Pr Salifou Sylla constitutional lawyer was among the panelists at the symposium on constitutionalism in Guinea, organized by the National Council of the Transition (CNT). During this exercise, he pointed out the problem of the application of the content of the Constitution and the desire for absolute power for the Heads of State.
Here are his remarks:
When you analyze things, it is not, in fact, the failure of the Constitution that led to these things. The reality is also that the Constitutions have never been respected in our country. It is not the failure of the constitutional institution. There are parameters in this country, not only the political parties at any given time but also our very conception of the state. This desire to grant the maximum power to the one who is at the head of this country; some sort of allegiance. And when you have such realities, there is no reason for the structures not to follow. So I do not attribute the failure of the regimes to constitutionality, because the Constitutions have never really been respected.
We are going to make a Constitution, that’s for sure, a Constitution that will be part of longevity. I must say that all legal rules are established according to certain situations. And as the situations are necessarily evolutionary, we cannot, the time that we make a law, say that it will impose itself indefinitely; everything adapts to the level of the Constitution.
In the Constitution of May 2010, we had put guarantees that should enforce it. We have to learn to respect the laws. But if whoever is there wants to change and put on something else, will our guarantee be of any use? No. The best guarantee of the Constitutions is in the spirit of the law. If we do not respect the Constitutions, it is obvious that whatever the Constitution, even if it is written in golden letters, if you do not respect it, it is useless. This is the fundamental problem in our country. When the rules are written, they must be respected and by everyone.
