“The Government of Madeira doesn’t give a damn” about what was said in the hearings in the Assembly of the Republic (AR) about the fires that broke out in Madeira in August and asserts that the regional parliament is the one that oversees the regional executive.
Words uttered this morning by Miguel Albuquerque, president of the Regional Government, who believes that “a series of nonsense” has already begun to be said, giving the example of “some gentleman from civil protection” who said “a series of nonsense about the fires”, referring to the president of the Portuguese Association of Security and Civil Protection Technicians (Asprocivil), Ricardo Ribeiro, who considered it “a strategic error by the Regional Government” in not integrating the national plan to combat rural fires.
On the sidelines of a visit to the Gonçalves Zarco Basic and Secondary School, Albuquerque did not stop there and joked that “this gentleman, by the way, must be responsible for the brilliant work that was done in the last fires (on the continent) and, therefore, do not come here to give instructions”, he observed.
The government official considers that these hearings are “a colonial eccentricity that derives from the inherently colonialist propensity of the PS”, the party that requested the hearings.
“Don’t come to Madeira to give lessons on Civil Protection and talk about fires about a geographical, insular reality and the characteristics of Madeira, because they have no idea what Madeira is. Maybe they’ve never set foot here and they have a habit of talking about things they don’t know. That’s why they have entertainment on television 24 hours a day”, he commented, also criticizing the “farce” that there must be “experts in nothing” talking about “subjects they have no idea about, about realities they are unaware of and about skills they don’t have. It doesn’t work here in Madeira”, he reinforced.
The minister also said that there is a situation of “dysfunctionality” in these hearings, stressing that the Madeiran executive does not recognize any power to the AR to supervise the Government of Madeira.
“The regional parliament is responsible for monitoring the Madeira Government. The national parliament does not have any powers of oversight within the framework of the autonomy that was achieved in 1976”, he stressed.
The minister also stressed that the Government of Madeira will answer to the committee in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira. “I will answer to the ALRAM committee. The regional Assembly has the power to monitor and scrutinize the government the AR does not have it”, he concluded.
Miguel Albuquerque also added that the State should assume, within the framework of its constitutional responsibilities, its powers in Civil Protection. “What I find regrettable is that, after all these years, the State is making fewer and fewer transfers from the National Cohesion Fund to Madeira, as you can see. In other words, it is not assuming the costs of island status and the Madeirans themselves are the ones who have to cover the costs of Civil Protection, including the 2 million euros or so that we paid for the helicopter, which has been extraordinarily effective.”