Guinea-Bissau is experiencing “a kind of social revolution” – Simões Pereira

The candidate for the PAI-Terra Ranka coalition for Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Guinea-Bissau, Domingos Simões Pereira, said today that in this election campaign, the country is experiencing “a kind of social revolution”.

The president of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), who leads the Inclusive Alliance Platform (PAI) – Terra Ranka, said that “for a long time this regime tried to call the Guinean population to conflict, to rupture, to division and made use of all kinds of tricks.”

“Fortunately, there was calm, and the ability to propose a serious project, and this is the reaction”.

Speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of a rally in Farim, about 100 kilometers from Bissau and near the border with Senegal, Domingos Simões Pereira said that the Guinean people “see themselves in the proposals” that the coalition he leads presents and “are prepared on June 4 to sanction the kidnapping of the government and demand the restoration of political and democratic order in Guinea-Bissau.”

Asked about coexistence, in case of victory, with the Guinean President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, who has already reaffirmed that he will not appoint him as Prime Minister, the PAIGC leader said that it is not a question of coexistence but “a question of respect for the laws and the popular will.”

“If there is that statement from those who say they are incapable of accepting the decision freely expressed by the Guinean people, it will be that entity that will have to choose another destination and not the people.”

“The people have nowhere to go, the people have the right to live here, and this is where they will continue to live,” he added.

About the ban on the landing in Bissau of the plane carrying electoral material from PAI – Terra Ranka, Simões Pereira considered that it is an “abuse of power, of disrespect of the rules” because “all other parties received their campaign materials, motorcycles, vehicles, all kinds of material, not to mention the amounts that were diverted from the public treasury to sustain the campaign.”

However, he depreciated this issue, arguing that people don’t need t-shirts and caps to show that they are with the coalition he leads and that “this is how they want to celebrate June 4”.

Simões Pereira was received in his hometown to the sound of great music by a crowd and had difficulty reaching the rally site, next to the PAIGC headquarters in Farim, capital of the Oio region, in the center-north of the country.

The population shouted “Matchu” (brave), the name he is known in Guinea-Bissau.

Speaking to Lusa while she waited about four hours for the candidate to arrive, Santu Soares, who comes from Mansoa but lives in Farim, said that this region “lacks everything.”

“There is no light, no water, no good education. There is school, but it doesn’t work well”, said this Guinean, wearing a white T-shirt with the green, red, and yellow colors of the party calling for a vote for Domingos Simões Pereira.

For Santu Soares, only the PAIGC will be able to solve the problems of Farim and Guinea-Bissau.

When asked if it is possible to have Domingos Simões Pereira in the government under the presidency of Umaro Sissoco Embaló, she was adamant:

“Not with Sissoco. Because “he doesn’t think well of Guinea-Bissau.”

“With Sissoco, Guinea got worse. It is the worst regime,” she said, adding that “there is hunger, there is misery in the country.”

Quebá Queta also complained about the living conditions because “never before has a bag of rice been so expensive.”

He said he used to buy 50 kilos for about €23, and now he pays between €33.5 and €38.

The way around this issue is to exchange cashews for rice.

“But we exchange 80 kilos of cashew for 25 kilos of rice,” he lamented.

This Guinean lives in Canicó, about five kilometers from Farim, in an area rich in phosphates, whose exploitation is dependent on a resettlement process of the population, which does not accept the conditions offered to them in terms of compensation.

Exalted, Quebá Queta assured that his land “will only be exploited by those who fulfill the promises of compensation and resettlement of the population.”

About the elections, he said that “the Constitution says that whoever wins should govern” about the statements of the Guinean President that he will not nominate Domingos Simões Pereira or the party’s vice-president, Geraldo Martins, as prime minister.

“Whoever says otherwise is dreaming. The people will demand it, even if they must die,” he added.

Abdu Sani complained that “there is hunger everywhere in Guinea-Bissau because cashew is being sold at €0.22 or €0.15” and “nobody is buying.”

“I have more than 14 bags of cashew [the equivalent of 700 kilos] at home, and I can’t sell,” he laments.

Nearly 900,000 voters are registered to vote in Sunday’s legislative elections, with 20 parties and two coalitions running.

The electoral campaign ends on Friday.

With information from Lusa

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