ADEMA faced with the new Constitution: the dilemma?

“March 26, 1991-March 26, 3023; 32 years of democracy: achievements, challenges and prospects” was, this Sunday, March 26, 2023, the theme of a talk organized by the Executive Committee of the Alliance for Democracy in Mali-African Party for Solidarity and Justice (Adéma -PASJ), at the party headquarters in Bamako-Coura. This meeting, which brought together the members of the National Youth Movement of ADEMA-PASJ around the heads of the executive office, was intended to be a framework for intergenerational exchange on the 32 years of the advent of democracy in the Republic of Mali.

This talk-debate was moderated by Pr Ali Nouhoum DIALLO; who had at his side the former ministers, Moustapha DICKO; Adama Tiemoko DIARRA; Yaya SANGARE. We also noted the presence of the president of the national youth office of the party, Mohamed Cherif COULIBALY; Mrs. Touré Rokiatou BAH; as well as Tiébilé DRAME and Me Hamidou DIABATE, from PARENA.

In his welcome speech, the President of the BNJ, Mohamed Cherif COULIBALY, declared that the choice of the theme was not fortuitous because, he said, it allows young activists of the African Party for Solidarity and Justice to to be informed and equipped on the achievements, the challenges and the prospects of Malian democracy, which is nowadays subject to severe tests.
Yesterday at the forefront of all struggles for the establishment of democracy in Mali, in the opinion of Mr. COULIBALY, Adema-PASJ and almost all the actors of the democratic movement are now passively assisting to the flagrant, incomprehensible and unacceptable violation of the freedoms for which they fought, often at the cost of their freedom and their lives.
Following the latter, the president of the party, Marimantia DIARRA, underlined that democracy was not a given. For him, it is a permanent construction that consolidates and strengthens.
To do this, he invited young people to get more involved in party activities.
“Politics is not agitation, it is construction,” he said.
“It’s not passionate, it has to be reasoned and well understood,” he insisted.
Which makes the former minister, Yaya SANGARE, political secretary of the party, say that democracy is not an irreversible achievement. According to him, it is an ongoing process that invites everyone to do their part, especially young people.
While the concerns of the participants focused on the role and responsibility of young people within the party, Professor Ali Nouhoum DIALLO stressed that it was up to young people to mobilize to uproot and ensure this responsibility.
New constitution, Adema in silence
During this meeting, the question of the draft new Constitution initiated by the President of the transition, Colonel Assimi GOITA, was invited into the debates.
Me Kassoum TAPO, one of the vice-presidents of the ADEMA party, seized this platform to denounce what he describes as the party’s “silence” in the face of the debates on the new Constitution.
“I am surprised to see that a party like ours has still not reacted to the assassination of its daughter; that is to say, the Constitution of 92. It is the daughter of ADEMA”, protested Me TAPO.
For him, the current transition is killing the constitution of 92 in front of its dumbfounded founding fathers.
“It is not normal. It is not normal that until now we have not heard you, ”he criticized.
“What prevents us from saying that we do not agree if we are not the leader of this political class which rejects this Constitution for reasons that simply need to be explained”, he explained. for follow-up.
“I think we have to take responsibility in this regard,” he said.
Before him, Moustapha DICKO, another vice-president of ADEMA had abounded in the same direction.
“Me, my Constitution, it is that of 92. It is the blood of our martyrs which is at the base of this Constitution. And it’s not a pale copy of anything. We cannot do ex-nihilo work that has been done elsewhere under other skies. We take what exists, and we put it to our own standards, to our own expectations. It is the best minds that are at the base of this 1992 Constitution”, he decided.
According to him, the Constitution is not there to manage a specific situation.
“I heard that the transition made its Constitution in 91 and that this transition could also make its own. But, in 91, there was no longer a Constitution. Today, the Constitution exists, it is the Constitution of 92. How to re-read this Constitution, how to make the change, everything is in the Constitution”.
In his opinion, what ADEMA did in the time of Alpha Oumar KONARE, what was proposed in the time of ATT and IBK compared to now, is absolutely not the same thing.
The party in a sincere and frank accompaniment
Following these two speakers who sound like calls for the rejection of the presidential initiative, former minister Yaya SANGARE, secretary general of the party, is much more conciliatory.
“We are in the accompaniment, a sincere and frank accompaniment. Whenever events occur that require ADEMA to express itself, ADEMA will do so. Today, we are sticking to what the authorities of the transition have said, the commitment they made is to be able to organize the elections on the date that was planned, that is to say February 24, 2024. If this is not the case, ADEMA will appreciate” said Mr. SANGARE.
Today, he explained, there is a consultation framework that has been created, where everything is discussed.
“For us a transition, in essence, is short-lived. And that is better for those in power and for the country,” he said.
On the issue of the new Constitution, former Minister Yaya SANGARE firstly underlined that ADEMA was a democratic party where everyone expresses themselves according to their convictions.
He recalled that ADEMA has spoken on the preliminary draft.
“We made a statement to highlight all the reservations that ADEMA has and all the comments related to certain articles. We even proposed a Draft text that we sent, not only to the President of the transition, to the Minister of Territorial Administration and to the President of the CNT. And we shared his reservations with the entire political class,” he said.
It emerges from his remarks that the finalization commission which was set up by the President of the transition took into account certain proposals from ADEMA. But equally, she superbly ignored others.
“We are in the process of having the debate within us. And these debates which are there, sufficiently prove that ADEMA is a great party. But we are going to reach a consensus where we are going to take into account, not only the political aspect, but also the technical aspect, without deviating from the Constitution of 92, we are going to appreciate, in due time, what the ADEMA will propose and what ADEMA will take as a position in relation to this Constitution”, he concluded.

By Abdoulaye OUATTARA