In a speech to the Nation, the President of the Republic underlines the need to safeguard the gains and to continue the construction of the country

The President of the Republic, His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani indicated that it is everyone’s responsibility to safeguard the achievements and continue the construction of the country and promote it, by working hard to strengthen social cohesion; lay the foundations for the rule of law and achieve social justice and inclusive sustainable development.

In an address to the Nation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of national independence, the President of the Republic said that a number of important measures in the fight against poverty and precariousness; fair distribution of national income; promotion of human resources, especially in the basic service sectors will be implemented from 1 January in application of the pledges he made in his electoral program.

He asserted that the goals of independence will not be achieved simply by liberating the homeland from the colonizer and establishing a state. To achieve that, we need a constantly renewed collective effort.

Here is the full text of the speech:

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger
Dear citizens,
Sixty years have passed since we broke with colonization, and our people regained their freedom and sovereignty over their land! On this great anniversary of the National Independence Day; the Day of Glory and Pride, I am very pleased, dear citizens, to extend to you my warmest and sincere congratulations.
The celebration by states and peoples of their glorious days and their historical moments is basically an expression of gratitude to those whose struggle made it possible to have such glorious days, and a recall of the meanings of their sacrifices, to consolidate the sense of responsibility towards the homeland and deepen awareness that it is worthy of sacrifice and loyalty.
Therefore, I pay warm tribute to the heroes of our glorious resistance for their huge sacrifice to defend the homeland, its freedom and dignity, and for the intellectual struggle to protect our cultural identity and preserve our long-standing cultural heritage, rich with glory and sacrifice. We will forever be indebted to them.
I also pay tribute to all members of our armed and security forces: officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, for their enormous sacrifices, whose benefits we reap every day in security, protection, and stability.
Independence is not simply achieved by the colonizer’s evacuation and the declaration of the establishment of the state, but rather by a collective effort, which is constantly renewed, to fortify national sovereignty and achieve the citizens’ aspirations for freedom, decent life, justice, and prosperity. Independence, in this sense, is an unending, cumulative process of construction.
Therefore, I express my sincere thanks and appreciation to those who laid the foundations for building the modern Mauritanian state, and to those who contributed, each one as they could, to raising up this construction and strengthening its foundations.
Today, we are all responsible for safeguarding the achievement, continuing the process of construction and developing it by working diligently to strengthen social cohesion, establish the rule of law, and achieve social justice and inclusive sustainable development.

Dear citizens,
To strengthen the pillars of the rule of law and consolidate democracy, we have been keen, throughout the past period, to entrench the separation of powers, consolidate the independence of the judiciary, develop justice infrastructure, and provide legal assistance to citizens in all regions, and we have pursued a steady approach of openness and consultation with all political and social actors.
We have also worked to support public freedoms, through what is currently being done to develop a comprehensive strategy to reform and promote the media sector, as well as through our approval of the declarative system instead of prior licensing for civil societies and bodies, to create an effective associative movement. We have also adopted a national strategy for decentralization, to bring services closer to the citizen, and to ensure balanced local development.
As we are convinced that to achieve the goals we seek through the programs and reforms we implement requires transparency in the various aspects of the conduct of public affairs, we have worked to promote the rules of good governance, by reviewing the code of public procurement and activating the control and inspection bodies, in order to consolidate the principle of accountability.

Dear citizens,
The most powerful factor in fortifying national unity, strengthening social cohesion, and consolidating the spirit of citizenship is the achievement of social justice.
Therefore, we have made fighting poverty, various forms of vulnerability, injustice, and marginalization a central goal of all our public policies. We have worked to establish a comprehensive social protection system that achieves the integration of vulnerable and poor groups into the development cycle and provides them with access to basic services, to transform areas of poverty and vulnerability into active local development areas.
This is what all the projects implemented by the Taazour Delegation are aiming for, and it is also what the various government programs seek, by virtue of what they are working on to support vulnerable and poor groups, by providing basic services, facilitating access to them, and creating job opportunities, and with what was approved in that context in terms of direct financial and food assistance, tax and customs duty waivers, and more.
Work to combat poverty and vulnerability will continue, and even expand, due to the economic recovery plan that we recently launched, including projects to create infrastructure and improve the quality of basic services, and measures aimed at supporting productive sectors, creating jobs, intensifying investment, and achieving food self-sufficiency.

Dear citizens,
This year, we have faced, like other countries of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the severe damage that has resulted from its spread on various dimensions and levels. We have swiftly taken the necessary preventive and curative measures, and have intensified efforts to mitigate the negative economic repercussions of the pandemic on the poorest citizens.
We have also begun to address the fragility of our health system revealed by the pandemic, by strengthening the capacity to manage the critical cases, establishing hospitalization networks, reforming the pharmaceutical sector, launching a comprehensive health insurance process, and giving particular attention to human resources.
At the same time, we have made great efforts, so that the pandemic does not turn the school year into a blank year. We were very keen to continue, at the highest possible pace, implementing the reform of the educational system, expanding school infrastructure, and intensifying training, for the purpose of establishing the republican school that we all seek.
In parallel with the aforementioned, we have worked to integrate the young people and reduce the unemployment rate in their ranks, through an agreement with Mauritanian employers to employ 6000 people, 2000 of whom have been employed so far, as well as by expanding recruitment in an unprecedented way, and by hiring thousands of temporary workers, as service providers in various departments.
In addition to all that, we have begun to address the severe structural deficiencies that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown in our economic system. This is in preparation for the post-pandemic, and to build a new economic recovery, through an economic program amounting to 240 billion old ouguiyas.
By foreseeing the future and preparing for the post-COVID-19 era, we do not mean that the pandemic has become behind us. Rather, the virus is still active and deadly. The development of the spread of the pandemic in many countries indicates that a new wave of it is spreading. Therefore, I ask you all, dear citizens, to take the highest degree of caution, and to respect the preventive measures decided by the competent authorities. That is the primary way to safety, while waiting for an effective vaccine against the virus.

Dear citizens,
In implementation of what I pledged to do, and in support of what has been accomplished in the field of combating poverty and vulnerability, equitable distribution of national income, and promoting human resources, especially in the basic service sectors, it has been decided, starting on 1 January:
First: Increasing the basic pension by 100% for all retirees.
Second: Doubling the pension of retired widows and allowing them to benefit from health insurance.
Third: Paying retirement pensions monthly.
Fourth: Generalizing the chalk allowance to include all heads of primary and secondary schools, and paying it over twelve months instead of just nine months,
Fifth: Doubling the distance bonus,
Sixth: Increasing the supervisory bonus for the inspectors of basic, secondary and technical education, by an amount of 10 thousand old ouguiyas.
Seventh: Increasing the salaries of health workers by 30%, and generalizing the danger pay for them.
Eighth: Increasing the support for renal dialysis sessions for indigent renal failure patients by 50%, and granting them monthly cash transfers amounting to 15,000 old ouguiyas a month,
Ninth: Ensuring access to health insurance for people with special needs,
Tenth: Disbursing monthly cash transfers amounting 20,000 old ouguiyas for children with multiple disabilities.

Dear Citizens,
I am fully aware of the extent of your legitimate ambitions and aspirations. My deep sense of your urgency to reap the fruits of what we are working on, in terms of reforms and development programs, only increases my insistence on achieving my pledges to the Mauritanian people. I am sure that, with Allah’s help, and thanks to your efforts and sacrifices, we will jointly defeat injustice, exclusion, and vulnerability, and we will be able to consecrate the rule of law and freedoms and build an inclusive sustainable development.

Long live you and long live Mauritania, free, safe, and prosperous”.