A key opposition leader in Guinea says his party will not join President Alpha Conde’s government even if asked to do so.
Sidya Toure of the Union of Republican Forces party said the opposition is not interested in bailing out a government that is presiding over a failing economy, especially with looming municipal elections this year and presidential elections in 2015.
This comes after Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana and his government resigned Wednesday to make way for a new administration following last September’s bitterly contested parliamentary election.
Toure said the resignation of the government is just a spectacle.
“I think it’s just a show. I don’t think it’s something serious because, in the French system and the Guinean constitution, there is no need for the Prime Minister to resign. The president is the person who has to decide that by signing a decree,” he said.
Toure said the dissolution of parliament is also an attempt by the Conde government to smooth over a week of bad economic news.
“[The] last few days we have a new budget [that] was something very bad. We have a growth of less than 2 percent this year. All neighboring countries [have high projected growth rates] Sierra Leone 14.5 percent [growth] and Cote d’Ivoire 9 percent, even Mali has 6.7 percent,” he said.
He said his party is not interested in joining any new government.
“I don’t think this will be my parliamentary group because I think the government failed almost three years. Nobody needs to join with them and support their failure ahead of the 2015 presidential election,” Toure said.
Opposition parties said late last year they had asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for continued UN mediation following the September 28 disputed parliamentary election.
Prior to the vote, Said Djinnit served as UN facilitator for dialogue between the opposition and the government.
Toure said the opposition wants to make sure the international community is aware of the situation in Guinea.
“We want to be sure that everybody will be concerned about the situation in Guinea because we have two elections coming. The first one will be the election of mayors and the next election, 2015, will be the presidential election. And, we all know what happened in Guinea during the [last] parliamentary election,” he said.
Toure said the opposition does not want to find itself in a similar situation like the September 28 election, including dealing with the same electoral commission that it accused cheating.
It’s not known who Conde might appoint to head the next government. But observers say the president might pick former finance minister Kerfalla Yansane or Kemoko Toure, believed to be an Conde ally.
Toure said it would matter little to the opposition who becomes the next prime minister because the Conde government has failed the people.
“Currently, I’m not concerned because the government failed, as I said earlier. We have poverty, we have no electricity, no water supply, even in the capital city.” Toure said.
Sidya Toure of the Union of Republican Forces party said the opposition is not interested in bailing out a government that is presiding over a failing economy, especially with looming municipal elections this year and presidential elections in 2015.
This comes after Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana and his government resigned Wednesday to make way for a new administration following last September’s bitterly contested parliamentary election.
Toure said the resignation of the government is just a spectacle.
“I think it’s just a show. I don’t think it’s something serious because, in the French system and the Guinean constitution, there is no need for the Prime Minister to resign. The president is the person who has to decide that by signing a decree,” he said.
Toure said the dissolution of parliament is also an attempt by the Conde government to smooth over a week of bad economic news.
“[The] last few days we have a new budget [that] was something very bad. We have a growth of less than 2 percent this year. All neighboring countries [have high projected growth rates] Sierra Leone 14.5 percent [growth] and Cote d’Ivoire 9 percent, even Mali has 6.7 percent,” he said.
He said his party is not interested in joining any new government.
“I don’t think this will be my parliamentary group because I think the government failed almost three years. Nobody needs to join with them and support their failure ahead of the 2015 presidential election,” Toure said.
Opposition parties said late last year they had asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for continued UN mediation following the September 28 disputed parliamentary election.
Prior to the vote, Said Djinnit served as UN facilitator for dialogue between the opposition and the government.
Toure said the opposition wants to make sure the international community is aware of the situation in Guinea.
“We want to be sure that everybody will be concerned about the situation in Guinea because we have two elections coming. The first one will be the election of mayors and the next election, 2015, will be the presidential election. And, we all know what happened in Guinea during the [last] parliamentary election,” he said.
Toure said the opposition does not want to find itself in a similar situation like the September 28 election, including dealing with the same electoral commission that it accused cheating.
It’s not known who Conde might appoint to head the next government. But observers say the president might pick former finance minister Kerfalla Yansane or Kemoko Toure, believed to be an Conde ally.
Toure said it would matter little to the opposition who becomes the next prime minister because the Conde government has failed the people.
“Currently, I’m not concerned because the government failed, as I said earlier. We have poverty, we have no electricity, no water supply, even in the capital city.” Toure said.
