PSD says “nothing in Osvaldo Gonçalves’ resumé” indicates he will be “useful to the company”
A new source of discord between Portugal’s two main political parties – PSD and PS – has emerged in the form of the appointment of Alcoutim mayor Osvaldo Gonçalves as the new administrator of Algar, the region’s waste management company.
Gonçalves, who has been mayor of the inland municipality representing the Socialist Party (PS) since 2013, is stepping down in the middle of his final term after being appointed to the new position by the Algarve Municipalities Association (AMAL), led by the Socialist mayor of Olhão, António Pina.
This decision has been heavily criticised by PSD Algarve, which says that “nothing in his resumé provides the minimum guarantees that he can be useful to the company.”
The local delegation of the social-democratic party laments Gonçalves’ “unfulfilled commitment to the population of Alcoutim, especially at a time when critical matters such as the Sanlúcar Brdige and the lack of doctors in the borough remain unsolved.”
It has also highlighted the mayor’s “complete lack of competencies” when it comes to waste management, questioning how someone with no experience in the area will solve the company’s well-documented inability to respond to the region’s needs.
“It is known that the service that Algar provides in the treatment and collection of waste for the Algarve is insufficient and there are several reasons why. Putting people without competencies and knowledge of the area managing the company’s destiny does not contribute to its improvement, but instead to its failure,” PSD Algarve states.
The social democrats go as far as to say that PS has turned the company into a “political party recycling station”, suggesting that Osvaldo Gonçalves was handed the position because he was in his final term as mayor of Alcoutim.
Meanwhile, the leader of PSD Alcoutim, Carlos Ludovico, has gone even further in his criticism, suggesting that the mayor’s exit may be linked to an ongoing investigation into the management of the local PS administration. He also accused Gonçalves of abandoning the borough when it needed him most “in exchange for a better salary and an escape”.
Speaking to Barlavento newspaper, Osvaldo Gonçalves denied claims that he is “abandoning” his commitment to Alcoutim.
“I was offered a position of great responsibility, which the people of Alcoutim can be proud of me for representing the municipalities,” said Gonçalves, adding that he accepted the invitation after a “long and difficult ponderation”.
“Throughout my terms I always worked as a team. I leave deputy mayor Paulo Jorge Paulino as my replacement, who always accompanied me, namely in the process of the international bridge to Sanlúcar de Guadiana, and thus I am not abandoning anyone,” the outgoing mayor guaranteed.
