On January 2, the Overseas Minister met elected officials from the Réunion region and economic players to discuss the reconstruction of Mayotte after Chido. Since then, elected officials and Mahorais entrepreneurs have been outraged, refusing to serve as “a springboard for Reunion businesses”.
As is often the case, it was Estelle Youssouffa, the LIOT MP from Mayotte, who threw the stone into the pond.
Responding on “The elected officials of Reunion refuse the children of Mayotte but demand money for reconstruction by taking the markets! NO: Mahorais entrepreneurs must be given priority. Local expertise is in Mayotte. POINT.”
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And to specify, in another post: “We must fight so that our craftsmen, our entrepreneurs from Mayotte are given priority on (Re)construction contracts. There is no question that the announced Global Free Zone will serve as a springboard for Reunionese companies.”
An idea shared by other political leaders and economic actors in Mayotte. In an extraordinary meeting this Monday, January 6, the elected officials of the department were to deliberate on the “Mayotte Standing Plan: rebuilding Mayotte for and with the Mahorais”, a report which was finally removed from the agenda, postponed to next Wednesday.
But the question was raised, and the departmental councilor of Mamoudzou 1, Hélène Pollozec drives the point home: “François Bayrou was clear, the construction of Mayotte must be done with the Mahorais and by the Mahorais. We accept national solidarity but I refuse that de facto Mahorais companies be excluded from all the construction that will be done under the pretext that we would not have made a census, post Chido, of the skills still in the territory.”
She specifies: “We know that all the obstacles at the level of public procurement, which sometimes prevented our local companies from responding to the market, will be relaxed to allow our local engineering, our local skills to be able to participate”.
And as a response to the elected representatives of Reunion, the departmental councilor asserts: “We know that in most cases, markets are taken by other companies which are often established elsewhere and then subcontracted locally. We must stop with this management and leave our artisans, our companies be at the forefront for the development of the territory.”
Bourahima Ali Ousseni, the president of the CPME, “the feeling that we were sharing Mayotte between us without our knowledge and without us” he said regarding the meeting between Manuel Valls and the economic players of Reunion Island.
However, realistically, it is “aware” he said “that we cannot rebuild Mayotte alone, given the extent of the damage, we necessarily need outside companies. But we need a share reserved for Mayotte companies, which lost everything following the passage of Chido. We must not don't forget that we have a high unemployment rate on the island, we need these external companies to hire our unemployed but not to come with all their staff.”
“Reunion cannot accommodate the entire population of Mayotte, but Mayotte cannot accommodate all of Reunion’s businesses either.”
Bourahima Ali Ousseni, president of CPME Mayotte
Mayotte the 1st
But François Bayrou's standing Mayotte plan is still vague on the subject, admits Bourahima Ali Ousseni: “the Prime Minister just listened to our grievances and made his announcements. We don't know what is in this plan, Manuel Valls has not met us. Madame Bareigts, the mayor of Saint-Denis, said that the Réunion cannot accommodate the entire population of Mayotte, but Mayotte cannot accommodate all of Réunion’s businesses either.”
This Monday, Mayotte economic players sent letters to departmental and national elected officials to ask to be associated with the reconstruction of Mayotte.
