President of Republic: “Any Text of Law Which Harms Our Holy Religion Cannot Be Approved or Presented by the Government”
On 31 October, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the President of the Republic, gave an interview to five news outlets, including the website “Cridem” and the daily newspaper “le Renovateur” in which he addressed the economic situation of the country when he came power, the COVID-19 crisis, which subsequently occurred, and the Russo-Ukrainian war and their consequences on the rise in prices of basic materials and on the breakdown of supply chains and the measures taken by the public authorities to deal with it.
Here is the text:
Question 1
Mr. President, you are entering the last year of your term. In what economic and financial situation did you find the country when you came to power in 2019? (CRIDEM)
Answer
I found the country in a difficult situation, and the enormous negative effects of the COVID crisis that occurred seven months after we came to power, combined with the dramatic consequences of the war in Ukraine, made the situation even more difficult. At the end of 2020, growth rate was -0.9%.
Faced with this situation, we committed ourselves to an approach aimed, in the short and medium term, at:
– Putting the economy back on the path to growth,
– Preserving budgetary and monetary balances,
– Reducing the level of debt,
– Strengthening the confidence of partners and investors in our country.
Thanks to the persistence in the effort and the quality of the design and implementation of our economic policy, we were able to:
– Return to a growth rate of 6.4% in 2022.
– Preserve budgetary and external balances.
– Reduce the rate of our external debt by 27 points, bringing it from 70% in 2019 to 43% in 2022, thanks to the significant efforts that we have undertaken in this direction since our accession to power.
– Strengthen the confidence of partners and investors (foreign direct investments (FDI) have tripled over the last three years, going from 500 million USD in 2019 to 1.5 billion USD in 2022).
To strengthen and sustain these results, we have, on our initiative, initiated a major program with the IMF aimed at providing high-level support for the implementation of structuring reforms.
Question 2
These days, there is controversy around the bill relating to violence against women and girls, which has been rejected twice by Parliament. What is your position on this subject? (CRIDEM)
Answer
Strengthened by the values of Islam, which guarantee women all their rights, with respect and dignity, and aware of the need for the full participation of women in building the development of the country, we have, throughout the past years, ensured:
- The consolidation of women’s political participation;
- The implementation of a vast women’s empowerment program;
- The implementation of legal texts protecting women against all forms of discrimination.
The draft bill, subject of your question, because it is, in fact, only a draft, very different from the gender bill, which was rejected by Parliament in 2017 and voluntarily withdrawn by our Government in 2019.
In fact, this draft bill to which you refer aims to reflect on the measures best suited to further preserving the dignity of women and protecting them against violence of all kinds.
But, I do not need to remind you that the Constitution stipulates that ISLAMIC SHARIA is the source of laws in Mauritania.
Consequently, I reassure you, and through you, national public opinion, that any text of the law that violates, even in one way or another, the precepts of our Holy Religion is a text that violates the Constitution, of which I am the guarantor, and could therefore not, in any way, be approved or introduced by the government.
Question 3
Recently, Mauritania informed BP, which operates the GTA gas project, to respect its commitments. What guarantee have you received so that this protest is not just a cry in the desert? (CRIDEM)
Answer
First of all, our relations with all our partners are governed by transparency and permanent consultation.
We regularly hold working meetings with our partners, and together we seek solutions to common challenges and always reiterate the need for each party to scrupulously respect its contractual commitments…
As you know, we are partners with BP in two gas fields, which are the GTA field that we share with our neighbor Senegal, and the BIR ALLAH field. As for the GTA, the commitments to which you refer essentially relate to the following points:
– compliance with the FIRST GAS schedule for phase 1 of the project,
– control of project costs,
– the implementation of the next phase(s) intended to bring the plateau back to 10 MTPA (million tons per year) in the nearest horizon.
Regarding the first commitment, and despite the delay due to COVID-19 and the underperformance of some subcontractors, BP has committed itself to doing its utmost to accelerate the remaining work, and plans to start production at the end of the first half of 2024.
In relation to the second commitment, the State, through the SMH, monitors the evolution and relevance of costs and any new commitment.
With regard to the third commitment, we are working for a rapid realization of the concept of phase 2 and coordinating with Senegal, through our respective national societies, on this subject.
Concerning BIR ALLAH, we signed a production sharing contract with BP in October 2022, which includes several phases arranged with monitoring milestones.
The next milestone is scheduled for the end of this month.
Overall, we believe that the strategic objectives of States and foreign companies are aligned and consolidated through dialogue and permanent consultation.
Question 4
Mr. President, more than 8,500 young Mauritanians arrived in the United States illegally in 2023. Departures continue despite the government’s assurances. How do you plan to respond to this hemorrhage? (CRIDEM)
Answer
Young people have always been at the heart of my priorities. I am aware of the situations of vulnerability which mark part of this population due to the challenges they face, such as unemployment and migration, which are universal phenomena.
