In the second high-profile resignation relating to the fundamental mishandling of Portugal’s two devastating summer fires, Colonel Joaquim Leitão send in his letter of resignation today which was accepted by the prime minister.
Joaquim Leitão had been in charge of the National Civil Protection Authority for about a year and in recent months had under increasing pressure due to evident failures in his handling of the fire-fighting forces at Pedrógão Grande in July and during last weekend’s firestorm that devastated areas of central and northern Portugal.
Joaquim Leitão delivered his letter on Wednesday to the Secretary of State for Internal Administration, Jorge Gomes, who referred him to the prime minister. This was on the same day that Constança Urbano de Sousa quit her ministerial role, to ‘retain her dignity.’
Constança Urbano de Sousa dated her resignation letter to the day before the President of the Republic explicitly demanded her head on a plate in his speech to the nation. (here)
Army Colonel Joaquim Pereira Leitão was appointed on October 17, 2016, taking over from Francisco Grave Pereira who had been forced to resign a month earlier following an investigation into the disastrous purchase and maintenance of Kamov helicopters. Previously, Leitão had commanded of the Regiment of Firemen of Lisbon.
Costa has misread the political jam he is in, as the appointment of Eduardo Cabrita as Minister of Internal Administration and Pedro Siza Vieira as the associated deputy minister, positions two of the prime minister’s old friends in critically sensitive roles.
Costa has a blind spot when appointing those he needs to help him lead the county’s administration, choosing close friends from the Faculty of Law at the University of Lisbon, such as Eduardo Cabrita and Pedro Siza Vieira, among others including the lawyer Jorge Gonçalves (member of the Magistrates’ Superior Council), Jorge Oliveira (until July, the Secretary of State for Internationalisation but forced to resign because of GalpGate) and Diogo Lacerda Machado, the lawyer who advised the prime minister on issues such as the reversal of TAP’s privatisation and on BES.
This chumocracy is damaging to the PM as the inference is that those appointed got there through friendship rather than on merit, however unfair this might be in certain cases.
In order to replace Eduardo Cabrita as deputy minister when he was elevated, the prime minister pulled in Pedro Siza Vieira, a lawyer from Linklaters which is the company that advised on the responsibility of communications company, SIRESP SA, in the Pedrógão fires.
As Eduardo Cabrita inauguration will take place first thing on Saturday morning, the new minister will be able to participate in the Council of Ministers meeting that will discuss the recommendations of the independent technical commission that investigated the fires at Pedrógão Grande.
It is expected that, after Saturday's the Council of Ministers’ meeting, others in key positions will be sacked, or given the opportunity to resign, so as to clear the decks for a whole raft of fire prevention and firefighting measures.
If the PM continues to appoint only his mates, next Tuesday's parliamentary vote of 'no confidence in the government,' could lead to Costa's downfall as only nine socialist MPs need to vote for the CDS opposition motion, for the President to have grounds to dissolve parliament, (here) although the Communists and the greens already have indicated they will support the government.
