Focus 1: Guinea’s Latest Dictatorship

New Campaign Launched Focusing on Dictatorship in Africa
Thompson Ayodele

June 15, 2015

ACCRA, Ghana & LAGOS, Nigeria: (15 June 2015) – Today, two leading African think tanks, IMANI Center (Ghana) and Initiative for Public Policy
Analysis (Nigeria) launched a public campaign to shine light on the
remainder of Africa’s dictators. This campaign begins with calling
attention to the alarming erosion of democracy and economic opportunity  for Guineans under President Alpha Condé.

ShadesOfConde.org highlights the erosion of democracy and failed economic policies under President Alpha Condé

As African leaders gather in South Africa for the Leaders’ Day meetings the African Union, ShadesOfConde has been launched to bring attention to the worsening situation in Guinea, ahead of the crucial Presidential election in October 2015.

Franklin Cudjoe, Director of IMANI Center, Ghana, said the following about decline of democracy in Guinea:

“President Alpha Condé is using every measure available to him to evade scrutiny and accountability – he has refused to hold local elections; he proposes laws banning media criticism; he appoints a military general t oversee the national election; and his security forces have killed democracy organizers in the streets of Conakry. Alpha Condé likes to referto himself as the ‘Mandela of West Africa’; his track record is more
Mugabe than Mandela.”

Thompson Ayodele, Director of the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), said the following about the decline of economic opportunity and the expropriation of property in Guinea:

“Guinea could be one of the richest countries in Africa; instead, it is one of the poorest under President Alpha Condé. Foreign investment has ground to a halt in the face of institutional corruption, erosion of the rule of law, and government theft of property. As a result, the people of Guinea are suffering where 40 per cent of people survive on less than $1.30 a day and the UN Human Development Index (HDI) ranks Guinea 179th out of 187 countries.” The situation in Guinea under President Alpha Condé is perilous:

The country is ranked 179th out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index Reporters Without Borders have condemned new law proposals cracking down on the free press Amnesty International has condemned the shooting of pro-democracy protestors

The International Crisis Group has warned of rising ethnic tensions caused by Alpha Condé’s policies and that free and fair elections are at risk

Political leaders in the U.S. and Europe are calling for the international community to stand up to Alpha Condé’s authoritarian rule

The ShadesOfConde campaign will follow closely the actions of President Alpha Condé and his cronies during the build-up to the Presidential election, to shine the spotlight on any further erosion of human rights,democratic freedoms, and media freedoms, that Alpha Condé perpetrates.


Thompson Ayodele
Director
Initiative for Public Policy Analysis
P.O.Box 6434
Shomolu,Lagos
Nigeria
Email:thompson@ippanigeria.org
Backup: thompson.ayodele@gmail.com
Website: www.ippanigeria.org
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