The government action plan of the Malian Prime Minister was approved on Monday by the members of the National Transitional Council (CNT).
After eleven hours of debate at the International Conference Centre in Bamako, 102 members of the current legislative body approved the action plan of the head of the Malian transitional government, Choguel Maiga. Only two votes were cast against while nine abstentions were recorded.
With a budget of more than 2050 billion CFA francs, this project aims to strengthen security throughout the national territory and to implement political and institutional reforms, explains Mr. Maïga. In short, it is based on three pillars: security, political and social.
The government is committed to putting “all the necessary material and human resources at the disposal of the defence and security forces.” It also gave assurances about the “smart implementation and consensual review” of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement resulting from the Algiers process.
Despite their plebiscite, CNT members expressed doubts about some of the positions defended by the Prime Minister. The apprehensions mainly concern the possibility of achieving the objectives set in the seven months remaining to the transition before the organisation of general elections.
Hadji Barry, representative of disabled people within the transitional body, told RFI that the deadline for the implementation of the announced reforms is very short. “It is true that we can criticise, but I think that the answers we have been given can give us hope,” he said.
Hassane Sidibé, a member of the CNT who abstained from the text, justified his position by the fact that it lacked clarity on the use of the 2050 billion CFA francs allocated to the government’s action plan. Despite this, he stressed that censoring the draft would have been catastrophic in his eyes.
“It could have created a new institutional crisis, which would have caused another blockage. We have already lost almost a year; we should take advantage of the remaining time to move forward. This is our last chance, it is a last chance for the whole of Mali,” he said.
Smiling during the discussions, Prime Minister Choguel Maïga made a rallying call to the various forces of his country in his closing speech. He tried to reassure on all points and noted that the timetable of general elections “will be maintained.”
The presidential and legislative elections have been announced for February and March 2022. These elections will be preceded by a referendum on 31 October, which should allow a revision of the Constitution.
ODL/cgd/lb/abj/APA