He was Guinea’s most wanted fugitive. After several months on the run, Colonel Claude Pivi was arrested in Liberia. According to a source, negotiations are already underway between the Guinean and Liberian authorities regarding his possible extradition, desired by Conakry. On the subject, the president of the National Transitional Council, doctor Dansa Kourouma, expressed confidence to Christophe Boisbouvier. He also spoke about the military regime of General Mamadi Doumbouya, who is preparing to adopt a new Constitution by referendum, the fact that no date has yet been set for this election and that no one knows whether or not General Doumbouya will be a candidate in the presidential election that will follow.
RFI: Yesterday we learned of the arrest of Colonel Claude Pivi who had been on the run for 10 months. Was he planning a coup?
Dansa Kourouma: Guinea was reportedly facing serious insecurity risks along its border with Liberia. This information was brought to us through our friends living in Liberia.
What will become of Colonel Pivi now that he is a prisoner in Liberia?
It is simply to place him at the disposal of the Guinean justice system, so that he can serve his sentence.
But are you sure that the Liberian authorities will agree to extradite him?
Liberia is a state governed by the rule of law and I have confidence in the Liberian authorities.
Dansa Kourouma, the National Transitional Council that you chair has just presented the preliminary draft of the future Constitution. What are the main new features?
The first innovation is the affirmation of Guinean identity, including the teaching of national languages and the translation of official acts of the State into national languages, for a better understanding of the law. The other innovation which is extremely important, we have subscribed, this time, to a bicameral Parliament. Guinea, since independence, has had a unicameral Parliament, a single chamber.
A National Assembly?
A National Assembly. Today, the preliminary draft proposes to the people of Guinea, at their request, a Senate composed of personalities elected by the members of the regional councils and the members of the local councils. That is to say, the inclusion of ethnic diversity in the conduct of political action. This is why the Senate becomes the guarantor of the equitable participation of the regions in the conduct of public action.
Dr. Dansa Kourouma, in the Transition Charter that has governed the country since the coup d’état of September 2021, it is written, article 46, that the president of this transition cannot be a candidate in the national elections that will mark the end of the transition. Why is this article not included in your preliminary draft?
The transition charter was a transitional act, the Constitution is a supreme law or a fundamental law that will govern the political, social, economic life of Guinea, for the next 30 years or 50 years. No constitution has mentioned categories of people who cannot be candidates for an election. This is why, in order to respect the general character, the impersonal and timeless character of the Constitution, we did not want to go into these details.
So Article 46 of the Transitional Charter on the non-candidacy of CNRD military personnel is an intangible article. So, the opposition says that this article is not of a nature to individualize the Constitution and that it can on the contrary, if it is introduced in the preliminary draft, make effective the respect of the provisions proclaimed intangible in the Transitional Charter?
The general character, the impersonal character… A constitution is a supreme legal norm. We cannot invent a precedent in the writing of constitutional norms.
For the opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo, there is no longer any doubt that General Doumbouya will be a candidate. Doesn’t the absence of this article 46 of the Charter in your preliminary draft foreshadow a future candidacy of the head of the transition?
Until proven otherwise, we have not seen any action on the part of the general in relation to: for or against his candidacy.
In any case, there is nothing to prevent him from being a candidate from now on?
Typically, a constitution does not establish a list of people who can be candidates or not.
On several occasions, the CNRD military has committed to the transition ending on December 31. But will this constitutional referendum take place before December 31?
In any case, all the conditions are met for the referendum to be possible by December 31.
On July 9, two major figures of civil society and the FNDC, Messrs. Foniké Mengué and Mamadou Billo Bah, were kidnapped in Conakry by soldiers. Do you have any news of them?
I cannot give you any news or official information about them, but what is important and what I can say with certainty is that the judicial authorities are up in arms to be able to find clues about these two compatriots. And the Attorney General at the Conakry Public Prosecutor’s Office has already made a statement on this and has instructed judicial police officers to investigate to find traces and clues about our two compatriots. There are not two of them, there are other compatriots who are in the same situation.
Their families have no access to them, no one can see them, no one knows where they are. Aren’t we in the greatest illegality?
Listen, we wish that our two compatriots return home safe and sound.
Also readGuinea: Colonel Claude Pivi, convicted in absentia for the September 28 massacre, was arrested in Liberia
Also readGuinea unveils draft constitution limiting president’s power to two terms
Related News :