Government Spokesperson: War on Corruption is Ongoing and No Warning for Those who Reach out Public Funds
Nouakchott
The Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament, Spokesperson of the Government, Mr Hussein Ould Medou, stressed that the war on corruption is ongoing and there will be no warning for those who reach out to public funds, as His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, has repeatedly stressed, as there is no development or justice with corruption.
In response to a question on the subject, while commenting on the results of the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday evening at the speech room of the headquarters of the Mauritanian News Agency in Nouakchott, with the Ministers of Economy and Finance, Mr Sid’ Ahmed Ould Bouh, and Social Action, Childhood and Family, Mrs Safia Mint N’taha, he added that the fight against corruption requires a firm will and measures, all of which are available.
In response to a question about the recently seized quantities of liquor, the government spokesperson said that the national police arrested the main person responsible for the distribution of the quantity (6 tons worth 130 million ouguiyas), who is of Asian nationality, and that the search is still ongoing to uncover all leads related to the operation on the one hand, and to follow up the judicial process of the matter on the other hand.
Commenting on the communiqué on the final results of the fifth general population and housing census, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Sid Ahmed Ould Abouh, said that the number of people registered in this census reached 4 million 924 thousand, compared to more than 3 million in the last census (2013), representing an annual increase rate of 3.1%, adding that the census showed that the majority of society is young, especially the age group under 20 years, which reached 53%.
He added that the census, which will be published electronically for those who wish to view it, showed a decrease in the number of citizens in rural areas compared to urban areas. The average population growth rate in the community was 1.3%, and in terms of gender, more than 51% of the population was female compared to more than 48% of males.
The Minister spoke about the importance of statistics in drawing the country’s policies on social and economic issues and improving public services, such as health, education and transport, recalling the four stages that any statistic goes through, starting with collecting data, cleaning it, making sure it conforms to international methods in this field, and then analysing it before publishing it.
Regarding the draft decree amending the decree on the establishment and organisation of the work of the National Committee to lead the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, the Minister stressed that the fight against corruption is an indispensable necessity before embarking on any development project, because of its usefulness in the interest of the country.
He explained that this strategy has been amended to be in line with the vision of the President of the Republic in the fight against corruption that he presented in his electoral programme, by reducing the members of the committee to 13 instead of 20 to facilitate its work, while increasing the technical committee and involving civil society in the fight against corruption.
For her part, the Minister of Social Action, Childhood and Family, Savia Mint N’taha, said that the draft decree approving the statutes of the ‘Family Channel’ is in line with the social programme of His Excellency the President of the Republic, and in line with the requirements of the law on the liberalisation of the audiovisual space 2010.
She reminded the objectives for which the Family Channel was established, as a channel specialised in family issues, addressing the issues of education, health, child delinquency and family disintegration in Mauritanian society, as well as everything that would serve national unity, but it does not replace the role of society in addressing wrong mindsets.