Forty days of restricted internet in Guinea. Since November 24, access to the web and social networks has been limited within the country. Calling services like WhatsApp are also impacted, Internet users are forced to use VPN tools to bypass these restrictions.
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With this limited access to the internet in the country, the Association of Bloggers of Guinea (Ablogui) denounces “ cyber censorship ” of State. The NGO Amnesty International accuses the transitional authorities of “ increase violations of the right to freedom of expression “. This limitation of access to the web also has economic consequences. According to economist and researcher Safayiou Diallo, it is the state’s tax revenues that will suffer.
“ In 2022, for example, Orange, through its two companies, notably Orange Guinea, contributed more than 1000 billion and a few million [de francs guinéens] and Orange mobile finances Guinea had contributed more than 198 billion [de francs guinéens]. They were far ahead of the mining companies. If we take the case of MTN, on each internet pass purchased, 23% of the amount paid necessarily returns to the State in the form of taxes », he explains on the microphone of Sidy Yansané.
“ There are many companies that use teleworking. Experience has shown that a person who works from home has more opportunities to increase their productivity than if this person is called upon to take a vehicle, [à cause de] all the time of his journey in traffic jams to finally arrive at the company at a slightly late hour. So if the internet shutdown continues, we risk seeing a drop in state tax revenue, but also, it will have a very harmful impact on economic growth in 2024. », he analyzes.
Safayiou Diallo, economist and researcher
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