Nouakchott, January 14 (APS) – Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko assured his compatriots gathered on Monday at the Palais des Congrès in Nouakchott of the government’s determination to carry out the necessary reforms, while asking them at the same time to demonstrate of discipline and organization to help public authorities achieve this.
”No resistance will prevent us from making what we want in terms of change for the country (…) To achieve this, we must have a vision and demonstrate discipline and organization,” Mr. Sonko told the hundreds of Senegalese met in this palace in the Mauritanian capital.
In Senegal, ”there is always a category that contests what the State decides to do,” he said, assuring: ”We will not call into question any democratic achievements because we have opted for democracy.”
”There are choices to make. Do we want to scatter or do we want to make a revolution?”, he asked the Senegalese nationals who came to discuss with him the conditions in which they live in Mauritania.
”A revolution is not to be confused with a revolt,” the Prime Minister clarified.
The revolution will consist of making “structural changes,” he said. ”It starts with changing behavior. Change is not easy. We have habits that are sixty-four years old (since the country’s independence). The Senegalese want change but do not want to change (…) It’s impossible,” he added.
”We are going to go about it methodically and methodologically,” continued Ousmane Sonko, estimating that ”electoral concerns” have often prevented governments from carrying out the necessary reforms in Senegal.
”We want to ensure that no Senegalese thinks, in ten, twenty or thirty years, of expatriating by borrowing a canoe,” he promised.
Ousmane Sonko arrived in Nouakchott on Sunday evening for a two-day official visit devoted to energy, transport, security and migration.
For this visit, also known as friendship and work, he is accompanied by several ministers, including Yassine Fall, in charge of African Integration and Foreign Affairs, and Jean Baptiste Tine, that of the Interior and Public Security.
Birame Souleye Diop, the Minister of Energy, Oil and Mines, Yankhoba Diémé, the Minister of Infrastructure, Land and Air Transport, and Fatou Diouf, the Minister of Fisheries, Maritime and Port Infrastructure, are taking part.
The delegation led by Ousmane Sonko also includes the directors general of the National Agency responsible for the promotion of investments and major works, Bakary Séga Bathily, and of the Société des Petroles du Senegal, Alioune Guèye.
ESF/OID
