NEWTON SIBANDA
Conakry, Guinea
GUINEA Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah has hailed the designation of President Mamadi Doumbouya as winner of the 2026 Super Prize Great Builder – Babacar Ndiaye Trophy as a victory not only for Guinea but for Africa’s collective development agenda.
Speaking ahead of the official presentation of the award on May 27 in Brazzaville during African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings, Mr Bah said the honour “carries many meanings for Guinea and for the President himself”, but above all, it signals Africa’s capacity to achieve transformative projects.
He pointed to the completion of the Simandou mining project, which includes a mineral port and a 670-kilometre double-track railway, as proof of what African nations can accomplish when determination meets vision.
“The Trans-Guinean railway, completed in less than three years, is a pharaonic achievement,” Mr Bah declared.
“For Guinea, it is comparable to what Apollo 11 represented for Americans when it landed on the moon. A sense of fatality has been broken. This illustrates the full symbolic importance and the concrete reality of this project for the people of Guinea.”
Mr Bah stressed that the award resonates beyond national borders.
“Guinea is destined to become a regional hub. A deep-water port and railway lines reaching into the interior of the continent would enable landlocked countries to benefit from these infrastructures in order to exploit their own resources, boost their economic development, and create prosperity capable of meeting the fundamental needs of their populations,” he said.
The Prime Minister underscored that the Simandou 2040 programme is designed with a pan-African perspective.
“Guinea’s infrastructure transformation is not only for itself but also for African countries, especially those located inland and landlocked,” he explained.
“This would facilitate transportion of raw materials and agricultural products. From this perspective, Guinea’s transformation is a continental project.”
Mr Bah emphasised that Government’s ambition is to demonstrate Africa’s ability to break free from historical constraints.
“Guinea’s ambition is to serve as a laboratory and as a reference point, proving that when there is determination, success is possible. Failure is not inevitable.
Underdevelopment is not an irreversible feature of African identity,” he said.
Mr Bah added that the message is clear for Africa’s youth: “Young people must be able to hope, to build their future, and believe that they can succeed here in Africa. We are obliged to succeed so that others may choose the path Guinea has taken.”
Looking ahead, Mr Bah projected that Guinea’s double-digit growth expected in 2026 could be sustained, helping to drastically reduce poverty and set an example for the continent.
“What China achieved over two decades, what India is currently achieving despite its enormous demographic weight, and what south-east Asian countries have achieved despite their much larger populations — Guinea, with its tremendous potential both above and below the ground, can achieve the same, or perhaps even better,” he said.
Mr Bah concluded with a call for Africa to redefine its place in the world.
“It is important that in this century, and by the 2050s, Africans are no longer seen as the outcasts of the world, but as men and women contributing to global prosperity.
“Africa must become a continent that fully embraces its sovereignty and provides its populations with the prosperity necessary for Africans to be respected both by themselves and by the rest of the world,” he said… https://enews.daily-mail.co.zm/welcome/home
