Speaking to the Independente on Wednesday as parliament this week discussed the 2020 State Budget, Almeida stressed repeatedly of the role of effective leadership in managing portfolio budgets, including the idea that increasing budgets should not be seen as the only way to improve service delivery.

Almeida singled out the Minister of Defence and Security, Minister of Education and Sports, Minister of State Administration and Territory, Minister of Public Works, State Secretary of Labor and the stand-in Minister of Public Health, as “underperforming.”

"We must not retain people who do not show good performance,” Almeida said. “They must be evaluated by their work performance, and if found to have no capacity it is better they are replaced by someone else.”

Ximenes said it has been “almost two years” since the cabinet was sworn-in, and service delivery results were “not to public satisfaction.”

He pointed to unregulated building hampering development of the city, poor school facilities, lack of trained teachers, a strained health system that did not have capacity to provide care for all medical needs and poor leadership on response to surge in violent crime.

He also said it was not good enough that people were still “screaming” about need for roads to access all parts of the country and that electricity blackout remained common place, 20 years after the country earned its independence.

He said people had fought hard for the nation’s independence and deserved to “enjoy” their freedom and not be pulled down by “poor development.”