Dear fellow citizens:
As we celebrate the Fifty-second Anniversary of the National Independence conquered on October 12, 1968, the day on which Equatorial Guinean citizens acquired the fullness of his Political, Economic, Social and Cultural rights, violated for 200 years by the colonial system, It is my obligatory duty and responsibility to extend my unreserved congratulations to the noble People of Equatorial Guinea, who are now fifty-two years old in the exercise of their freedoms.
Equatorial Guinea is currently a State of Peace, Harmony and Stability at all levels. We also want to congratulate for this reason, the foreign citizens who have opted to reside and contribute with their activities in the development of Equatorial Guinea, who side by side have shared the transformations with their contribution to National development.
In this effect, National Independence is the mother of all the rights a citizen enjoys, since the colonial system was an illegal occupation on Country by foreign powers; the citizens became a simple instrument of exploitation and deprived of all responsibility to decide the affairs of his own Nation.
The conquest of this freedom posed a long-standing war without quarter between the colonial authorities and the defenseless people of Equatorial Guinea, in which many compatriots lost their lives, such as those who suffered violent repression for not submitting to the unjust decisions of the authorities. Colonial.
As such, the struggle for the freedom of the African People subjected under the colonial empire began in the 1924 with the United Nations providing its support to the colonized Peoples as of 1950.
The struggle for the liberation of the People of Equatorial Guinea against colonialism released a persecution of people who demonstrated against the foreign presence in the country and had dramatic consequences such as deportations, arbitrary imprisonment, forced labor without remuneration, compulsory contributions and free to support the Colonial Authorities, cruel punishments, political assassinations, disappearances etc. … and many citizens were forced to take refuge in neighboring countries and outside our borders.
These events constitute the memory that has been implanted in the People of Equatorial Guinea. Honor and glory for those heroes of our Nation, who will always be recognized by history and by present and future generations.
It is necessary to instill in the collective memory of the new generations these historical facts, not with the aim of arousing in them feelings of phobia, hatred or adversity, but on the contrary, so that they are vigilant that no one reintroduces similar practices in our Pacific Country. Well, colonialism is a system that not only was practiced by foreigners who forcibly occupied our territories, but it can also be practiced by any national citizen who does not respect the human condition of his brothers, as in the case of the past dictatorial regime of sad memory. In our country.
Due to the diabolical nature of the practices of colonialism, this system has been strongly condemned by the International Community as a “crime against humanity”.
Dear fellow citizens;
Despite the overwhelming joy that springs up in our hearts at the commemoration of this fantastic event, we have not been able to organize it as usual with public demonstrations, due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, which, You know, this pandemic strikes all of humanity. I want to express my deepest condolences for the compatriots who died as a result of this Pandemic.
I would also like to remind our citizens of the issue of the arduous responsibility of a rule of law like Equatorial Guinea, which achieved its independence in precarious conditions for its self-sustainability. Being an independent, free and sovereign State implies the capacity of its citizens to guarantee the safety of the lives of others; defend the rule of law and territorial integrity in case of aggression and contribute with other countries to the maintenance of international peace and security.
We cannot satisfy these requirements if we do not have trained and professionally educated personnel’s, to contribute to the generation of wealth and transformation of the natural resources available to our Country, to meet the needs of the People; Nor can we satisfy these, if we do not have a Government capable of directing and coordinating the activities carried out by Civil Society for the creation of wealth.
Specifically, to defend and maintain our National Independence, we must work in solidarity and with a unity of criteria, to achieve Political and Economic self-sufficiency. To do this, we must do a retrospective examination of where we came from, where we are and where we are going. The story is very eloquent and reminds us of those colonial times in which, despite the efforts of the People, development was never seen during the colonial exploitation that only benefited the metropolis.
We have also had a historical period of 11 years of which a third of the population was forced to take refuge abroad for fear of the dictatorship of that time. During this period we can only remember the destruction of the economic and the little infrastructure that existed then, the result of which was the drastic reduction of the gross domestic product and the deficit of its national per capita income.
Equatoguinean comrades;
We must analyze the present of our Country with a reflection of the past to affirm that the Republic of Equatorial Guinea has reached a level of development close to self-sufficiency.
