GUINEA'S MINISTRIES CURRENTLY OPERATING WITHOUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L CONAKRY 000124

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2019
TAGS: EFIN PGOV EAID KDEM GV
SUBJECT: GUINEA'S MINISTRIES CURRENTLY OPERATING WITHOUT
BUDGETS

REF: A. CONAKRY 94

B. CONAKRY 119

C. CONAKRY 121

D. CONAKRY 106

E. CONAKRY 122

Classified By: ECONOFF T. SCOTT BROWN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY. A reliable contact inside Guinea's Ministry
of Finance told Econoff that the ministry has been
chronically dysfunctional since the departure of MinFin
Ousmane Dore in October 2008. The contact also reported that
the current military MinFin continued to run the ministry
even after being suspended. The CNDD is in the process of
conducting wide-ranging audits of all government agencies,
and reportedly will not release ministerial budgets until the
audits are complete. Continued disorganization at the MoF may
impact both elections funding and HIPC debt relief. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) On 25 February, Econoff met with Roger Patrick
Milimono, special assistant to the Minister of Finance, to
discuss the state of the regime's finances and general
economic governance in Guinea. Milimono has worked for the
MoF for over 11 years, and has shared his insider's
perspective with Embassy on a number of prior occasions.

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"SUSPENDED" MINISTER CONTINUED TO RUN FINANCE
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3. (C) Milimono stated that the Minister of Finance, Captain
Mamadou Sande, continued to run the ministry after Moussa
Dadis Camara, President of the National Council for
Development and Democracy (CNDD) suspended him on 7 February
(Ref A). Milimono claimed that while "suspended," Sande had
simply moved his office from its downtown headquarters to
Camp Alpha Yaya, one of the capital city's military bases
which currently houses the offices of the CNDD, where he
continued to receive reports and sign documents. Dadis
formally reinstated Sande on the evening of 23 February.

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MOF STILL DYSFUNCTIONAL
--------------


4. (C) When asked if the ministry has been able to continue
operations after the coup, Milimono said that the ministry
was dysfunctional even before the military takeover.
According to Milimono, the last pre-coup Minister of Finance
who replaced reformist MinFin Ousmane Dore, Karamokoba
Camara, had installed a tightly-knit cadre of cronies to key
positions in the ministry during his two-month tenure. This
group then reportedly sidelined many career civil servants in
order to extract bribes or kickbacks from anyone seeking to
do business there. As a result of this scheme, Milimono
stated that many mid-level bureaucrats and their lower-level
subordinates "simply ran out of work to do," and stopped
reporting to their jobs.

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AUDITS AND REFORMS BEFORE BUDGET RELEASE
--------------


5. (C) After CNDD President Dadis Camara appointed a cabinet
in January, Milimono said that work in the ministry did not
resume because the military junta insisted on a comprehensive
audit of all government ministries before releasing their
operational budgets. Milimono stated that the CNDD committee
on audits is now not only examining the finances of every
ministry, but is also planning to propose comprehensive
fiscal controls and other reform measures throughout the
government to halt embezzlement and corrupt practices. Until
these reforms are implemented, Milimono said that the CNDD
will not release any ministerial budget, and that absenteeism
would likely continue in the meantime.

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REVENUE CONSOLIDATION IS NECESSARY
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6. (C) Milimono appeared visibly disgusted with the former
corrupt practices of the outgoing FM, and broached the topic
of the CNDD's recent consolidation of revenue streams before
Econoff could ask about it. Milimono said that given the

scale and the depth of graft within the bureaucracy, Dadis
Camara's current program of comprehensive audits and reforms
are the country's only true option if Guinea wishes to end
its culture of corruption. Therefore, Milimono said that the
CNDD's recent consolidation of Guinea's major revenue streams
(Refs B & C) was part of this comprehensive program and is
necessary in the short run to prevent the further theft of
government funds.

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REGIME TRIES TO STRIKE PHANTOM WORKERS FROM PAYROLLS
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Milimono denied that the ongoing disorganization and
reform process in the MoF was responsible for delayed salary
payments to civil servants during the week of 16 February.
Instead, he stated that the missed deadline had been due to a
government-wide effort to strike phantom workers from
payrolls. Milimono cited the several days needed for workers
to twice report to payroll officers in person as the
principal cause for interruption of regular payments. "It
was not due to a lack of funds," he said.

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WHAT WORLD BANK PAYMENT?
--------------


8. (C) When asked why the January World Bank debt repayment
had been delayed (Ref D),Milimono initially said that the
CNDD needed time to get a handle on state finances in the
wake of the coup, and had to verify the amount of the loan
payment. However, Milimono confessed that he has not been
intimately involved in the World Bank program, and does not
know what it entails. He promised to find this information
out and pass it to Econoff later this week.

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COMMENT
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9. (C) The meeting with Milimono was friendly and open, and
he strongly endorsed the CNDD's efforts to root corruption
out of Guinea's bureaucracy. Continued dysfunctionality at
Guinea's MoF may complicate the GoG's financing for any major
project--including elections--in the short term, and the
IMF's vision of providing Guinea with HIPC debt relief in the
medium term (Ref E). END COMMENT.
RASPOLIC