The Angolans (only those who are, or claim to be, from the MPLA) “chose” the President General João Lourenço and the First Lady, Ana Dias Lourenço, as the figures of the year 2022, explaining that the winning duo obtained the highest number of votes ever, defeating the other two main and only candidates, in the case of João Lourenço and… João Lourenço, “showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the fury of division”.
Por Angola, following José Eduardo dos Santos was the figure of the year for 38 years, behold, João Lourenço took over. And he wants to stay there until all Angolans (those who are not MPLA) learn to live without… eating.
It should be noted that the President of the Republic (also President of the MPLA and holder of the Executive Power), General João Lourenço, is one of the most, perhaps even the greatest, African personalities of the year (whatever the year) and even of the democratic world, from North Korea to Equatorial Guinea.
General João Lourenço, since taking office, has occupied exactly the center of the key conversations of our times: regarding wealth and poverty, equity and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women (…) the temptations of power.
Everyone, Angolans and citizens of the world (from North Korea to Equatorial Guinea) hope that in 2023 everyone will remember a personality like João Lourenço who, for decades behind the scenes and now in the limelight, has been the helmsman of all qualities and interventions that should be attributed to a statesman of international caliber.
In the religious field, perhaps it does not have the same prominence because José Eduardo dos Santos was considered “the chosen one of God”. However, João Lourença’s court is already working so that he is qualified not as the “chosen one” but as being… “God”.
At that time, everyone will say that the choice “is not surprising, taking into account the resonance and the great attention that João Lourenço’s presidency awakens throughout the world, and surroundings”.
Then Jornal de Angola will say that “the leader of the MPLA, of the Government and President of the Republic, became the voice of conscience, with attention centered on compassion”, presenting João Lourenço as “the Father of the People”.
Everyone will consider it “a positive sign that one of the most prestigious recognitions in the international press is awarded to those who effectively announce spiritual, religious, moral, ethical and social values in the world in favor of peace and greater justice.”
For his part, we anticipate, João Lourenço will explain that he is not looking for fame or success, that he simply does his job of proclaiming the Gospel of the love he has for everyone. If this attracts millions of Angolan men and women, the President is happy. If this choice of “the Figure of the Year” means that many have understood – at least implicitly – this message, surely this will make you feel happy, concludes the regime’s spokesman.
And we will all be frankly happy. Distinguishing João Lourenço will be a way of showing the world how much he is superior to leaders such as N’Krumahn, Nasser, Amílcar Cabral, Senghor, Boigny, Hassan II or Nelson Mandela.
In fact, if it weren’t for the “strategic vision” of President João Lourenço and, admittedly, democracy, reconciliation, equality, freedom, social equity, human rights, would have collapsed a long time ago.
The world has yet to realize, once and for all, that also in the economy, as in all other areas of life and death of Angolans, God now has in João Lourenço his chosen one.
Led by the greatest world personality of all times, some Angolans will continue to be increasingly rich and others, of little relevance to the case, will continue to be increasingly poor. Although it has been like this for 47 years, it is certain that, like everything else in life, there is no good that lasts and no bad that never ends.
As Teta Lando said, possibly in a poem – who knows? – by João Lourenço, “if you are white it doesn’t matter to anyone, if you are mulatto it doesn’t matter to anyone, if you are black it doesn’t matter to anyone. What matters is your desire to make a better Angola. A truly free Angola, an independent Angola.”
Until now, the leader of the MPLA (the party that has governed Angola since 1975), the unelected President of the Republic and head of the Government, João Lourenço, shows that he does not play around and that he will not rest until he is chosen as a world personality and, of course, not to win a well-deserved Nobel Prize.
In support of the support that we express here to João Lourenço, we remember that, from time to time, the President reveals an unprecedented humor, visible when he exhorts his subjects to, neither more nor less, “not to agree with corruption and with the appropriation of public or party means”.
Still in the ambit of his humorous vein, not always understood by journalists, João Lourenço also says that the MPLA has fought since 1975 “for the defense of freedoms, rights and guarantees of citizens”.
The peak of this humour, one would say that it is almost an orgasm, is registered when the President evokes the “heavy legacy of colonialism” as the cause of all evils.
