Zeca: "Does it make any political sense for João to ally himself with Jackson?"

Valter Lima, from Sergipe 247 – State Representative Zeca da Silva (PSC), in an interview with Sergipe 247, acknowledged that the initial stance of the group led by Edivan (PTB) and Eduardo Amorim (PSC) against the approval of Proinveste damaged their image in the eyes of the public. However, the legislator believes that this has already been overcome.

“We were never against Proinveste. We wanted details about the projects that will receive the investments. Any citizen would be in favor of securing this kind of money to transform regions and bring benefits to the state,” he said.

Still, Zeca questions, ironically, whether the R$ 567 million loan is a "solution for everything" in Sergipe: "I keep wondering: will Proinveste solve the problems in health, education, and security?". For him, "there is a lack of capacity in some sectors of the Government to expedite administration".

In an interview with 247, Zeca also says that it is a "unanimous opinion" among the members of the group, of which he is a part, that Senator Eduardo Amorim's name should be put forward for the 2014 state government election. According to the congressman, the results of last year's election provided a "very good basis" for a candidate of his own for governor. He further states that he sees no logic in an alliance between Mayor João Alves Filho (DEM) and Vice-Governor Jackson Barreto (PMDB).

Check out the full interview given last Tuesday (30).

Sergipe 247 – How is the PSC organizing itself for the 2014 election? Will it really have its own candidate?

Zeca da Silva - Of course, we're thinking about a macro project for the state. This discussion has been going on within the party since last year. The strongest name we have among the party members is Senator Eduardo Amorim. He's the party's reference point. There are already party members and allies who have this desire for Eduardo's name to be put forward. But on his part – and this isn't a political strategy – he's not anticipating events. The campaign is still for next year. We recently came out of a campaign, the municipal elections, where we worked in all the municipalities. And we managed to build a very good electoral base. Given this base, both in the interior and in the capital, this independent candidacy logically follows the unanimous thinking that it should be Senator Eduardo Amorim. But I don't want to anticipate any political or electoral event that won't happen in 2014. One day at a time.

247 - Next week, Proinveste is expected to be approved after a long period of debate. There's been a lot of talk about the damage that the initial "no" vote from the opposition caused to the group you belong to. What's your analysis of that?

ZS - Initially, I acknowledge that there was indeed some natural wear and tear, due to the way the Government announced the project, which would bring many public works to the State. Logically, the population wouldn't accept opposing positions, but today I think we made ourselves understood. What we wanted most is what has now been proven. First, the Government came with that story about having a deadline, and the population saw that it wasn't quite like that and began to understand that our demand was to finalize the details and understand the projects, because before, it was only an intention to carry out the works, but how could they approve the authorization to borrow money without even having all the projects defined? So there was that whole discussion that nobody can stand anymore. Fortunately, the debate took place. Respectfully, the governor himself took charge of the discussion when he saw that there was a lot of conflict between members of the opposition and the government. And in a democratic and symbolic gesture, he wanted to discuss the future of Proinveste with the opposition. One day he extended the invitation, and the next day everyone was sitting down, and 15 days later, everything was resolved. There was a lack of sensitivity on the part of the Government at the beginning, but I don't want to create any more controversy about this. We were never against Proinveste. Any citizen would be in favor of securing that kind of money to transform regions and bring benefits.

247 – But in your opinion, what is the real impact of Proinveste, and what will happen to the state administration after its implementation?

ZS – I keep wondering if Proinveste will solve all the state's problems, if it will solve the problems of health, education, and security. Everything today revolves around Proinveste. Members of the ruling party want to blame the opposition for some of the ills. We are not the ones governing. They are. They have to present the solution. Is everything now after Proinveste? There is a lack of capacity in some government sectors and there are management problems. They are competent people, but they need a different direction. Greater speed is needed. There are certain projects that don't depend on the governor. The secretaries should be handling them. The government needs speed in deciding on solutions. It has projects and ideas, but it doesn't put them into practice.

247 – Do you see an alliance between João Alves and Jackson Barreto as possible, or do you believe that the mayor of Aracaju will support Eduardo Amorim?

ZS – I'm not going to answer that question. I want the public to reflect on whether there's any political logic in João allying himself with Jackson.