Despite the many controversies surrounding the National Transitional Council in Mali, it was installed last weekend. As the last body of the transition, the National Transitional Council in Mali will act as a parliament during this period, which should lead to the holding of general elections. An ad hoc committee is already in charge of drafting the rules of procedure, and work can then begin.

As a legislative body, the National Transitional Council in Mali will have to tackle several priorities quickly. On the one hand, it is a question of addressing the texts and, on the other, of tackling the missions contained in the transitional charter. This is what Souleymane Dé, professor of public law at the University of Bamako and an expert on the CNSP military, explains.

Processing of ‘pending’ texts

It should be recalled that since the beginning of the Malian crisis, several draft texts have been suspended. Indeed, the fight against corruption and impunity is one of the stated priorities of the new authorities. To this end, legislation is needed. Parliamentary commissions of enquiry will also be created and hearings could be organised in this framework. As for bills, they could come from the government or from the members of the National Transitional Council of Mali themselves.

According to sources close to the National Transitional Council in Mali, it is mainly the « overdue » bills that will have to be dealt with first. The reason for this is simple. Many texts are awaiting examination because of the dissolution of the National Assembly nearly five months ago. For Souleymane Dé, the principle of the continuity of the state does not allow everything to be called into question. « We are not going to sweep away all the texts prepared under the former regime, » he said. The National Transitional Council in Mali will therefore have to quickly make an inventory of these texts and select those it considers to be priorities. But beyond the question of texts, several missions and ambitions await the National Transitional Council in Mali.

The missions and ambitions of the National Transitional Council in Mali

The tasks facing the National Transitional Council in Mali are mostly contained in the Charter of the Transition. These missions, which are based on eight points, must be carried out successfully. However, the National Transitional Council in Mali has only fifteen months to organise credible legislative and presidential elections. This should mean the return of power to elected civilians.

In the same vein, the review of the party charter and the revision of the electoral system is an important task. The objective, according to Souleymane Dé, is to « clean up the mechanisms of power conquest. He points out the flaws in the electoral file. A file that is globally « reliable », says this professor of public law, but which nevertheless contains « errors related to civil status and conducive to manipulation.

Other priorities of the National Transitional Council in Mali include administrative reform and the operationalisation of the new regions, the adoption of a social stability pact, the overhaul of the education system, the implementation of the 2015 peace agreement and, of course, the re-establishment of security throughout the country. These are all priorities that will be set out in laws, the content of which is yet to be discovered.

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