Disclosing of Administrative Decentralizationand Local Power Policy in the district of Baucau
The Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão met, on May 18th and 19th, 2013, with the population of the district of Baucau, for the disclosing of Administrative Decentralization and Local Power Policy, a meeting that occurred at Baucau’s football field.
“The concept of Municipality is not the enlargement of district administration and decentralization does not mean creating more district institutions. Rather, it means bringing the Central Government close to the People, in orderto answer to their needs and freeingthemfrom poverty. Therefore, it is necessary to empower human resources in the area of administration and management, planning, budgeting and monitoring, aiming to improve people’s life”, referred the Prime Minister.
The Head of Government appealed to all the community of Baucau, especially intellectuals, veterans, political parties and Non-Governmental Organizations, to not only think about individual interests, but about their unity, and to accurately prepare themselves to receiving municipality, “because now it is time for us to get together and develop our country”, said the Prime Minister.
The Administrator of the district of Baucau, António Guterres, said that “Baucau has no doubts in accepting the establishment of municipality, for it has enough natural resources and able human resources, originated from different areas of expertise, which might be considered as a decisive factor for the implementation of municipality, in the initial stage.
The district of Baucau is 1.494 square kilometres and has 113.700 inhabitants. It is made out of six subdistricts (Bagia, Baucau, Laga, Kelikai, Vemasse and Venilale) and 59 sucos. The major economic activities in the district aresubsistence agriculture, livestock breeding, rice culture, cocoa cropping and other plantations, tourism and fisheries.
Present at this meeting were the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Administrative Decentralization, Tomás Cabral, the Secretary of State for Local Development, Samuel Mendonça, the Secretary of State for Institutional Strengthening, Francisco Soares, the Secretary of State for Support and Promotion of the Private Sector, Veneranda Lemos, the President of the National Parliament, Vicente Guterres, and a large number of inhabitants from the six subdistrict communities of the district of Baucau.
