Minister for the Refoundation of the State;

Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization;

Mr. Representative of the Constitutional Court of Mali,

Mr. Coordinator of the Steering Committee of the Co-construction workshop of the 4 ^th Republic;

Dear partners of the synergy of CSOs for deep reforms in Mali;

Excellency Ambassador Cheick DIARRA

Honorable participants of the living forces of the nation;

Distinguished guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen, in your titles, ranks and qualities, all protocols observed.

On behalf of the members of the Synergy of CSOs for Deep Reforms in Mali and on my own, I welcome you to the workshop for the co-construction of the 4th ^Republic .

Our country, so beautiful, so rich and so proud, is confronted with multiple challenges whose attempts to resolve seem to have had no lasting result.

In 1991, we acquired democracy at the cost of the blood of many of our compatriots, may their souls rest in peace and may their sacrifice not be in vain.

21 years later, we witnessed with pain the collapse of the rule of law and democracy in Mali at the very moment when the whole world cited us as one of the best models in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our rich socio-cultural diversity and our democratic achievements have been put to the test (Corruption and bad governance, rebellions, insecurity, violation of fundamental freedoms, socio-political crisis, health crisis, etc.) which have left them deep sequelae, but fortunately reversible!

Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen,

If our country was a supercomputer, its operating system would undoubtedly be its constitution, and all the other business software facilitating the performance of operational tasks for users would be the legislative and regulatory texts. The sovereign people of Mali would then be the one whose creative genius has set up this coherent and perfectly compatible whole for the benefit of its children.

Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen

After 21 years, our super computer has crashed too often, its operating system, obviously, is not compatible with the software offered, which clearly seems to meet the expectations of users in 2021.

We must therefore inevitably move towards a modern operating system designed to meet the explicit and implicit expectations of the peoples of today and tomorrow in a united and prosperous Africa in perfect harmony with universal democratic values.

Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen

Our workshop does not claim to develop this software. We humbly want to continue to develop its prototype according to a participatory approach based on the frank and cordial collaboration of state actors, civil society, political society, media actors, customary and religious actors, Experts and Academics. .

For three days, the participants will analyze the constitution of February 25, 1992 in the light of the work previously carried out during the attempts at modification undertaken by Presidents Alpha Oumar KONARE, Amadou Toumani TOURE and Ibrahim Boubacar KEITA and in the light of current realities to propose a prototype of what could be Mali’s next constitution.

At the end of the work, this prototype constitution will also be accompanied by recommendations that can be used to draft a new electoral code to facilitate a rapid return to the rule of law.

Honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen

I would like to express my sincere thanks to OSIWA whose financial support enabled our synergy to organize this workshop.

I would also like to thank the Malian authorities through the ministries in charge of the refoundation and the administration of the territory as well as all the state organizations present here for having agreed to contribute to this exercise.

My thanks to all the actors present here whose contribution will be invaluable in moving the discussions forward.

I am confident that your contributions will be rich and that the work will be carried out with patriotism, efficiency and professionalism in a highly favorable climate for the co-creation of this prototype of the 4 ^th Republic.

God bless you

God bless our work

May God bless Mali