An employee told Lusa that was prevented from entering the main gate of the Colinas do Boé palaceseat of parliament, located in the center of Bissau.
“I arrived very early, around 7:20 am (8:20 am in Lisbon), but I came across some gentlemen from the National Guard who told me to turn around. That’s what I did,” said the employee, who asked not to be named.
Another employee, head of a department, told Lusa that he still managed to get in, but was asked by National Guard soldiers inside the building to hand over the keys to his office, which he did and left.
“I came home,” he noted.
Other employees contacted by Lusa indicated that they did not even go to the parliament headquarters because they had been informed by colleagues of the situation there.
Lusa is trying to get reactions from the Ministry of the Interior, which coordinates the National Guard.
The Guinean parliament was dissolved by President Umaro Sissoco Embaló in December 2023 and days later the deputies tried to access the site, as they did not recognize the decision, which they consider unconstitutional, but were dispersed by the police, with tear gas grenades.
Since then, the building has been guarded by armed policeuntil last month, when it was reopened, but only for employees or the public who have business to attend to there.
Last Friday, the president of the body, Domingos Simões Pereira, who returned to the country after seven months abroad, called meetings of the parliament’s intermediate structures, including the Standing Committee, which replaces the powers of the plenary.
Before traveling to New York to take part in the United Nations General Assembly, the Guinean President warned that if the parliament addressed the situation in the Supreme Court of Justice, Domingos Simões Pereira would cease to be leader of that body.
“He will never set foot there again. If he does, it will be a coup d’état,” warned Sissoco Embaló, highlighting that not even the plenary session of parliament has the authority to address the situation in the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ).
Among other matters, the Permanent Commission analyzed the situation at the STJ, even in the face of threats from the head of state.
That body currently operates without a quorum of the plenary of judges and political sectors and Guinean society question the legitimacy of the current president, judge Lima André, who they accuse of usurping powers.
At its meeting on Friday, the Standing Committee decided to hold new elections in the body so that it can “return to normality”.
Umaro Sissoco Embaló warned that if the Permanent Commission addressed the STJ issue, it would be committing the crime of usurpation of powers.
After the resolution was unanimously approved by the deputies present at the session, Simões Pereira stated that he was calm, as he had only complied with the country’s Constitution and denied that he had usurped the powers of other sovereign bodies “as the President says”.
“There is no intention here to usurp powers. There is only the intention to restore normality in the Supreme Court of Justice, which will benefit the President of the Republic, all sovereign bodies and all Guinean citizens”, argued Simões Pereira.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
