Bobo-Dioulasso: In this interview, the president of the national organizing committee for the National Culture Week (SNC) Bobo 2024, Bètamou Fidèle Aymar Tamini, gives a satisfactory summary. It presents the solutions provided to the difficulties inherent in the organization of the culture festival. Sidwaya (S): What is your immediate assessment of the 21st edition of National Culture Week? Bètamou Aymar Fidèle Tamini (BAFT): We must already recognize that everything we did in terms of planning was executed in accordance with our expectations. The SNC brings together several activities. Already the feedback from the opening ceremony is favorable. There are also the different spaces that host events. The fair welcomed an average of 20,000 to 25,000 visitors per day, the community village site refused people every day. We counted 14 foreign communities and 38 national communities. There was real enthusiasm for this space. As for traditional wrestling, literary activities and those related to the culinary art, everything went well. I haven't forgotten the GPNAL (editor's note: Grand Prix national des arts et des lettres). We can only draw real reasons for satisfaction with the implementation of activities in general. (S): Beyond these reasons for satisfaction, what were your greatest successes at this 21st SNC? (BAFT): The greatest success today is the mobilization of the population, and the interest that institutions have in this event. You will have noticed, we have dedicated an entire marquee to institutions. And I admit that we have not been able to satisfy all the demand from these institutions. The American diaspora, made up of more than 100 people, was present in Bobo-Dioulasso. She participated in the activities and made suggestions. Already, this diaspora intends to support the current dynamics of the country. When you see this, you can only be satisfied. In general, when you see the mobilization on all the sites, there is reason to be proud of the festival-goers. One of the spaces that has long had dif ficulty filling up is that of the cultural center. But those who were at the GPNAL on May 1 noticed that the room was full. (S): What are the difficulties that you have recorded? (BAFT): We have indeed recorded some difficulties which are inherent to any organization. Difficulties that we were able to take care of in real time. One of the difficulties that was reported yesterday for example (editor's note May 1, 2024) is the refusal of parking managers to release certain spaces in accordance with security requirements. There were some misunderstandings, but everything was able to return to order. Also, at the beginning, there were evil spirits who wanted to take over the stands of other structures, but with the help of security we were able to quickly take care of this problem. The other difficulty that we have taken care of is the question of load shedding. Fortunately, SONABEL (Editor's note: Burkinabè National Electricity Company) is truly committed alongside the national organizing committee. Generators have been deployed on all sites to cover all eventualities. Overall, these are small problems, but which in no way affected the progress of the activities. (S): How do you assess the participation of the guest country of honor, Niger? (BAFT): We were truly surprised by the mobilization of the official delegation and the entire Nigerien community in Burkina Faso, both for the activities and the entertainment in the community village. We organized a day dedicated to Niger and we saw what is special about this country. We have explored avenues of cooperation with the guest of honor country, and I think that in the near future, it is not excluded that the National Culture Week could have a form of collaboration with the organization of their events. cultural in Niger. We can only salute this spirit which falls within the framework of the actions of the AES (editor's note Alliances of the States of the Sahel) and which allows us to move forward more serenely within the framework of cooperation between the differ ent countries. (S): One of the innovations in the organization of SNC 2024 was online accreditation. Has the innovation kept its promises? (BAFT): The statistics that I have in front of me make me believe that we are around 6 to 7 million CFA francs in revenue for online sales. Which is a clear increase compared to what we recorded last year which was around 500,000 FCFA. This year there was a real enthusiasm for purchasing tickets and badges online. This also made it possible to improve access to the sites. There was a certain fluidity that we appreciated. (S): The poor quality of the badges has been criticized by some festival-goers. What do you answer them? (BAFT): We do indeed recognize that there is a small concern regarding the quality of the badges. But in an organization of this type, we do not necessarily ensure control over all aspects, particularly those relating to public procurement. What could also clear the way for the company that produced the badges is that we wanted it to be able to inte grate a QR code on the badges even though this was not necessarily in the initial contract. This cost us a little time, but we were able to save the furniture. (S): At the end of the 21st SNC, Bobo 2024, do you have a date for the 22nd edition? (BAFT): I can't tell you, but if we already understand why we held the 21st edition, we can only say that the 22nd edition will be held without problem. It's a biennial, and we should meet again in 2026 for the 22nd edition. The official date will certainly be communicated by the Council of Ministers. Source: Burkina Information Agency
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