Faustino Mamadu Saliu Jaló was born on April 30, 1963, in Gabú. He studied communication engineering from 1987 to 1994 at the University of Coimbra (engineering faculty). Secretary General of the Guinean Workers' Party (PTG). He was Prime Minister Dr. Faustino Imbali's chief of staff. He was also chief of staff for the former President of the Transitional Republic, Henrique Pereira Rosa. He was Inspector General of Social Communication. He now holds the post of Secretary of State for Tourism.
September 6, Bissau - Decade of Return Coordinator and Coordinator of the Lineage Restoration Council of Guinea Bissau, Mr. Siphiwe Baleka, met with the new Minister of Tourism, Faustino Mamadu Saliu Jaló, to discuss the Decade of Return progam that was officially launched on February 23, 2021 under State Secretary of Tourism Nhima Sisse in partnership with the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America. Mr. Baleka, who met with the former State Secretary of Tourism Fernando Vaz when he replaced Ms. Nhima Sisse, met with the new State Secretary Jaló to discuss the potential of the Decade of Return program and to advise the new Secretary on how the Ministry of Tourism can develop the program.
“As I have done with each of the State Secretaries of Tourism in the past three years, I explain what the Ministry of Tourism needs to do in order to benefit from a ‘Year of Return’ program much like Ghana and Sierra Leone,” said Mr. Baleka, who has become the chief connection to the country for African American people that have taken the African Ancestry dna test and discovered that their maternal or paternal ancestors are Balanta, Fula, Djola, Brame, Mandinka or other descendant of Guinea Bissau. “It’s important for the Ministry of Tourism to understand that the descendants have ties to other countries, and they aren’t just going to come to Guinea Bissau as their only option. The country is not well-known and there are language barriers. The Ministry of Tourism will have to compete for their tourism. When they do, we can expect to see a significant increase in toursim from a completely new sector of people.”
February 8, 2021 Decade of Return meeting with Secretary of Tourism, Nhima Sisse (3rd from left), her Chief of Staff (1st from left), and the Assistant to the Minister of Sport and former Decade of Return Coordinator Balanto Djassi( aka Yama Cisse, 2nd from left below).
However, despite having concluded five group tours under the Decade of Return program, the government’s engagement has been slow and limited. Mr. Baleka cites the citizenship process as one example.
“I explained to Secretary Jaló that 23 descednats of prisoners of war that were captured from territories in Guinea Bissau, have applied for Guinea Bissau citizenship as is their right under international law and specifically the Geneva Convention which Guinea Bissau is signatory to,” said Mr. Baleka. “However, its been over a year and a half since they have applied for citizenship and paid the $600 fee and they still have not yet received their citizenship. The delay in granting citizenship is creating doubt and uncertainty and threatening the sincereity and reputation of the government of Guinea Bissau.”
During the Second Decade of Return Group in June of 2021, Balanta descendants, including Kamm Howard (former NCOBRA National Co-Chair and current Director of Reparations United ) and Robin Rue Simmons (former 5th Ward Alderman for the City of Evanston, IL, where she led, in collaboration with others, the passage of the nation’s first municipally-funded reparations legislation for Black resident and current Founder and Executive Director of FirstRepair) expressed the deisre for citizenship.
Immediately after the June meeting, the former State Secretry of Tourism issued the following letter to the Prime Minister:
GOVERNMENT OF GUINEA BISSAU; MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND CRAFTS
MINISTER'S OFFICE AND GOVERNMENT SPEECH
Your Excellency
Eng Nuno Gomes Nabian
Prime Minister
BISSAU:
Bissau, June 25, 2021
Subject: Request of Acquisition of Nationality to African American Descendants of Guinea Bissau
No. Ref 2/ GMTA/2021
Excellency,
The Minister of Tourism and Crafts presents His best and respectful greetings to your Excellency, with the best wishes of success in the performance of your noble role for the development of Guinea-Bissau. We inform you that within the framework of our partnership, the members of the "Balanta Burassa History and Genealogy Society in the United States” began to return to their origins through an initiative called “Decade of Return” in which we have already received two groups of this audience. According to DNA tests, they discovered that they originate from Guinea-Bissau. As an initiative of capital importance for the tourist sector in Guinea Bissau, associated with the aforementioned factors, we hereby request the good offices of Your Excellency, in order to authorize the start of the process for the acquisition of nationality to these people, according to the attached documents. It should be noted that an inter-ministerial commission was created for this purpose, in which an element of the Ministry of Justice has guided this entire nationality application process. No more subject for the moment. Accept my distinct consideration.
Fernando Vaz, Minister of Tourism
On November 26, 2021 a third Decade of Return group came to Guinea Bissau and a meeting was held with Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabian and Minister of Tourism and Crafts and Government Spokesman, FERNANDO VAZ, who assured that “everything will be done to accelerate the process of naturalization of the African Americans.”
November 26, 2021 meeting with Balanta B’urasa History and Genealogy Society in America President Siphiwe Baleka 1st from left); Sylvia Robey (3rd from left); former Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabian (center); former State Secretary of Tourism Fernando Vaz (5th from left); and Djola History and Genealogy Society in America President Jewell Felder-James (far right).
Despite the public pronounced support for granting citizenship to the lost descendants of the Balanta, Djola, Fula, Brame and others, their citienship applications still sit at the Council of Minister awaiting final approval and signature. Says Mr. Baleka,
“We hope the new administration, and particularly the State Secretary of Tourism Faustino Mamadu Saliu Jaló will quickly finish the naturalization process by approving the applications in their Council of Ministers meeting before the end of the month and then prepare and coordinate the citizenship ceremony with the Decade of Return Coordinators for their upcoming tours in November 2023, February 2024 and May 2024. This will be the catalyst for a significant increase in tourism from the people of Guinea Bissau who were kidnapped from their families and enslaved in the Americas. Secretary Jaló said that we can count on him.”