Media closure, power shortages and cessation of artisanal gold mining: Elhadj Mohamed Kourouma tells Guineematin.com all

Economic operator Elhadj Mohamed Kourouma, in an interview with Guineematin.com yesterday, Monday, July 22, 2024, spoke about several current issues concerning the country. These include the revocation of licenses of certain media outlets, the lack of electricity in the capital of Guinea and the cessation of artisanal gold mining.

» There is a lot to say about the closure of the media. Journalists must certainly denounce, put pressure on the authorities to take positive action. Today, it is a fact that there is no electricity, it is a fact that the Guinean franc is scarce, it is a fact that the cost of living is high. But the problem is to attribute all these things from independence to the current governance. Otherwise, these closed media would have employed several people. It makes us sick to see these people unemployed. So, they must ask themselves and avoid blaming everything on this power. I know one thing, if these media agree to denounce objectively with professionalism, that is, what is bad and what is admirable, if we speak, the government will agree to reopen them, he declared.

Regarding the cessation of artisanal gold mining, the businessman reviewed the consequences of this activity on children’s education and the benefits of the government’s decision.

» Artisanal gold mining is not a profession. How many of our children are no longer in school, how many couples are in trouble. But it is difficult to make those who practice this activity understand this because we have no other options. There is no employment and to avoid frustration, the government has just decided to temporarily ban it during this agricultural period to get people interested in agriculture to reduce the rice import rate. This is what we must tell the Guineans, “he said.

Regarding the electricity shortage that has recently plagued the capital of Guinea, the economist pointed out: “Guinea is in trouble. We contributed here to the Garafiri Dam under General Lansana Conde, promising to serve the country and sell to neighboring countries, but what later turned out to be the Caleta project brought by President Alpha Conde, but it did not succeed, and Souapiti suffered the same fate. It is true that Conakry has changed under Alpha Conde. But let us question the origin of this current. Is it the dam? No! We introduced engines that are too expensive, and this is exactly what the current engines do not want. They think that suffering today can be happy tomorrow. The solution is for everyone to seek to understand the real problems related to the electrification of Guinea so that we can find solutions together and finally put an end to this national worry,” he concluded.

De Kankan, Souleymane Kato CAMARA for Guineematin.com