Local elections 2024/Santa Catarina do Fogo: Manuel Teixeira takes over as mayor with a commitment to transformation and progress

In his first speech, the new president of Santa Catarina do Fogo demonstrated “deep humility, responsibility and a firm commitment to the development of the community” and highlighted the moment as a “true celebration of freedom and liberty and democracy” applied in the last local elections on December 1st.

In his inauguration speech, Manuel Teixeira thanked all the citizens who trusted in his electoral platform, stressing that the victory is a collective triumph.

The mayor stated that “each vote of confidence corresponds to a responsibility that he will not take lightly, as this triumph represents the strength of a dream conceived and shared for the common good”.

The new president reaffirmed his commitment to lead the municipality with humility, responsibility and determination and among the priorities he highlighted improving the quality of life of the citizens, creating jobs, strengthening the education, health, fishing and agriculture sectors, preserving the environment and sustainable development.

“Today, in the presence of everyone, I reaffirm the commitments I made throughout the campaign that led to our victory: to work tirelessly to build a fairer, more inclusive, more prosperous, more competitive municipality, where every citizen, regardless of their origin or condition, can feel heard, respected, valued and part of the municipality’s development process,” he said.

Manuel Teixeira stated that he is fully aware of the challenges to be faced, which are not few, but he committed to working, together with his team, from sunrise to sunset, to bring about an improvement in the quality of life of the residents, through the creation of employment opportunities, strengthening of the education, health, fishing and agriculture sectors, environmental preservation and the sustainable development of the municipality.

The new mayor of Santa Catarina do Fogo promises to be a president close to each citizen, working in partnership with all the forces involved in order to develop the municipality in all aspects and further expand relations with public/private institutions.

“I will promote leadership based on dialogue, transparency and efficiency, always placing public interests above any private interest”, stated the new mayor of Santa Catarina, who promises to exceed all expectations placed on his team.

He asked each citizen to continue to exercise their active citizenship and to demand, propose and participate because the development of Santa Catarina do Fogo will not be the work of one man alone, but the result of the joint effort of the entire community.

“One of the seven pillars of our electoral platform was the attraction of public and private services to the municipality in order to provide all the conditions and services that a city should have and this makes me, from today, create conditions and in an unbureaucratic way bring these services to assist our development process, making a more competitive and dynamic municipality”, said Manuel Teixeira who promised openness to dialogue and cooperation.

According to him, the diaspora plays a fundamental role in the economy of the municipality of Santa Catarina do Fogo, with investments contributing to its development and growth in several areas, and he promised to strengthen this partnership in order to further increase and diversify investments in the municipality.

Manuel Teixeira also promised to create the conditions for contacts with the diaspora in order to facilitate the entire process.

The new mayor said that the young people of Santa Catarina have demonstrated an enormous desire to bring about change and that a new approach and proximity to young people is necessary, as they are the present and future of Santa Catarina and all development in the municipality necessarily involves young people without exception.

According to him, the biggest partner for the development of the municipality will be the Government of Cape Verde, remembering that it is the engine that generates the economy, sustainable development, tourism, the environment and fishing.

He defended an institutional relationship of proximity and dialogue, with the main focus on the development of Santa Catarina do Fogo.

He concluded his speech with a commitment to lead with integrity, seriousness, respect and dedication and to place himself entirely at the service of this municipality, with the firm purpose of honoring the trust placed in his team.

The Minister of Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Housing, Eunice Silva, as a representative of the Government, said that the result of the local elections points to a change in the local government landscape and that everyone must draw their own conclusions and that the government will know how to understand the message.

Eunice Silva said that the government will assign powers to municipalities and highlighted the issue of gender-based violence, social reintegration of prisoners, domestic violence, emigration and consumer protection, and powers in matters of social promotion, education and the environment.

These transfers reflect, he explained, the government's political will to ensure the provision of public services and goods to the local authorities that are closest to the population.

“The harmonious and sustainable development of Cape Verde necessarily involves the dynamization and exploitation of the specificities and potential of each island and each municipality”, said Eunice Silva.

The president of the Municipal Assembly, Henrique Fernandes, asked for the continuation of positive discrimination in the municipality in order to allow the fight against poverty and guarantee harmonious development and so that the municipality can guarantee the same opportunities to everyone.

“The absolute priority must be an absolute fight against poverty”, said the president of the municipal assembly of Santa Catarina, for whom it is urgent to reform local finance laws to facilitate the creation of a framework that allows the municipal assembly to better fulfill its role.

Inforpress/End