CANDEIAS INSIDE - Mario Matos
Companies in the air and maritime transport sectors operate in the Cape Verdean market based on public policies defined by the Government.
However, the Government of Ulisses Correia e Silva produced bad policies in the transport sector, in which the defense of users' interests and rights are not safeguarded.
It must be clear: it is not up to Bestfly or CVI to defend the interests of citizens. They want to do business, make profits, achieve THEIR goals. The defense of the rights and interests of citizen users, as well as the defense of the common good, is the responsibility of the State, therefore, through the mechanisms and instruments that the Government is responsible for defining.
Regulators have to fulfill the mission for which they were created but, ultimately, the responsibility lies with the Government.
These companies operate in their respective field, based on what is allowed/facilitated to them.
Bad public policies create environments that facilitate the violation of rights and abuse by companies towards users.
Bad public policies associated with the Government's neglect in defending the interests of citizens, worsen their fragility, who are left unprotected, with their hands tied.
The dismemberment and deregulation of the airline sector has come a long way.
It began with the extinction of the TACV, the creation of the CVA and BInter-CV, in obscure deals whose opacity to this day the Government has not completely dispelled and in which Cape Verde's rights were harmed.
In none of these public affairs was the national interest taken care of. However, it is not the fault of the external partners (so-called "strategic") involved in these businesses. Once again, they acted in accordance with their interests, not being responsible for defending those in Cape Verde.
This is the responsibility of the MpD Government, which simply did not assume it.
Therefore, the debacle we saw on the part of Bestfly and CVI does not bring anything new. It is the continuity of bad public policies and a systematic practice of omission by the State/Government.
Thus, the person responsible for this state of affairs has a name: the MpD Government, headed by Ulisses Correia e Silva and supported by its Parliamentary Majority.
It is necessary to clearly define things like "yours to yours" and persevere in assuming political responsibilities that can only be assigned to political actors, something that companies are not, but the Government and the Parliamentary Majority.
