of Brava, Amândio Brito, said that the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) views this situation as normal, taking into account that when there are issues that effectively raise doubts, one should go for what was the decision, which is to re-analyze the doubts and, as a result, choose whether or not to approve.

The mayor was convinced, however, that by clearing up the doubts that have arisen so far, they will be in a position to approve the budget at the extraordinary session, which will soon be scheduled by the Municipal Assembly.

Amândio Brito also said that doubts had arisen about the implementation of the PCFR, i.e. whether or not employees automatically become part of the local authority's workforce.

"I think this is basically the aspect that has given rise to the most debate and which, in a way, has also required some clarification. So it's this aspect that we're going to focus on so that we can clear up any doubts and then take the next steps, which I hope will be the approval of the budget," he said.

For his part, the leader of the Movement for Democracy (MPD) party in the Municipal Assembly, Samuel Varela, said that the position of that political force was to correct some measures that violated the regulations themselves.

"The question of the time and salary regime for councillors. So, the council has been working for three months and was paying to work illegally. That's why our caucus brought the amendment to the purpose of the Services Budget, introducing these points," he said.

In this sense, the same source considered that the above-mentioned situation shows the "good will" to collaborate, since, he said, the MpD doesn't want to prevent anything, it just wants to collaborate, because Brava is above all else.

Samuel Varela also assured that from the first hour, they had an "open mind", in which they spoke openly to the opposing benches and to the council team itself that the opposition is there to collaborate.

"We are here to support, so much so that they brought the activity plan, and we approved it unanimously. Now, the issue of the budget had errors, in our view, and also in their view, which needed to be revised, because the budget is numbers," he stressed.

"We don't want to elaborate on mistakes, so we returned the budget. The budget wasn't even put to the vote. The City Council thought it should correct it and then the Assembly will schedule another extraordinary session, so that the sooner this is resolved, the better," he concluded.

The PAICV, which emerged victorious in the race for the Municipal Council, obtaining 1,368 votes, against 1,307 for the MpD, but lost in the race for the Municipal Assembly, as the MpD secured victory with 1,364 votes, surpassing the 1,298 achieved by the PAICV.