As the day draws closer for the people of the Central African Republic to go to the polls in a referendum to amend their constitution, the country’s atmosphere has over the last couple of days been charged up with rallies of different kinds. Already, the President, Prof Faustin Touadera has flagged off campaigns with the assurance that the new constitution would guarantee development, and justice for all. Lawrence Audu caught up with the country’s Minister of Small, Medium Scale Entreprise and the Promotion of Private Sector, Mohamed Lawan in this exclusive interview where he spoke on the advancement made in the last 7 years and the way forward after the referendum.
Excerpts :
What would you say has been the major improvement in this country in the last 7 years?
This country has emerged in the last 7 years as a country on the path of development after over 30 years of conflicts both political, ethnic and so on. But ti the flory of God when election came, we were lucky to have Prof Faustin Touadera as president who has continued to pursue peace and economic development of this wonder country of ours.
You know, there can be no meaningful development in the atmosphere of rancour. Without peace, you can not talk of economic development, schools cannot function and the healthcare system would collapse. This is why Prof Touadera made all efforts to bring peace including getting the Russians to come here and help us. While we were in crisis, he asked the French for help to deal with the rebels but they refused saying its the Russians that have blocked us from getting arms. When he met the Russians they denied blocking any help. You know, the Russians, once they recover arms from rebels, they don’t put them to use, rather they are destroyed but the French wanted us to have the arms recovered from the rebels which we refused. From that moment, Russians gave us arms and sent their instructors to come over to assist us. Since they came, they have been training our soldiers who are now taking the fight to the rebels of which many have been killed while others escaped. A lot have also surrendered and received amnesty.
Now that peace has returned, we are now shifting our focus to agriculture, and livestock this is what we are currently pursuing because the wealth is in the land. From there we have also began to revamp our educational system and improve our schools for the future of our children. You know if there is war schools would not hold. All the destroyed schools have been rebuilt and our health care services are being improved. Now we are collaborating with development partners to train our youths on agriculture which is yielding tremendous successes. Our GDP has increased by 4.5%.
How is the country faring in the area if National Security so far?
Thank you very much… The security of this nation currently has improved by 95%. I believe since you came to this country, you have been going around, if you go out of the capital Bangui, to Damara, Bouar, Yaloke and all the countrysides hitherto under the control of the rebels, everywhere is now peaceful and we’ll secured. Foreign investors with interest in gold and diamond mining have been coming and working freely without anyone harassing them. The remaining 5% are mere criminals who cannot be described as rebels but petty criminals who who prey on soft targets. But we are dealing with them. Those who want to turn a new leaf are granted amnesty after dropping their arms and we will rehabilitate them and give them a new lease of life.
As the Referendum draws closer, what are the security challenges you envisagé?
You know in every organised society, there are certain rules that must guide the people. But the laws here in the Central African Republic which is called Constitution. This constitution when it was proclaimed we noticed it had several flaws. That constitution which we are currently using was given to us by the French. They were the ones who wrote it and gave to us. We had no input in it. This is why we decided to amend it for our good. It is we the people of Central African Republic that insisted on a new constitution. The people rejected the old one because many vital areas that affect the people were not reflected in it. The people began to march and organising themselves. We had a town hall meeting where we told him to begin the process. We advised him to assemble the best brains to give us a new constitution. I was consulted to appoint someone to be a part of the constitution drafted committee. At the end, we took it to the President and asked him to choose a date for the people to affirm their new constitution. Which is the Referendum.
Even the so-called opposition that is making noise today, I have their memo here where they also requested that the constitution be changed. Let us be very clear on this, it was not Prof Touadera who asked for a new constitution, it is the people who are tired of under development that came out in the numbers. The President only yielded to their calls. Do you know that in the old constitution, mineral resources from between 5-10 metres belong to the people while anything deep down from 20metres to the depth of the earth belongs to France? Is the wealth theirs? Why this kind of oppression for God’s sake? We said no to that. If they want to help us exploit our resources, let’s discuss the terms do your business we take ours and you get what is due to you. In the current constitution which we have rejected, the youths were not captured. Infact it states that you must be up to 45 years before running for president haba… But in the new constitution even at 30 you can run for the highest office in the land. At 18 you can run for parliament. We have harmonized the the rights of all gender. No more discrimination against women in the new constitution. What is due to a man a woman is also qualified to have. The constitution didn’t capture the people living with disabilities but we have made sure their rights are captured. You know there is ability even in disability why would you not give them their rights. We also said people with dual nationality cannot run for President. You have to renounce on. But they can run as parliamentarians and they can be appointed as Ministers as well as joining the Armed Forces.
Currently the law has made provisions for nationalisation it doesn’t matter where you come from if you come here and you marry your children automatically are granted citizenship. Even if you both are visitors the children you birth here are citizens automatically. But the opposition is saying the laws are targeting Muslims who came to settle according to them which is not true. They are just trying to confuse the minds of the people. Myself talking to you today my great grand parents were the first people to establish this country. How them do I become an alien? It’s not possible. I am Mohammed Lawan and I am a Minister in this country. If they hate Muslims would I get to this position? And back to your question, there is no doubt that the Referendum would come to pass and the people will vote in a secured environment. But let me also emphasize that it is the people who have demanded a new constitution and the President Touadera.
What are the current economic challenges being faced by CAR?
Like I told you earlier, our country is one with a history replete of crisis for over 30 years. What we are doing now rolling out policies to bring in foreign investors to come here and take up farming, mining and other economic ventures. We want them to come over, join hands with the people so as to harness the enormous potentials for economic development. We are also calling on our youths who are done with school to come so we begin entrepreneurship together this would show the youths the right path while we take our economy in our hands. Already we have given a number of grants to these youths. Over 17billion FCFA was earmarked and disbursed. They have ventured into agriculture and other small scale stuff. We have even improved on road infrastructure just to bring development closer to the people people can bring their produce from the villages into the cities this also applies for those in the farms and mines too. The first wealth God gave us is farms and livestock this is why we are shifting our focus in that direction. Our interest are laws that will bring development to us. With what we are doing doing through mechanized agriculture in the next 2-3 years you will see remarkable changes. We have also introduced tokenization into the new constitution. Now you’d not need to use the conventional banking system for payment. Just come buy and go while paying through technology. Do you also know we are bringing BRICS? Within the next 2 months, their office would be open. And if you want to grow any economy, you must involve the youths who are still vibrant with fresh ideas. We are also talking about artisans and so on a lot is going on.
What is your final message for the people?
I would like to first talk about Nigeria because Nigeria has made Africa proud with the continuation of democracy. They have just concluded an election where a President was elected this is what brings peace. Nigeria is the greatest nation in Africa. What I would advise Nigerians is to be patient and follow the rules because if Nigeria goes down, Africa is finished. They should support their leaders and the leaders too must be sensitive to the plight of the citizens. They must help the poor. Nigeria has made Africa proud. Is the richest blackman, Aliko Dangote not a Nigerian? He better than most of the foreign billionaires who’s names you hear only because he’s a blackman. We must continue to learn from Nigeria so that we too can become that great someday.
To the people of Central African Republic, I want to urge all of them to go out for the Referendum and vote Yes. That constitution will guarantee development and economic growth for this country. Within the next 2 to 3 years they will see the difference.