Alpha Conde's new governance structure for Guinea

President Alpha Condé was re-elected on 18 October 2020 for a new term of office, ushering in the fourth republic. He introduced new working and administrative practices designed to render the functioning of the Guinean state even more efficient than before.

In early February 2021, President Alpha Condé made a public speech announcing the implementation of an administrative pact based on the principle of “governing differently” that provides a roadmap for the Guinean people.

This new style of governance has already resulted in several symbolic acts such as the Guinean president’s unannounced visits to certain state departments, ministries, financial authorities and public establishments to assess the punctuality of some heads of department.

Some state officials who were not in the office at the time of one such surprise visit were caught out (and sanctioned), while the heads of ministerial departments, starting with the Ministers, were called upon to shoulder all their responsibilities in order to ensure the proper execution and follow-up of administrative tasks.

The measures cover the effective presence of public service employees in workplaces and in accordance with legal hours, prohibiting personal visits during working hours to reduce the excessive numbers of outsiders, and banning television sets in offices.

A ministerial circular in this regard states that department heads must ensure that all entertainment applications on all public computers are uninstalled and banned, for example the Solitaire card game and the Zuma Deluxe maze game.

The Minister of the Public Service has instructed each civil servant to respect their working hours from 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., under penalty of sanctions provided for in the Labour Code.

The other symbolic act of this presidential pledge was the Ministry of the City and Housing’s decision to put an end to all illegal use of public roads, which can be seen in the numerous street clearance operations in various districts of the capital where illegal constructions and extensions sometimes make the pedestrian walkways unusable.

The Guinean president believes that the main aim is to bring added value to the public policy undertaken since this first decade of office, for the improvement of good governance in all sectors of government activity.

These activities concern reforms conducive to the revitalization of economic policy contained in the Mission Letter of Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana who was reappointed to office. This new mission commences with the restructuring of the administration, essential to the promotion of sound management.

The government’s main concern is fighting corruption, financial embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds. This is why the principle of “governing differently” calls for the reform of public procurement and the mechanisms for awarding public contracts and state contracts. From now on, all companies providing goods and services will be screened.

Those that are linked to ministers, senior state officials, public administration or to the families of public decision-makers will be identified and disqualified from the contracting and public procurement process to avoid any conflict of interest in the administration.

This decision is seen as a useful formula for controlling state expenditure with a view to increasing public revenue, with the systematisation of controls and audits of public agencies and the digitalisation of state operations. It will also involve the operationalisation of controls and audits on resources allocated to local authorities and communities at the grassroots level.

In the current administration mandate, a number of measures are being taken to improve the country’s economic life such as the transformation of the road network (urban and rural roads), the construction of new railways, and a commitment to a better quality of life in the Conakry special zone.

In the Guinean capital, projects will focus on the construction of a modern administrative city in Koloma, a suburb of Conakry, and the organisation of a large-scale hygiene campaign in the city.

Conakry’s makeover will include major works to ensure the smooth flow of road traffic, as well as the expansion of the port, the modernisation of the airport and the construction of offices and hotels. All this infrastructure will be used to welcome the players and participants of the Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Guinea in 2025.

Urban updates

This ambitious new public policy programme will also extend to the development of social housing, particularly for young people.

The Government of Guinea has already invested heavily in education, particularly in higher education and scientific research through the planned construction of four university centres in the four geographical regions of the country, the extension to the Gamal Abdel Nasser University in Conakry and an educational complex in Labé, and the rigorous selection of teaching staff qualified in the management of IT tools, as well as access to digital technologies.

Regarding telecommunications, the installation of a 17,000 km submarine fibre optic cable linking Europe to Africa, giving Guinea access to broadband, has accelerated the country’s development. Three telephone operators ensure healthy competition, providing Guinea with a high-performance telephone system, the next stage of which is the installation of 4G.

From now on, all prefecture and sub-prefecture capitals are covered by mobile networks and every Guinean now owns one or two telephones. The computerisation of the education system, requested by the President, is in the development phase.

Presidential Initiatives for Youth, Women and Food Security

Initiatives and programmes for youth and women aimed at preserving the environment are being approached in a new way: the creation of 100,000 jobs for young people and the establishment of investment funds with dedicated youth training programmes, the setting up of training funds and programmes and school scholarships for women, the implementation of reforestation schemes, national planning for the collection of recyclable waste and the construction of clean energy production units.

As for the pact with the rural community, it is based on the idea of “consuming what we produce and producing what we consume”. The improvement of small farmers’ quality of life will henceforth require the supply of new inputs, the creation of high added value chains, the development of market gardening and rice cultivation, which until now has been in its infancy, and, above all, the mechanisation of agriculture and the processing of agricultural and food products in Guinea in order to increase the value of agricultural production.