Angola’s governance continues to be marred by corruption scandals, undermining its democratic institutions. Since the beginning of 2025, it has already experienced three scandals regarding mismanagement and corruption within some state or public institutions, including the following cases:
1. The AGT case: Senior officials of the Administração Geral Tributária-AGT (General Tax Administration), an entity overseen by the Ministry of Finance, were recently arrested for alleged involvement in a fraudulent VAT refund scheme involving the diversion of 7 billion Kwanzas (about 7.3 million Euros).
2. The case concerning the mismanagement of INAGBE.
3. The case of the diversion of 22 million Kwanzas from the coffers of the Union of Artists and Composers.
These scandals cast a shadow over Angola’s leadership under President João Lourenço, raising serious concerns about governance. Is the state truly committed to administrative, criminal, and civil accountability for these managers and public officials involved in illegal acts? Is it willing to listen to entrepreneurs ? There is even a widely accepted notion that corruption or theft pays off significantly in this stagnant system. In 2017, 4 AGT officials were detained for active corruption and tax fraud, including Nickolas Neto, the former regional director of the AGT, who was sentenced in August 2018 with penalties that made the courtroom laugh.
The situation in Angola is outrageous. Most of the wealthy and successful individuals are politicians, who remain entrenched in public office. Domestic businesses struggle to grow amid corruption and economic mismanagement. Hospitals are devoid of medication and provide poor healthcare. Cities are filled with beggars and disorganized due to trash and street vendors, while the homes of the rulers are among the most expensive in Africa (as in the case of Higino Carneiro).
The scandals mentioned above would make a good book. They represent millions taken from citizens in a blatant manner. These thefts are the result of centralized management and reveal the weakness of the economic system, or perhaps not only the weakness of the economic system but also the will of a minority dressed in power, feasting on exploitation.
This is simply the known value. Without fear of being wrong, we can assert that many millions have still been embezzled. The case of the fraudulent VAT refund scheme involving the diversion of 7 billion Kwanzas (about 7.3 million Euros) has been operational for over three years. The newspaper, OPAÍS, details that officials provided passwords to former colleagues on work licenses from other companies to carry out fraudulent operations that harmed the state. It adds that with the provided passwords, the group accessed AGT’s financial system and conducted “criminal” operations consisting of payments and settling debts of hundreds of companies, whose amounts were subsequently diverted and allegedly funneled into the accounts of the “criminal network.” This caused losses of over 7 billion Kwanzas over a period exceeding three years. So far, investigative and security bodies have seized 27 vehicles, 3 properties, and detained 9 AGT employees.
The very act of collecting taxes is seen as theft from a liberal perspective, and the Value Added Tax is double the theft. But what about the theft of these funds which are said to serve the public interest? The proportion of this theft is equivalent to the payment of half of the public debt that Angola owes to China, the main investor in Angola. The debt is currently estimated at 14.2 billion Euros. This means we are facing a theft that should shame us all, as we are merely the public and not citizens, because a citizen is one who claims their rights.
On public television, in the program Sociedade Aberta, Vice President Filomena de Oliveira highlighted that the VAT is unfair and is being implemented incorrectly in Angola, even going so far as to claim that AGT technicians are deaf, conducting fruitless consultations without gathering feedback from entrepreneurs. She also emphasized that AGT (General Tax Administration) technicians lack proper training in handling this VAT, with the Angolan market having insufficient accountants to meet the demands of many companies and the software not being accessible to all taxpayers. Furthermore, she criticized, among other things, the industrial tax rate at 30%. This uniform application of the industrial tax rate is objectionable given that there are small, medium, and large companies, and she disapproved of the withholding deduction of 6.5% on the anticipated industrial tax, something that, in the economist’s view, should not exist.
Mauro Machado, a tax manager, argues that this act of theft from the state brings with it several negative consequences, namely, a cycle of destruction, weakening of public revenue, inflation and currency devaluation, aversion to foreign investment, capital flight, and money laundering. To combat this quagmire, he proposes identifying the problem as systemic, so the solution cannot be episodic: conducting targeted audits, reforming the Tax Administration, reviewing the salary structure and raising meritocracy, ensuring budget transparency, and involving civil society and businesses.
In light of the scandal and failure in fiscal policy, Finance Minister Vera Daves simply offered an apology during her speech in parliament and promised that individuals would be held accountable. However, in my view, this situation called for resignation due to incompetence or dismissal by the President of the Republic. It is a significant amount of public money that could have been used appropriately for the benefit of the population. The government should adopt radical measures against these public agents, or it will condemn us to a vicious cycle of misery. How can thousands of taxpayers feel satisfied with just a simple apology?
Another major problem lies in the weak capacity to attract quality direct investments. We have investors without character who evade taxes, given the high level of corruption, informality, and excessive regulation. They escape the tax authorities thanks to their connections with politicians, leaving national entrepreneurs adrift and often burdened by unnecessary regulations.
Although there is a privatization program for public companies, the state is still the largest owner of companies. The government holds the largest firms in the country, making it the largest shareholder. There is a market monopoly, unfair competition, rampant corruption, nepotism, and instability. The politician is the businessman, that is where our misfortune originates. The Cuban liberal philosopher Armando Ribas once said, “Socialism is forged by envy, administered by hypocrisy, generates laziness, and destroys wealth.” This phrase sums up the reality of many countries and particularly that of Angola.
Presidencies have created chasms and imbalances because they hold so much power that they cannot manage it, leading to mutual accusations and persecution of the previous administration. In the words of Ludwig Von Mises, “the worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country governed by socialists who are not his friends.” This generates hypocrisy. The public service is stagnant, public service locations are ungoverned and there is much absenteeism in public institutions. The public interest is practically not pursued, and wealth is scarce for those without party affiliation. Young people are invading the former colonizer’s embassy in search of visas to immigrate, clearly demonstrating that it is preferable to be a citizen in the lands of the colonizers.
The type of appointment perceived from the Angolan administrative power as ‘discretionary,’ has generated poverty. The state apparatus has become a leviathan that wants to consume everything, exploiting everyone and turning former looters into rulers. The solution is to strip the state entity of these powers of public management. Moreover, civil society and some opposition parties have been exerting pressure for the institutionalization of local authorities. Unfortunately, to this day, Angola does not know this model of administration that brings citizens closer to governance, thus becoming, alongside Guinea-Bissau, one of the only countries in the CPLP without local authorities.
Not that local authorities would be the solution for Angola, but they would certainly be a step towards democratization and economic growth. On the contrary, Angola has experienced a new political-administrative division that is accused of simply accommodating the interests of militants in governing new fractions of territory and redesigning the electoral plan. Others still consider this measure important but not necessary due to the level of public expenditure that Angola will face in the coming times for the acquisition of vehicles, work tools in new locations, and construction of buildings for new administrations and provincial headquarters, making local authorities necessary and important.
As Kofi Annan once said, “Corruption disproportionately harms the poor by robbing them of opportunities and dignity”. Until Angola enacts meaningful reforms, its people will continue to bear the burden of systemic corruption.
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