This Day (Lagos)
Paul Ohia
17 June 2009
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Lagos — It appears to be the unfurling situation that in most African countries ruled by sit-tight leaders, only death can make a difference.
Just like in Togo where death separated former president Gyasingbe Eyadema and his presidency, only death was able to remove Omar Bongo from the presidency of Gabon last week.
Bongo will be remembered as a man who ruthlessly personified the notion of life presidency, brandishing totalitarianism to the peril of his people, the assault of democratic practice, and the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms.
In Gabon, a resource-rich nation, nearly 70 per cent of its 1.3m citizens live below the poverty line. The citizens were also made mental slaves which manifested yesterday as they jeered at French leaders for daring to probe Bongo's wealth.
His legacy is abject poverty even though he could have used the oil wealth of his country to industrialize and create employment he decided to relegate his citizenry to watchers as he looted and raped his country's natural resources.
He bought over the opposition and had no serious challengers and his people saw him as president for life because their impoverished minds could not steer away from the monolithic entity called Omar Bongo.
He leads a horde of other African strongmen who suppress democracy and indirectly gives inspiration to other pseudo-democratic states that profess democratic system but operate authoritarian style government.
In this sphere of authoritarianism, what you get is big men politics. Only friends who are connected in one way or the other control the affairs of the state and other citizens suffer heavily under their ineptitude and avarice.
Most of his like and the emerging big men are leaders of large petroleum exporting countries and their kleptomania eyes are fixated on the oil wealth and not the development of the nation for the common good.
Like in Gabon where the citizens' minds are impoverished, the minds of victims of Pseudo-democracy are diverted into notoriety in religion. They look forward to heavens for the eradication of poverty, sickness, and even lack of electric power supply while the leaders continue with their plundering.
Now that he is dead, whither his estimated personal fortune that is put close to $9 billion. Yes, he is ranked among the world richest top ten leaders but his accrues to pilferage of national resources and the flipside is extreme poverty in Gabon.
To his credit, primary education is compulsory and this has given many citizens some degree of literacy. He was extremely generous with the provision of food relief to Biafran refugees after the Nigeria/Biafra war. His food materials were popularly called Garri-Gabon.
Now that he has gone, the citizens of the Central African country and the international community are very much concerned about who succeeds him. Of course, we know that the interim president, Rose Francine Rogombe's role is highly ceremonial going by what happened after the death of Togo's Eyadema.
From the look of things, all the powers that be, as constituted by Bongo is trying to avoid is breach of the constitution-like Togo's-before they bring in one of his heirs to take over. And this would perpetuate a bad precedence.
But if a different scenario plays out in the days to come, it would be a surprise because, the military in Africa have long played the role of agents of instability rather than the reverse and Bongo had appointed his son Ali Ben Bongo as defence minister.
Investors such as French energy firm Total or Royal Dutch Shell are unlikely to be comfortable with anything other than a long period of instability therefore no strong criticism will come from them.
On the part of other African countries, they can be bamboozled by an unconstitutional power takeover so one that appears to be very constitutional would baffle them to silence. After all, Bongo's son is a free citizen of the country and qualifies to be elected, they would say. At the end of the day, it remains to be seen how the heir of this late strongman could rescue Gabonese from abject poverty, restore full democracy and kick-start industrialization.
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