Guinean businessmen admit that doing business in the country is difficult

Guinean economic operators are finding it difficult to operate in a country where a leader of importing and exporting businessmen has said the creation of an “economic republic” is still a mirage, 50 years after political independence.

Speaking to Lusa on the occasion of Guinea-Bissau’s 50th anniversary, which this year is celebrated on November 16, Mamadou Jamancha said it would be “very difficult” to do business in the country, which he considers a “real paradise”, if there were no claims. be “widespread confusion” between politics and economics.

“The confusion arises because either yesterday’s politicians are in today’s business, or yesterday’s businessmen are in today’s politics,” said a leader of Guinea-Bissau’s import and export business.

Also speaking with Lusa Ezequiel, Domingos Agibane, president of the Freight Transporters Association, pointed to the country’s roads, virtually all of which he said are impassable, to illustrate the difficulties his members face.

Guinean government data shows that of the country’s 36,125 square kilometers, only less than five kilometers of roads are paved, although many of these roads are currently deteriorating.

Domingos Agibane told Lusa that Freight Carriers even proposed to the government to suspend the payment of the Road Fund, a tax levied by the government for the maintenance of public roads.

The leader of importers and exporters does not expect anything similar to happen in Guinea-Bissau any time soon, given what he says is the confusion between politics and business.

“A person leaves the business world and comes into politics, he simply brings his company, his people into politics. These strange situations threaten the economic republic that we want to build in this country,” said Mamadou Jamanja.

The businessman, who works in the cashew nut sector, the country’s main agricultural and export product, as well as in the production of local soap, guarantees that anyone who can do business in Guinea-Bissau for five years is “able to do business anywhere in the world ” world”.

“Everything here happens randomly, which requires us, economic operators, to have a great capacity for imagination and creativity,” said Mamadou Jamanja.

Among the difficulties, cargo carriers complain not only about the condition of the roads, but also about drivers from other countries who have “invaded” the Guinean market, while the state has done nothing to help citizens.

Domingos Abigan, president of the trade association, said Guinea-Bissau’s overall economy was suffering because the country, 50 years after independence, still did not have its own system for distributing its agricultural products from the interior. country for the foreign market.

It is because of these and other difficulties, says Mamadou Jamanka, president of the Association of Businessmen-Importers and Exporters of Guinea-Bissau, that many foreign businessmen end up leaving the country.

“Anyone who doesn’t have the spirit of improvisation, of finding solutions, just packs their bags and gives up,” Jamanka concluded.

Guinea-Bissau declared its independence from Portugal on September 24, 1973, but official celebrations are scheduled for November 16, Armed Forces Day.

Leaders invited to the official ceremonies include Portuguese President and Prime Minister Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and António Costa, but the official program has not yet been published.