In an exclusive interview with the Kuwaitian Al-Qabas newspaper on Tuesday, July 30, 2018, in the premises of his embassy in the Zahra Janoub Surah Block 8 rue 809 villa 117 neighborhood, His Excellency Mamady Traore, Ambassador of Guinea to Kuwait, discussed extensively the relations between his country, the Republic of Guinea and the State of Kuwait on the one hand, and the situation of his domestic compatriots living in Kuwaiti on the other.
This interview follows the controversy following the tragic accident of one of his countrymen named KADE SADJO BAH on 09/07/2018 in an office-run building that brought him to Kuwait.
Q1: How do you describe the bilateral relations between the Republic of Guinea and Kuwait?
Kuwaiti-Guinea relations date back to the 1970s. They are normal and fraternal. Our two countries share Muslim religion and are both members of the Islamic Cooperation Organization (OCI).
The latest development in our bilateral relations was the opening of the Embassy of Guinea here in Kuwait on May 5, 2017. Previously, Kuwait was linked to the Embassy of Guinea in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It was in accordance with the will of our two leaders, Professor Alpha CONDE and His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah the Emir of Kuwait that the government of Guinea decided to open its embassy in Kuwait. A decision that will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the traditional relations of friendship and fraternal cooperation uniting the two countries.
I am personally very happy to have been chosen by my President as the first ambassador of Guinea here in Kuwait and to open the embassy.
Q2: What are the main agreements and memorandums of understanding signed between the two in recent years?
It must be acknowledged that, while Kuwaiti-Guinea relations are generally in good shape, in the area of cooperation, there are still efforts to be made on both sides to raise them to a higher level, which is quite possible because opportunities are not lacking on either side.
Indeed, when I took office, in the field of education, only one scholarship for higher education is awarded to my country every year. Yet we have thousands of candidates who have completed their secondary education and want to pursue their postgraduate studies in the various sectors of your universities or higher education institutions. I look forward to being received by the Minister of Higher Education to raise this issue. The area of health in the light of our needs and your possibilities is one area to which we want to extend our cooperation.
It should be noted that Kuwaiti NGOs have a large presence in the humanitarian and social fields. They contribute, among other things, to the construction of schools, mosques and drilling facilities to fill water shortages in some villages.
Finally, the relationship between the country and the Kuwaiti Fund must be addressed. After a remarkable presence in the field of road infrastructure and health in the 70/80/90s, it should be noted that the level of our relations with the Kuwaiti Fund has continued to decline in recent years.
It took the opening of the embassy here in Kuwait for a real recovery to begin, at the beginning of 2018.
Indeed, in less than two months of negotiations between the government of Guinea through its embassy here in Kuwait first and then with the government an agreement in the amount of 8 million Kuwaiti dinars was signed on June 21, 2018 in Conakry to the satisfaction of the authorities and the people of Guinea.
This amount is intended for the realization of a project for the construction of four (04) exchangers on one of the main arteries of Conakry, the Prince Highway.
Their construction will undoubtedly bring happiness to the people of the capital, as it will limit the monstrous traffic jams they face on a daily basis.
I welcome the willingness of the Kuwaiti Fund officials to accompany us next year in the construction of another very important road infrastructure in the capital of Conakry.
Finally, during my meeting with the Deputy Director General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kuwait on 4 July 2018 at their headquarters. I was pleased to hear that the chambers of commerce of our two countries are bound by two protocols of agreement.
In order to accelerate their implementation, I proposed to my interlocutor to invite his Guinean counterpart to make a working visit to Kuwait, a proposal he accepted. He said that after September 2018, his brother is welcome to Kuwait on a date to his convenience.
Q3: How do you view the role of Kuwait in the Security Council?
I was very pleased to learn that Kuwait was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for two years. I know that Kuwait already plays an important role inining peace, security and stability in the Gulf region. Through his experience in searching for peace in the subregion, I am confident that he will hold his full place in the Security Council by contributing his expertise to the discussions.
For your information, I myself am familiar with the temple of international diplomacy, the UN our common home.
Indeed, I was the Permanent Representative of my country there in 2002-2003, when my country was a non-permanent member of the Security Council. On that occasion, I had the privilege of chairing the Security Council in March 2003. The second war in Iraq began while I was President of the Security Council. This moment remains for me the most exciting and unforgettable of my career as a diplomat.
Q4: Are there prospective official visits between the two countries?
At the moment there are very few official visits between the two countries. But I hope that with my President’s planned official visit to Kuwait at the invitation of His Highness Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the situation will evolve.
