Government’s Public Policy Between Ambition and Realism

The government’s general policy, which was announced by Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Diay before the National Assembly last Wednesday and won the confidence of MPs by an overwhelming majority (140 deputies against only 25 against), was characterised by an accurate diagnosis of the major problems of the country and citizens on the one hand, and realism in the proposed solutions, away from glittering promises that are not feasible on the other hand.

The Prime Minister’s responses to the MPs’ interventions were also characterised by focusing on the concerns of ordinary citizens in their daily lives, as they addressed most of their core issues such as water, electricity, health, education, transport and daily sustenance, as well as major national issues such as corruption, migration, national unity, unemployment and social backlogs.

This treatment was characterised by clarity of vision, objectivity in the presentation, smoothness of style and harmony of ideas, forming a coherent unity. The speech was in line with the programme of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, in the recent presidential elections, ‘My Ambition for the Nation’, which won the majority of Mauritanian votes.

The Prime Minister touched the concerns of ordinary citizens when he stressed in his response to MPs’ questions that the government will not allow under any circumstances to compromise, monopolise or speculate on the increase in the prices of basic commodities (rice, oil, wheat, sugar, milk, cement, meat), and he was realistic when he explained how the government will protect what it has announced (deterrent laws that cannot be jumped on).

He was also ambitious in his vision to improve the living conditions of citizens in the medium and long term, based on achieving self-sufficiency in these and other items through the development of the agricultural and industrial sectors. He announced that the government will embark on a number of practical measures in the coming period to achieve the desired goal of food sovereignty, which every citizen who is jealous of his country and its interests has long dreamed of.

In explaining the causes of the phenomenon of unemployment in the country and the obstacles to development, the Prime Minister was objective and frank in his diagnosis of this phenomenon, when he stressed that one of the biggest obstacles in this field is the lack of training, in addition to social attitudes towards work and the lack of reverence for it, which led to the reluctance of young people to many professional jobs, citing the example of the irrigated agriculture sector, which currently employs 20 thousand workers, half of whom are foreigners, and called on the elite of society to contribute to changing this kind of mentality, vowing to work to create more training for young people.

The Prime Minister was realistic in his speech about the humanitarian legacy by first acknowledging the difficult phase the country has gone through in this regard and the important steps that have already been taken to overcome it. He stressed the government’s readiness, more than ever before, to close this file once and for all in a way that satisfies the stakeholders, calling on all actors in society to cooperate with the government in this field by building trust and making the issue an internal affair.

He was also firm in addressing the issue of national unity and the social residues that are no longer acceptable today and are incompatible with the establishment of a modern state, which the President of the Republic denounced in his famous speech in the historic city of Wadan … and ambitious when he announced the reforms taken by the government to bridge the gap between the components of society, by consolidating the republican school and starting to teach national languages in educational stages this year, which our country is distinguished from many countries and we should be proud of it and really are.

The Prime Minister revived hope in the hearts of citizens by declaring a war on corruption, acknowledging its existence first and declaring a relentless war on it second, despite the magnitude of the challenges, stressing that the government will never compromise with anyone if their guilt is officially proven by the judiciary, considering the war on corruption a decision, will and conviction, and an irreversible necessity