In the spotlight: a government a little too khaki in Mali

Audio 04:24

Colonel Assimi Goïta.

© Francis Kokoroko / REUTERS

By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

9 mins

Publicity

The Bamako press is rather critical after the formation of the new government headed by Prime Minister Choguel Maïga.

The Choguel government does not reassure

 ",

headlines the Maliweb news site

. Already, “

 with its 28 members, the

(new)

government violates the Transition Charter, which imposes the number of members of the government team at 25 at most. 

"Then, continues Maliweb,"

 this government team reflects the dominant hold of the coup colonels on the state apparatus. Since there are at least 15 portfolios that Colonel Assimi Goïta and his main lieutenants control.

(…)

Strategic portfolios such as Defense, Security, Territorial Administration and National Reconciliation are in fact held by soldiers from the ranks of the former CNSP.

(…)

Not to mention that several civilian ministers are proteges, relatives or friends of the putschist officers

(…).

These findings lead us to believe that the Prime Minister has too little influence on the government team. This

, Maliweb again notes,

especially since Choguel Maïga could not appoint a single one of his closest cadres of his party, the MPR, or of the FSD / M5-RFP grouping, to a portfolio of sovereignty or at least to a strategic department of the team.

 "

And the Bamako site wonders: "

With five political executives within a government of 28 members, what openness can we talk about for the Choguel team?

How can such a team help calm the socio-political climate? 

"

A “ 

national leap

”!

The same concerns for

Le Témoin

: “

On reading this government nomenclature, it is easy to see that cronyism and endless shameless quests for folding seats clearly prevailed over merit.

The credibility of the Assimi-Choguel tandem is somewhat tarnished with this new government, which has not been objective and judicious inclusiveness. 

"

For its part,

Le 22 Septembre

, another Malian publication, calls for greater political openness, for " 

a national leap!"

 ":"

The Prime Minister must listen to each other, he says.

He's not in prime ministry for the M5-RFP only.

It is there for the whole country.

He should not fall into the flaws he criticized previous regimes.

All are aware that the country needs a great gathering of all its daughters and all its sons to meet the current challenges: security and the holding of good elections, among others.

We therefore need a national leap!

That all are gathered around Choguel Maïga on a consensual roadmap, not for him or for the M5 or for a third person, but for the mother country: Mali! 

"

The remodeled CNT?

For Inf @ sept

, it is not only the government that needs to be rethought, there is also the CNT, the National Transitional Council. “ 

The CNT's format deserves to be reviewed, indeed considers Inf @ sept, because it acts as a parliament, therefore as a legislative body. It is his historic mission to vote on the texts which should establish the foundations of the new Mali. This can only be done with absolute legitimacy, an inclusive representativeness of all layers of the Nation. 

"

However, points Inf @ sept, “

 the CNT is fishing by two congenital defects. The first is the official absence of the most representative political parties. The second flaw is the poor quality of many of its members. As a reminder, the CNT in its current configuration is only a conglomerate of friends, associates, comrades in arms, laudators and opportunists in the pay of the junta. It reflects neither the representative socio-political forces of the country nor the cream of the Malian intelligentsia. So,

concludes Inf @ sept

, the ideal would be its dissolution, but to avoid opening Pandora's box we could 

(at the very least)

widen it. 

"

Finally, the sub-regional press is rather wait-and-see,

like the

country

in Burkina Faso

… “ 

Colonel Goïta and his government seem determined to stay the course and lead the Transition to its end, which is scheduled for the start of the next year.

The question is to know

, affirms

Le Pays, if in the eight months which separate us from the next electoral deadlines, the authorities of the Transition will be able to create the conditions for a return to calm and security in this country of which more than half still escapes state control. 

"

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