Such a visit will pave the way for direct contacts between Guinean businessmen and their Kuwaiti counterparts, as well as between members of both Governments.
During his various business visits, the head of state is always accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and economic operators.
I am very much looking forward to this visit, the principle of which has been acquired since the presentation of my credentials to His Highness the Emir of Kuwait, I am regularly in contact with the Foreign Affairs Protocol with a view to fixing the date.
Q5: Can you tell us about the situation of your compatriots in Kuwait?
The colony of Guinea in Kuwait is divided into two categories:
A first composition of students officially enrolled in Swedish universities and former students who after completing their studies have found employment in the field of education in your country. Their number ranges from 20 to 25. The Embassy has no problems with them and has never received any problems or complaints concerning them from the Kuwaiti authorities or citizens.
A second category concerns domestic Guineans who have decided to try the adventure in Kuwait in search of better living conditions.
One year after the opening of the Embassy of Guinea in Kuwait, I have to admit that managing their situation is the biggest concern for us at the embassy at the moment. Their numbers have increased steadily and their conditions of recruitment are completely lacking in transparency. The result of hearing them is that they are experiencing difficulties in their workplaces.
They are mostly surprised at the work and wages offered. It is a total disappointment that they are experiencing.
That is why many of them flee their workplaces and seek refuge at the embassy with the sole desire to return to the country quickly.
Unfortunately, the embassy does not know anything about their terms of employment. However, once they arrive at the embassy, we have an obligation to welcome them and assist them in the very complex processes to result in their return to the country. I do not know the exact number of them in the country because the embassy is not informed of their arrival in Kuwait and therefore does not know their addresses inside the country.
To date, 148 have been able to return to the country thanks to the embassy’s efforts, while 30 are waiting at the shelter, deportation and hospitals. Currently, we are hosting at least two or three per week.
In the meantime, I would like to thank the managers of this centre and of the deportation as well as the doctors for their cooperation and their readiness, which we have never lacked in managing this delicate situation.
On the other hand, it is important to note that there are more domestic compatriots who continue to work in Kuwaiti households.
Among them there are those who have no intention of giving up their work and who wish to stay here.
This is how the situation is presented. Those who want to stay are free to stay, and those who wish to return to the country are also free to leave. We must respect their choice, their decision.
Regarding the Guinean maid named KADE SADJO BAH who jumped from the 6th floor of a building about three weeks ago whose news caused a lot of reaction on social networks both here in Kuwait and in Guinea. Thank God her condition is improving quite well thanks to her treating doctors at Al Adan Hospital where she is admitted.
According to her, she was kidnapped locked up and deprived of food for days in an apartment within the office that brought her to Kuwait. Before I listened to some people who told me about their difficult working conditions but never had such a case occurred; it is an unfortunate case for the first time and I hope that it never happens again.
Q6: What are the solutions you have proposed to the authorities so that such acts do not happen again?
In my opinion, the offices responsible for recruiting these girls and ladies as maids and their representatives based in Guinea are the first to blame for this unfortunate situation.
In fact, recruitments are done without transparency, no clear contracts and better to encourage them to accept the offer to come to work in Kuwait, they lie to them and don’t tell them the truth about the precise work they have to do when they arrive, or the salary they need to get.
In addition, they are often scammed by representatives of Guinea-based offices who have them pay large sums of money even before they leave Conakry.
They lie to them by making them believe that they come to work in large hotels, hairdressers, sewing stores, etc. and that they will receive salaries that will get them out of poverty. Faced with the realities at their arrival it is the surprise, the total disappointment for some of them who have abandoned everything (work, family etc...) to come to Kuwait or have been promised mountains and wonders. It is their dream that is broken.
That is why some people leave their workplaces and prefer to return home.
In my opinion, the only solution is to regulate recruitment, formalize it with the involvement of the embassy and the other actors. In this regard, a negotiated memorandum of understanding with specific conditions could be signed between the embassy and the recruitment offices.
As has already been done by some embassies in the same situation as us, in the meantime, I have asked the competent authorities of my country to postpone the departure from Conakry until a new order of girls and young ladies holding a visa 20 to Kuwait.
I have taken the same action with the competent authorities in Kuwait so that they no longer grant 20 visas to Guinean women who want to come to work in Kuwaiti as domestic workers in order to examine precise and shared recruitment conditions among the parties concerned.
I hope to meet very soon with the Minister of the Interior or any other competent authorities to discuss this matter with them.
Thank you.