A prospective address to the nation by President Mamadi Doumbouya, on the eve of 2 October 2026, through the pages of Afrique Aujourd’hui

EDITOR’S NOTE: This text is a prospective editorial creation of Afrique Aujourd’hui. It imagines the address to the nation that the Head of State might devote to Guinea’s economic future on the eve of the national holiday of 2 October 2026. It is neither an official statement nor an authenticated communication from the Presidency of the Republic.

Fellow Guineans,

My dear compatriots,

As 2 October, the founding date of our independence, approaches, I wish to share with you a vision of the Guinea that we must build together.

Our national holiday must not only lead us to look back upon the past. It must also compel us to prepare for the future.

Our riflemen, resistance fighters, combatants and the fathers of our independence paid the price of our freedom, sometimes making the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them more than tributes. We owe them a strong State, robust institutions, a productive economy and a society capable of offering a future to every Guinean child.

Our forebears secured political independence. Our generation must now achieve economic, food, health, industrial and technological independence.

Developing the skills Guinea needs

Guinea must launch an extensive programme to establish vocational and technical education schools throughout the country’s different regions.

These institutions will train electricians, plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters, joiners, mechanics, welders and maintenance technicians. Practical training, workshop-based learning and company placements must occupy a central place in their curricula.

We cannot continue importing skilled labour when our young people are eager to learn a trade and take part in building the nation.

We have designed a project to create a major polytechnic institution that will train our engineers, researchers and future inventors. We have also planned a higher school of agronomy to prepare specialists capable of modernising agriculture, livestock farming, fisheries and agri-food processing.

Schools and education are the principal drivers of development.

A national scholarship entails ten years of service

Every student receiving a full or partial State-funded scholarship to study in Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia or elsewhere will be required to sign a contract committing them to serve the nation.

Upon completing their studies, beneficiaries must return to Guinea and work there for at least ten years. Knowledge acquired with Guinean taxpayers’ money must serve Guinea’s development. After those ten years, beneficiaries will be free to pursue their careers abroad.

An exception will apply where a regional or international organisation officially recruits a beneficiary to carry out an assignment on behalf of Guinea, represent Guinea or defend its interests. Such an assignment must be recognised by the competent authorities.

Any beneficiary who refuses to return, or who abandons this commitment without valid grounds before completing the required ten years, will be liable to the penalties provided for in the contract and by law, including repayment of the expenditure borne by the State.

In return, the State must organise the graduates’ return, recognise their qualifications and enable them to work in positions consistent with their training.

Giving our Combined Arms Military Academy an African vocation

We have also designed a programme to modernise and expand Guinea’s Combined Arms Military Academy. Our ambition is gradually to make it a leading military institution with a West African and continent-wide vocation, capable of training officers from friendly and partner countries alongside Guinean officer cadets.

This opening will promote the sharing of experience, the interoperability of African forces and common responses to contemporary threats, while respecting the sovereignty of every State.

Producing what we consume

Our sovereignty will remain incomplete for as long as we depend heavily on imports to feed our population. Our farmers, livestock breeders and fishers must receive suitable equipment, irrigation systems, cold-storage facilities, transport and financing.

The establishment of an agricultural bank, or a specialised financing mechanism, must be considered. Our objective is to produce more, process our harvests in Guinea and progressively achieve food self-sufficiency.

Enabling Guineans to receive treatment at home

The reconstruction and modernisation of Ignace-Deen Hospital must provide Guinea with a leading institution offering the principal medical specialties and the necessary technological equipment.

Guineans should no longer routinely have to pay for flights, hotels and considerable expenses abroad to receive treatment that could be available at home. A modern hospital, however, is not merely a building: it requires well-trained doctors, nurses, technicians and managers.

Protecting companies through sound management

Many companies disappear prematurely because their resources are mixed with their managers’ personal expenditure. A company is not a private cashbox.

Its revenue must finance its employees, suppliers, investments, operating costs and tax obligations. Managers must receive clearly defined remuneration. Profits may be distributed only after the accounts have been duly prepared and approved.

Every company will progressively be required to submit annual financial statements appropriate to its size. This discipline will allow banks to assess projects more effectively and extend credit to serious businesses. The State may establish a guarantee fund for viable investments.

Artisans, shopkeepers and small traders will be supported through this formalisation process by simplified procedures and an appropriate professional card.

Bringing capital into the banking system

I make an earnest appeal to companies, traders, businesswomen and businessmen, and everyone holding substantial sums of money outside the banking system.

They will have eighteen months to deposit these funds with licensed institutions, provide evidence of their origin and regularise their position. Traders may establish the source of their funds through invoices, sales records, stock movements, tax returns and daily or weekly takings.

Once this period expires, any large deposit or transfer lacking a credible explanation will be subject to enhanced scrutiny. Funds proven to be of unlawful origin may be frozen, seized or confiscated under procedures established by law and subject to judicial oversight.

This is not about automatically destroying banknotes that remain legal tender. It is about ending impunity for capital derived from corruption, fraud, smuggling or money laundering.

Billions kept in homes, private safes or clandestine networks feed the black market and deprive the economy of resources needed to finance development. Eighteen months provide sufficient time to comply with this policy. Thereafter, the law must be applied rigorously.

Cleaning up imports and protecting consumers

Every imported consignment must be supported by documents establishing the order, invoice, payment and source of funds. Such traceability is essential to combat fraud, under-invoicing, smuggling and money laundering.

Guinea must not become a destination for vehicles that are excessively old, dangerous or highly polluting. Progressive regulation must limit the age of imported vehicles and strengthen checks on their mechanical condition, chassis numbers and genuine mileage.

Tampered odometers and accident-damaged vehicles disguised to mislead purchasers will incur stringent penalties. Non-compliant vehicles may be refused entry or re-exported under a lawful and transparent procedure.

Preparing for Made in Guinea

Our ambition must go beyond consuming goods manufactured elsewhere. Vocational and technical education schools, together with the major polytechnic institution we have designed, must prepare a new generation of engineers, researchers and technicians.

In ten, fifteen or twenty years, Guinea must be capable of manufacturing agricultural machinery, mechanical parts, electronic equipment and, why not, computers or mobile phones bearing the words “Made in Guinea”.

Our mineral resources must finance education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and industrialisation. Guinea must no longer merely extract and export. It must transform, invent and produce.

Competence before community affiliation

A Guinean company must no longer operate solely as a family or community structure. No one should be selected or excluded because they are Fulani, Malinke, Susu, Forestier or belong to another community. Recruitment must be based on competence, integrity and experience.

Our principle must be clear: the right woman or man in the right position.

Companies must also respect workers’ rights and organise employee representation in accordance with the Labour Code. Social dialogue protects employees and contributes to business stability.

Building tomorrow’s Guinea together

My dear compatriots,

No president, government or institution can build Guinea alone. Development requires the participation of teachers, doctors, members of the armed forces, farmers, fishers, artisans, traders, entrepreneurs, workers, women, young people and the diaspora.

The reforms must be explained, prepared with the sectors concerned and implemented without favouritism. The law must be the same for everyone.

Guinea possesses land, water, minerals, energy and, above all, the intelligence of its youth. We must turn these assets into schools, hospitals, businesses, industries, jobs and hope.

On the eve of 2 October, I wish to tell Guinean youth that the coming years can be better if we choose work over ease, competence over favouritism, production over dependence and national unity over division.

This is the Guinea we must build: strong, productive, united and progressively self-reliant.

Long live national unity!
Long live work and competence!
Long live the Republic of Guinea!

The Editorial Board of Afrique Aujourd’hui