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Last Updated: Oct 3, 2008 - 1:55:57 PM |
As regional leaders gathered in Conakry on 2 October to celebrate
Guinea's 50 years of independence from France, on the other side of the
capital, doctors emerging from a ten-day strike said when it comes to
healthcare, there is little to celebrate.
"There has not been much progress in the health sector in Guinea over
the past few decades. Health centres and hospitals still do not have
enough equipment or staff. And we experience frequent difficulty in
acquiring even basic life-saving medicines," said government health
adviser Dr. Sékou Doukouré.
"The public health sector lacks support staff such as nurses, lab
technicians and midwives, and this has dire consequences on the
population," said Doukouré.
Even the few ambulances for use by the nations' hospitals are in poor
repair, or simply not running because hospitals cannot afford to fill
their tanks.
In the capital's Donka hospital, many patients said bribes are the only
way to get care; health workers did not deny it and have said their
salaries are too low.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78535
Thousands of Guinean government health workers went on a 10-day strike
on 8 September calling for salary increases and months of back-pay.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=8025
Union leaders have warned strikes can resume if the government does not
improve working conditions for the country's more than 7,000 public
health workers.
Development lagging
"After 50 years of independence we do not understand why we are lagging
behind neighbouring countries, Senegal, Mali, even Cote d'Ivoire or
Liberia, which are emerging from war. Each Guinean should ask why are
we not advancing, why is [development] blocked and ask what we can do
about it," said Hadja Rabiatou Serah Diallo, Secretary-General of the
National Confederation of Workers of Guinea.
When it comes to other basic services, more than 60 percent of Guineans
do not have access to running water,
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78419
and about 40 percent of the country does not have regular electricity
according to Guinean Electricity Board (EDG) figures.
Guinea ranked 160 out of 177 countries in the latest UN index measuring
living conditions around the world.
Where is the money?
With up to half of the world's known bauxite reserves, bauxite mining
and aluminium operations bring in up to 80 percent of Guinea's foreign
exchange, and the World Bank estimates investments of US$20 billion in
bauxite mining in Guinea over the next decade. But most Guineans have
not benefited significantly from the revenue thus far, according to
Helage Suriba Sylla, president of the rural development committee in
Kindia, 80km from the capital.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78653
And some of this money may be swallowed by corruption. The 2008
international non-profit Transparency International's corruption index
ranked Guinea as the country with the seventh most corrupt image in the
world. withhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=80575
The UN says this corruption is leaving the country open to
international drug cartels cutting through its jungles and airport to
reach North Africa and beyond.
Protests
Strikes have regularly rocked the country.
A nationwide work stoppage in January and February 2007 claimed more
than 100 lives. The strike ended with the appointment of Prime Minister
Lansana Kouyaté who was dismissed by the President in May 2008.
More than a year after those deadly protests over the cost of living,
residents are actually paying more for rice, which at 95 US cents a
kilo as of early July 2008, was higher than almost every other city in
West Africa, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=78994 .
Teachers went on strike a month later, while youths marched through
Conakry in early September, burning car tires in protest of months of
blackouts. http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=80285
Thierno Diallo, student at the University of Conakry told IRIN most
Guineans are tired of violence, and simply want their leaders to
listen. "If [leaders] take this opportunity to tell the truth and to
pull lessons from the past, things are sure to change here," he said.
President Lansana Conté in a televised speech on 1 October recognised
the country needed to take a new path, but stopped short of making
promises or prescribing solutions. "Let's act now, let's take a stand
to make our people happy.Gone are the days of speeches and promises.
Today begins the record of achievements."
But 68-year-old filmmaker Moussa Kémoko Diakité told IRIN Guinea has a
long way to go to catch up with its colonial past, "During
colonialism.Guinea produced enough rice to feed its entire population.
We exported bananas, coffee, orange essence. Now, we are one of the
most poor and hungry countries in the world."
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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