The State of Mediation and Tribalism… The Collapse of Public Administration into the Swamp of Favoritism

Mohamed Abderrahmane Ould Abdallah
Journalist and Writer
medabd388@gmail.com

In Mauritania, public administration is no longer a space dedicated to serving citizens. In many cases, it has become a humiliating maze where people’s dignity is tested before their files are even processed. A citizen entering a government office is not merely seeking a signature or an official document; rather, they are entering a daily battle against arrogance, favoritism, indifference, and deeply rooted administrative corruption.
The journey of humiliation begins at the door: a guard who treats citizens like beggars, a secretary who selects people based on “who they know,” a clerk who looks at ordinary people with contempt, and a direct supervisor who considers himself above both the law and accountability. Ministers and senior officials, meanwhile, have surrounded themselves with walls of isolation, security barriers, and closed doors, making access to them a privilege granted through tribal connections and personal relationships rather than an administrative right guaranteed by the constitution.
The very concept of “public service” has collapsed. Government offices have turned into small fiefdoms run by officials with the mentality of spoils and privilege rather than public duty. Official letters are ignored, correspondence gathers dust in drawers, projects are stolen, ideas are appropriated, and opportunities are handed to those close to circles of influence, while genuinely qualified individuals remain outside closed doors chasing illusions.
Many people today speak openly about organized networks that steal initiatives and ideas within certain ministries and institutions. Young people and intellectuals submit proposals, only to see them recycled later through brokers, contractors, and individuals close to decision-making circles. In this way, the state transforms from a sponsor of talent into a machine that crushes competence and dries up the sources of creativity.
Those with complaints and grievances are the permanent victims of this administrative decay. They move from one office to another and from one official to another without finding anyone willing to deliver justice or even listen to them. The administration, which is supposed to protect the citizen, has instead become a burden and a source of psychological and social humiliation.
More dangerous still is the fact that administrative corruption in Mauritania is no longer limited to bribery or occasional favoritism. It has become an entire system of governance built upon narrow loyalties, social affiliations, tribal and ethnic quotas, and the exchange of interests between networks of influence. Competence is no longer the criterion for employment or promotion; instead, kinship, loyalty, regional affiliation, and tribal belonging dominate. As a result, the state has been emptied of its national purpose, and its institutions have become arenas for the division of power and spoils.
Under such backward approaches, people’s interests are obstructed, opportunities for development are wasted, and trust between citizens and the state continues to erode. What investment can succeed in an administrative environment lacking discipline and accountability? What development can be achieved under officials who do not even attend their offices regularly, ignore correspondence, and treat their signatures as personal favors rather than professional obligations?
Some ministries have become like closed fortresses whose officials live in complete isolation from the reality of ordinary citizens, while people spend days, weeks, and sometimes months waiting for a stamp, a signature, or a response to a letter. Some officials do not even bother to read administrative mail because the culture of impunity has convinced them that no one will ever hold them accountable regardless of the scale of their negligence.
The painful paradox is that many citizens now believe it is easier to reach the President of the Republic than to access a central director or a ministry secretary-general. Yet even directives and instructions issued from the highest levels of authority are often buried in the corridors of bureaucracy, stripped of their substance, or manipulated to serve entrenched networks of interest within the administration.
The real crisis lies not only in the behavior of certain officials, but in the absence of a true state of institutions and accountability. When an official feels that his position is protected by tribal influence, political connections, or personal networks, he naturally transforms into an arrogant authority that sees citizens as insignificant numbers or inconvenient burdens.
Corrupt bureaucracy has wasted enormous opportunities that could have transformed the country. Investments have been lost, skilled professionals have emigrated, confidence in public administration has collapsed, and feelings of injustice and marginalization have deepened, while official rhetoric continues to speak of reform and good governance even as public institutions confront citizens daily with an entirely different reality.
A state governed by favoritism, clientelism, and narrow loyalties can never build genuine development, social justice, or respected institutions. Backwardness is not a geographical destiny; it is the direct result of failed policies and rigid mentalities that have transformed public administration from a tool for serving the people into an instrument of humiliation and exclusion.
In the end, the most urgent question remains: how can one speak of a state based on law and citizenship when the message citizens receive every day inside public institutions is this:
“You are just a citizen… why did you come without connections?”