Lately, things have been less agitated in the political staffs of the country, there is less fire on the caravan of the Transition… As if our political leaders had suddenly chosen to keep a low profile. What explains this appeasement? Is this the calm before the storm? For many observers, the financial situation has a lot to do with it.
After having put pressure on the authorities in place for a long time in order to reorient the Transition in the direction of their interests or their ambitions, our politicians seem to have lost their language. With some exceptions. Indeed, Aliou Boubacar Diallo, Cheick Boucadry Traoré, Housseini Amion Guindo and Moussa Mara continue to give voice. Even if some are just seeking popularity by rowing against the tide of others. This is the case of the young Moussa Mara whose latest positions in relation to the life of the nation border on populism. And this unlike its brilliant forums on various issues of the life of the nation, national and international news…
What does it bring politically to disavow authorities for acts that are applauded by the vast majority of Malians? Even if the people most often tend to react out of passion, out of pride and not out of reason, which must take precedence when it comes to international relations based on the balance of power. Not to mention that we are not doing the citizens as much service by caressing them in the direction of the hair. But until then, Malians (those who aspire to real change) recognize themselves in the actions taken by this transition. Which also doesn’t mean that all is well in the best of the world.
If some (those who denounce an alleged dictatorship of the Colonels) take Mara’s media outings as proof of courage or even political temerity, they are also numerous to consider them as a call to the foot to be dubbed by France with a view to the next presidential election. Which, politically, is counterproductive at a time when Malians are indexing France as the source of all these crises that are preventing the country from taking off.
“Have the political parties given up?“, wondered last week our colleagues from “The landmark“. There are many observers who have made the same observation and who link this cemetery silence to the financial withdrawal imposed by the Transition government. It’s hard to prove them wrong when you observe the situation closely. According to some political leaders, it has been nearly 4 years since public aid to political parties stopped falling. Those who continue to give voice are these leaders (Aliou Boubacar Diallo, Cheick Boucadry Traoré, Housseini Amion Guindo, Moussa Mara, Modibo Sidibé…) whose hand reaches the back, as we say so well at home. Otherwise, they are free from want; they do not live from politics.
What they personally invest in the life of their parties would be enough to make many rivals or competitors happy in the political arena. Besides, some were very agitated just to put pressure on the authorities in place and to get noticed in order to better negotiate the price of their silence. It’s a strategy that has paid off with elected presidents, including the late Amadou Toumani Touré and Ibrahim Boubacar Kéita.
If we remember correctly, Dr Oumar Mariko (SADI), before disappearing into thin air, announced in October 2021 that he had filed a complaint to force the government to pay this visibly more vital financial windfall to certain politicians than to their chapels. And this on the grounds that this aid is a constitutional right aimed at strengthening democracy. It is clear that public aid is a precious breath of fresh air for a large part of the political parties, as numerous today as the neighborhood shops (we have gone from 196 parties in 2018 to 271 formations today). Which is not without relaunching the debate on the need to continue this aid in the same way….
And all the more so since it is extremely expensive for the public treasury for a very questionable impact. “Over a period of 17 years (2001-2018)the Malian political parties have shared a pot of more than 27 billion FCFA in the form of financial aid from the State“, recently published the site”Ouestafnewsciting Dr. Ibrahim Sangho, head of Mali’s Election Observation Mission (MODELE-Mali), who made this statement on the basis of a summary document at his disposal. “But it is not proven that they (gone) comply with the obligations imposed by law in relation to the destination of these funds“, he added.
It should be recalled that it is Article 30 of the Charter of Political Parties (adopted on August 1, 2005 by the National Assembly) which instituted the granting of 0.25% of tax revenue as public financial assistance to political parties . However, voices have always been raised to denounce the diversion of this aid for other purposes and to propose the establishment of a “rigorous follow-up mechanism“. Naturally, the staffs fight for its maintenance.
If only to avoid, say political leaders, that the parties become instruments at the service of private interests and precisely to avoid dubious or criminal funding. How long will this silence last?
Kader Toe
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Source: Maliweb
