The Supreme Court considers the request to revoke the decree dissolving the Observatory to be without merit –

On Thursday, August 15, the Supreme Court dismissed a request by the Mali Observatory for Elections and Good Governance (Observatory) as unfounded, and the Government ordered its dissolution. The court thus cleared its deliberations.

The leaders of the association occupied the executive branch of the High Court to annul the decree issued by the minister in charge of territorial administration to dissolve their organization, following deliberations by the Supreme Court and confirmed by one of the association’s lawyers, Me Mamadou Camara.

The President of the Observatory, Dr. Ibrahima Zango, contacted by us, did not want to comment on the decision. This judgment of the Court comes a week after the hearing of the report held at the headquarters of the institution. During which the Observatory’s Counsel expressed reservations about the conclusions of the judge-rapporteur. Me Mamadou Camara asked the Court not to follow the conclusions of this report on the case of his client.

It should be remembered that the Malian Observatory for Elections and Good Governance was dissolved by the Government on Wednesday, December 20, 2023. The Minister of State, Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Colonel Abdoulaye Maga, informed the Council of Ministers of this decision.

In a press release, the Minister of State criticized the lack of transparency in the sources of funding for the projects carried out by the Observatory, which the Government had not been aware of since its creation, and said that these actions violated the provisions of the law of 5 August 2004 on the Association and its statutes.

The document stressed that the Observatory had never informed the Governor of Bamako of the changes and modifications that had taken place within it, nor had he submitted a report on his activities in accordance with the directives of the Common System for the Coordination, Monitoring and Control of the Activities of Associations, Non-governmental Organizations and Foundations in the Republic of Mali.

But according to a press release, the association’s president made statements that could disrupt public order, including his predictions about participation in the June 2023 referendum, in violation of the prerogatives of the Independent Electoral Management Body (Aige).

The Observatory was established in January 2015 as a platform that brings together several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society associations

Aboubakar Traore