The fact that the wife of the Regional Secretary of Agriculture of the Azores, António Ventura, won a public tender to perform the duties of Director of the Support Services for Investment and Competitiveness of the Regional Directorate of Rural Development, in a three-year service commission , assigned to the portfolio supervised by her husband, sparked controversy in the autonomous region.
According to the message to which DN had access, signed by the President of the Regional Government of the Azores, Social Democrat José Manuel Bolieiro, Fernanda Ventura, a technician from the Regional Directorate of Rural Development, won the tender held on the public labor exchange on July 5, 2021, with an effective date of January 1, 2023.
This new position of the wife of the Regional Secretary of Agriculture caused some commotion, not least because Fernanda Ventura had never held management positions, and forced António Ventura to explain himself to the media.
At RTP/Açores, the regional leader justified: “My wife is an Azorean citizen like any other and she applied for a public tender, with written and oral test, and was classified in first place and from there I see no harm. In match requirements, there were no restrictions on being the wife of a sitting politician.”
More, argued the regional minister of Agriculture. “Another thing would be a political appointment, that’s a personal choice and it wasn’t a personal choice that was put before a jury.” He also guaranteed that he had no “direct or indirect interference” in the process. “Being the wife of a ruler cannot stop people from taking the initiative and making a career.”
Regional sources recall that the president of the regional government of the Azores, in a coalition with the CDS and PPM, pledged in January 2022 in the regional parliament in defense of the government program to establish a recruitment and selection committee for the regional government administration. , with the aim of “guaranteeing with greater transparency, impartiality, rigor and independence the functions of recruitment and selection of the regional public administration”. Which has not happened yet.
the vet brother
The opposition in the autonomous region argues that since the regional secretary has been in charge of Agriculture, the Ventura family has strengthened its powers in the structure.
They point out another match involving António Ventura’s brother. On November 30, 2021, after a competition, the veterinarian, José Vielmino Lima Ventura, was appointed for a period of three years in a service committee to exercise the function of director of veterinary services of the Regional Directorate of Agriculture, of the Regional Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Regional government sources claim that the vet had already served another service commission in the government that is still led by socialist Vasco Cordeiro.
“In the PS government he held the position of head of the veterinary public hygiene department, in the PSD/CDS/PPM governments, supported by Chega and IL, he rose to the position of Director of Services,” opposition sources say.
As early as November, two other appointments to Pico caused a stir, with accusations of “favoritism” and “clientism”. The newspaper Ilha Maior, from that island, revealed that the tender procedure for recruiting the director of the Pico Forest Service (SFP), which was won by the superior technician, Jaime Ponte, was annulled by the regional secretary for agriculture and rural development , António Ventura, after being homologated by Filipe Tavares, Regional Director of Forestry Resources.
The other appointment that also caused controversy is related to the hiring of a physical education graduate for the Integrated Support Network for Entrepreneurs (RIAE) in Pico.
Source: DN
