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Angola Council of Ministers
In late 1988, the Council of Ministers comprised
twenty-one
ministers and ministers of state. The seventeen
ministerial
portfolios included agriculture, construction, defense,
domestic
and foreign trade, education, finance, fisheries, foreign
relations, health, industry, interior, justice, labor and
social
security, petroleum and energy, planning, state security,
and
transport and communications. Ministers were empowered to
prepare
the national budget and to make laws by decree, under
authority
designated by the national legislature, the People's
Assembly, but
most of the ministers' time was spent administering policy
set by
the MPLA-PT.
In February 1986, dos Santos appointed four ministers
of state
(who came to be known as "superministers") and assigned
them
responsibility for coordinating the activities of the
Council of
Ministers. Their portfolios were for the productive
sphere;
economic and social spheres; inspection and control; and
town
planning, housing, and water. Twelve ministries were
placed under
superministry oversight; the ministers of defense, foreign
relations, interior, justice, and state security continued
to
report directly to the president. This change was part of
an effort
to coordinate policy, reduce overlapping responsibilities,
eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic procedures, and bolster
the
government's reputation for efficiency in general. Most
ministers
and three of the four ministers of state were also high
officials
in the MPLA-PT, and their policy-making influence was
exercised
through the party rather than through the government.
Data as of February 1989
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