The Cape Verde Multi-sectoral Regulatory Agency has just released data that reveals the existence of more than 600 thousand registered and active mobile phone numbers on the market, which is surprising in a country that only has around half a million inhabitants .
To increase the surprise, the same entity states that these numbers reveal a reduction of almost one percent compared to last year, in terms of the total number of active cell phones. These data reveal, according to the same entity, the very significant consolidation of current technological advances in Cape Verde, which is also reflected in the existence of more than 350 thousand subscribers to Internet services.
On the other hand, only around 10 thousand citizens have a cable television subscription and just over 60 thousand still use a landline.
Also according to data released by the Cape Verde Multi-sectoral Regulatory Agency, in the last eight years the country has registered a very significant increase in the number of people who have access to mobile communications, which, however, registered a slight decrease during the year past. The same data indicates that traffic registered on mobile networks totaled almost two million minutes in 2018, which represents a growth of 24 percent compared to the previous year.
Controversy with North American Embassy
The sale of a high school, in the city of Praia, to the United States, for almost 5.6 million dollars, is being heavily criticized by the opposition, but the Cape Verdean Executive responded by saying that it is a “great deal.”
In a decree published this week in the Official Bulletin, the Ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs informed that the Government ordered the sale of the Cónego Jacinto Secondary School, in Várzea, to the United States, which will take advantage of the building and add an attached land to build the new Embassy in Cape Verde.
In the joint ordinance, the Cape Verdean Executive explained that the space “is not suitable for future needs, due to population growth in the area covered and the integration of teaching from the 1st to the 12th year of schooling.”
The Government also noted that the new US Embassy project will have an impact on the generation of jobs, boosting the economy and the existing protocol relationship between the two countries.
“For us, each and every Embassy or diplomatic representation has the right to decent spaces for construction. But, not at the expense of the State’s built heritage”, wrote the leader of the Cape Verde African Independence Party (PAICV), Janira Hopffer Almada, in a post on the social network Facebook.
The party leader left a series of questions for the Government in the publication and said that “it is time for the people to start saying that they chose a Government to govern and not to sell the land.”
At a press conference in São Vicente, the president of the Independent and Democratic Cape Verdean Union (UCID), António Monteiro, also took a stance against the deal, considering that “selling a school is selling the soul of a people.”
“The Government’s attitude was little thought out, without a deep reflection on its social impacts on the community of Várzea and the city of Praia”, considered the party leader, quoted by the Inforpress agency.