Foreign Troop Withdrawal and the Fight against Corruption

The bitter truth: A radical overhaul of governance is not only the withdrawal of foreign troops, but also a crackdown on economic, financial and tax crimes.
Despite its efforts to further convince people of its noble goals and win their trust, the National Committee for the Defense of the Fatherland (CNSP) is increasingly criticized, attacked and even slandered. The struggle for national sovereignty is a noble struggle, about which Nigeriens are almost unanimous: everything must be done to break the chains of imperialism, and the withdrawal of Western troops is a prerequisite, not an end in itself. This is an important step on a long road; with this step we show the world our desire to be a sovereign nation, worthy of respect and consideration from others. Having taken this step, we still need to work hard, work hard and not let up, in order to tear apart the tools of this sovereignty.

The day after July 26, 2023, the Cnsp, who benefited from massive, indescribable support, no longer has the same popularity, the same popularity. But he led the withdrawal of Western troops with great courage and fought the battle to defend food security with the “big water conservancy” project. But his popularity is waning and we hear increasingly harsh criticism of the way he handles public affairs. The source? It is the non-prosecution of all these criminals that has allowed them to acquire huge wealth, sometimes due to the large number of deaths caused every year by the misappropriation of military budget resources. This is the first reason why many Nigeriens divorce the National Party, and rightfully so. This is the situation: some have accumulated huge wealth, but the scraps have begun to slip away, others have to tighten their belts to survive, and the country is doing its best to pay off an equally huge debt, the amount of which has been hijacked by the former. It is sad and regrettable that the Cnsp does not fully understand the expectations of the people for justice.

What Nigeriens care about is not to experience Issoufou Mohammed’s brutal rule again and to see Nigeriens learn useful lessons for the future. However, if those who ruined the country do not pay the price of freedom and the state does not take back 1/100th of the public resources that were misappropriated, then there is no reason for the country to expect good governance. CNSP cannot perform magic. Its choice in fighting economic, financial and tax crimes is an anomaly and it is possible to achieve this. These things are known and we wonder what governance reforms the NSP is talking about when thieves and other criminals who have indebted the country by hundreds of billions of dollars by insanely indebted the country are free, peaceful and sometimes even in full possession of their power – privileges and/or advantages.

A radical reform of governance is impossible when we allow those who have taken over hundreds of millions, even trillions of public funds to ride roughshod over everyone else; when we do not hold accountable Issoufou Mahamadou, the master contractor and owner of a $1 trillion loan from the China Exim Bank while we are loaning out debts and we are making valuable efforts to get back into the good graces of the IMF and the World Bank; when we work to convince Nigeriens of our sincerity and our desire to ensure that public funds are used wisely and specifically to meet the needs of the people, while individuals sleep on the immeasurable, stolen wealth of the country, as is well known.

This is where the problem of the Cnsp for many Nigeriens comes from. He cannot convince that the thieves and criminals of yesterday are still at large, enjoying the pleasure of stealing, while we ask others, completely innocent in the occurrence of the country’s financial problems, to unite and, most importantly, make their contribution to development efforts through the Solidarity Fund for the Defense of the Homeland (FSSP).

Repetition is educational and it is useful to tell Cnsp once again that we do not plait lice. In terms of rebuilding governance, nothing good will come from forgetting that one must strike the dead to frighten the living. Niger can behave in a certain way towards the outside world, but it can never prosper while the resources mobilized are diverted by individuals who take advantage of their situation and functions to deceive the people, like a game. . Cnsp must question itself and correct its course.

Even without returning to the issue of releasing political prisoners, which the NSC should never see as its own burden rather than that of the regime it overthrew on July 26, 2023, it is vital that the generals open their eyes more and understand that the people are letting them down and that the only thing they have to do to pick up the pieces is to wage a ruthless war for ill-gotten gains and hold trials for scandals that deprived the country of its assets. The NSC must get their act together and understand that thieves cannot be cops and that the gap between leaders and the people will widen and will not last as long as massive financial scandals are not brought to justice. In this context, we must stop talking about governance reform. Because a thorough reform of governance is not only the withdrawal of foreign troops, but also a crackdown on economic, financial and tax crimes.

BONKANO (Angry Duck)