Therefore, I invite all My compatriots to look with optimism to the future of our Country, taking into account the current positive results of a Government system capable of bringing together the different ideological groups to guarantee the Peace and Stability of the Nation; a government system capable of facilitating the exercise of economic, professional and cultural activities that each citizen wishes to develop freely; in short, a government capable of programming the development of the country, coordinating and facilitating the activities carried out by civil society.
Dear Compatriots;
We must recognize that we have come a long way in the development of our Country; but it is also true that the road ahead to achieving our full economic development with the diversification of the planned means of production is long.
Last year, the Third National Economic Conference, which today seems difficult to schedule, due to the crisis produced by the sharp drop in oil prices in the International Market, added to the collapse caused by the crisis of the COVID-pandemic. Covid-19 is a challenge. Indeed, these economic plans seem an unattainable feat, but we want to encourage the People that nothing is impossible, if our will and determination are firm.
Therefore, all the actions that we carry out now are aimed at preserving the political and economic balance of our Country; the restructuring of the Government, the fight against corruption and the budgetary adjustment, are mechanisms that we put in place to face this crisis.
I would therefore like to reiterate on this occasion of the commemoration of the Fifty-second Anniversary of the Independence of Equatorial Guinea, the importance of Peace, not only in the development process of our Country, but also for all the countries of the world.
La Paz, which is one of the basic objectives of the Equatorial Guinean State, stamped in our National Ensign “UNITY, PEACE AND JUSTICE”, constitutes the indispensable base for our Society to freely develop the activities of its preference for National development.
Indeed, there can be no National Unity if there is no Peace, nor can we ensure Justice if there is no State of Peace and Law. Therefore, we cannot aspire to a development of Equatorial Guinea if the Country faces problems of Peace, Insecurity and Instability.
I want to congratulate the Noble People of Equatorial Guinea for their peaceful qualities, in the common task of national construction, solidarity and availability that throughout these fifty-two years of independent life; Our People have always collaborated with the Government in the task of building the Homeland.
The development that our Country has achieved in these years of Peace and Freedom is not so much due to its natural resources, but is the result of the Political stability that the Country has experienced in this period, with the close collaboration of the People and the Government.
As an analogy, we have the examples of many African countries that have immense natural resources, but whose development has been interrupted by the lack of Peace caused by the military actions of political groups supported by colonialist interests from foreign countries.
Therefore, the idea of the founders of the Equatorial Guinean State to consecrate Peace as an irreplaceable value in the life of our Country has not been on a whim. “La Paz” is the apple of the eye of our State that we must all protect and defend as noble children of a Nation that recognizes the responsibility of its new Independent State born in 1968.
Dear Compatriots;
We are forced to redound on the aspect of Peace, because we have long experience of the internal and external enemies of our Country who have tried to force political changes through unconstitutional means; it is a patent fact that all Equatoguineans know, because they have lived it.
We have assumed the responsibility of leading the direction of this Country since 1979 and we are doing it scrupulously respecting the will of the People through respect for the National Legal System, sanctioned by the People at the polls. Therefore, the decision rests with the People and we will respect that decision until the People themselves express it or say otherwise. Meanwhile, those who want to
Use anti-constitutional means should know that we are not obliged to respect their wishes.
Fifty-two years should reflect the maturity of the People of Equatorial Guinea and I am sure that in this period we have found the way forward on the path of democracy to promote the well-being and security of the People of Equatorial Guinea.
As humans we are not eternal, that is why I think that the youth of our Country must be aware and mature in the process of generational change that corresponds to them and not be precipitated by outside influences, nor by the conjectural incidents that may happen due to the crisis oil and COVID-19.
We entrust a lot to this group of young people who always speak out transparently in the defense of their interests, so it would be a mistake to generalize or identify all young people with the current wave of crime. We know that there are many young people trained and willing to integrate into the economic and productive sectors of society, to give their grain of sand in the elevation of the Homeland.
Therefore, we advise young people to realistically analyze the current circumstances of Equatorial Guinea and be sure that our management is to increase investments for the development of economic and productive sectors that will undoubtedly offer employment to the unemployed.
Dear fellow citizens;
We want to encourage everyone to work in solidarity, men, women and children with an objective that is to contribute positively to the Economic and Socio-Cultural development of our Country, counting on all the human elements, political and social groups that exist in our Country.
With these words I conclude this message to the People of Equatorial Guinea, hoping that each one of them will celebrate it in their intimate surroundings with the same joy as always.
May God protect the People of Equatorial Guinea.
UP THE REPUBLIC OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA