The Founder
Bornito de Sousa
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My commitment, as Founder, is to mobilize resources, partnerships and good will to pursue the stated objectives and transform this project into a reality of Success and Excellence.
Bornito de Sousa Baltazar Diogo was born on July 23, 1953, in Quéssua, Malanje Province. He is the fourth of six children born to Mrs. Catarina Manuel Simão Bento “Katika”, a domestic servant, and Reverend Job Baltazar Diogo, former political prisoner, primary school teacher, linguist specializing in Quimbundo-Portuguese and translator of the Holy Bible from Portuguese to Quimbundo.
In 1965, he moved to Luanda, where his father and uncle, Dr. Luís Micolo, had a fixed residence after serving a prison sentence in the PIDE prison, the colonial political police. In the capital, he finished primary education at the Central Methodist Church School and entered the Liceu Salvador Correia for secondary education, which he completed at the Moçâmedes High School. He has two degrees: one in Social Sciences, from the Escola Superior do Partido, and the other in Law, from the Agostinho Neto University. He is a lawyer and professor of Political Science and Constitutional Law at the Law Faculties of the Agostinho Neto University and the Catholic University of Angola and co-author, with Professor Dr. Adério Correia, of the collection “Angola - Constitutional History”. He holds the Higher Officer Course at the Huambo Military School and General of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), in Reforma, and holds a Private Plane Pilot's license.
He underwent political-military training at CIR Kalunga, Dolisie/Loubomo, Republic of the Congo, and at CIR Binheco, Maiombe Forest, Cabinda Province, 2nd Political-Military Region, and was later transferred to the city of Cabinda as Political Commissioner of the Administration and Services Company (CAS), of the General Staff of the 2nd Region. He was Political Commissioner of the Angolan Navy since 1976 when, on July 10, this Branch of the then Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) was founded, and in 1981 he became Deputy Head of the National Political Directorate of the FAPLA. He is the holder of the Higher Officer Course at the Huambo Military School and General of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), in the Reforma.
He is a lawyer and professor of Political Science and Constitutional Law at the Law Faculties of the Agostinho Neto University and the Catholic University of Angola and co-author, with Professor Dr. Adério Correia, of the collection “Angola - Constitutional History”.
Arrested on January 2, 1971 by the PIDE-DGS, in the then São Paulo Jail, he was transferred by boat to the São Nicolau/Bentiaba Jail, in the province of Namibe, from where he was only released in May 1974 following the Revolution of April 25, which dictated the fall of the Salazar regime in Portugal. He was a Deputy of the People's Assembly and then a Deputy of the National Assembly, where he chaired the Parliamentary Group of the MPLA from 2000 to 2010, Deputy of the Constituent Assembly from 2010 and President of the Constitutional Commission. He chaired the Legal Affairs, Regiment and Mandates and Foreign Relations Committees and was Co-Vice President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific/European Union Parliamentary Assembly (ACP/EU). He was Vice President of the Republic of Angola in the 2017-2022 term, elected in the general elections of August 23, 2017, as a candidate of the MPLA Party.