To face these challenges, our youth are called upon to take advantage of the significant and diversified economic potential available to our country and, which offers numerous employment opportunities in promising sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries, construction, and public works, as well as services.
In order for our young people to benefit from this potential and the opportunities it offers, they must free themselves from all mentalities and stereotypes stigmatizing some professions and trades.
I am launching a solemn appeal to them to get rid of these mentalities, which are obstacles to the proper implementation of our strategies aimed at full employment and which we are fighting within the framework of our overall vision of integrated youth development.
This vision is centered on creating jobs and opportunities for young people, qualifying technical and professional training, promoting entrepreneurship, and strengthening access to productive sectors that create jobs and income, such as agriculture, livestock, and fisheries.
I am convinced that by facilitating young people’s access to suitable long- and medium-term financing and by developing support tools for young entrepreneurship, we will succeed in reversing the unemployment curve and initiating a new dynamic of the involvement of young people in the process of economic and social development of our country.
Also, capitalizing on our achievements in these areas, we intend to launch, in the coming weeks, a vast program to promote youth employment by promoting agricultural opportunities.
Question 5
Mr. President, Mauritania is very rich in terms of economic resources but very impoverished by decades of looting of public funds, which plague the administration.
Unfortunately, the perpetrators of these crimes are rarely sent to prison if they are not simply rewarded with lucrative positions. Would the trial of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz herald the end of impunity? (DAILY RENOVATOR)
Answer
Mismanagement, for decades, has hampered, through its destructive effects, the economic and social development of our country.
It is indisputable, and I grant you that.
This phenomenon is also universal. No country is immune, whatever the strength of its institutions and the wealth of its experience in good governance.
However, I firmly reject the tacit insinuation of your question, which suggests laxity on our part in the fight against this phenomenon.
Indeed, from the first days of our term, we undertook to put in place a new strategy to fight against mismanagement and corruption, institutionalized and marked by rigor and the systematic refusal of partiality and the settling of scores.
You cannot fail to have noticed the significant renewed dynamism in the fight against mismanagement and corruption reflected, among other things, in:
– attaching the General State Inspectorate to the Presidency of the Republic and its strengthening in terms of means and qualified human resources,
– updating the management risk map,
– strengthening internal inspections,
– modernizing the procurement code,
–publishing, for the first time, the reports of the Court of Accounts, and so on.
On the other hand, I can assure you that each time we received, in its final version, the inspection report of a structure, we immediately took the necessary measures and measures.
All the officials involved were punished according to the seriousness of the facts with which they are accused.
Sometimes, the punishment was administrative, and other times, the concerned found themselves before the courts.
Certainly, this was done without fanfare or publicity, but it was done systematically and rigorously.
I would now like to conclude my response by recalling that the fight against mismanagement and corruption must be the fight of everyone: imams, opinion leaders, political leaders, civil society…
We must work together to reform mentalities to improve the citizen’s relationship with public affairs.
For my part, I reaffirm here my firm desire to fight against mismanagement and count on the support of all of you to win this battle because, for us, there is no other alternative.
Question 6
Mr. President, at the end of your first five-year term and a few months before the next presidential election, do you plan to run for a second term? (DAILY RENOVATOR)
Answer
This question has already been asked to us, and you are certainly aware of our answer. Serving my people is always an honor for me.
Question 7
Voices continue to be raised in some human rights circles and widely through social networks, questioning “double-speed” biometric enrollment, which blocks access to civil status for the majority of black Africans living in Mauritania and abroad without exception, in secure register offices. This situation is also regularly denounced by victims of the events of 1989 who returned from Senegal or remained in this country. Doesn’t the Mauritanian State have a duty of accountability toward these thousands of citizens deprived of their rights? (DAILY RENOVATOR)
Answer
I must recall that as part of the population identification operation, I urged, during the Council of Ministers held on 12 July, the Government to be more involved in the awareness-raising campaign to ensure the success of the operation to enroll the populations.
As part of our efforts to bring the administration closer to citizens so that they benefit from all administrative services with speed, fairness, and transparency, we wanted this campaign, which completes the process started in 2011, reaches out to populations who have difficulty accessing civil register, which is a fundamental right of every citizen and on which the enjoyment of numerous rights depends.
The Government is resolutely committed to putting in place all the necessary means to ensure that the operation is successful.
This campaign, which covers all municipalities in the country, is conducted following a process that brings together imams, notables, and other resource people. To date, it has enabled the enrollment of more than 238,000 people, and I can assure you that everything will be done to ensure that every Mauritanian citizen is biometrically enrolled.