Good leadership answer for CAR to realise potential

Anicet Dologuele

Anicet Dologuele

Published Jan 7, 2016

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Shannon Ebrahim

There is a country in Africa that not many people know much about, a virtual treasure trove of mineral wealth, but the poorest in terms of development. It is known by its inhabitants as “the land of snakes,” and its jungles are teeming with lowland gorillas that most tourists have never seen.

Its mysterious pygmy population lives deep in the jungles, and employ ancient remedies that can be rubbed on to the skin in order to keep the snakes away.

What few know is that this country is now estimated to have more oil than Nigeria – it just hasn’t been exploited yet. Today it ranks 180th on the 187-country UN development index. It is a lush green paradise that lies in the heart of Africa and was subsequently named the Central African Republic (CAR) by its colonial masters.

No one cared much about the CAR, but ever since the Chinese discovered the extent of the CAR’s oil reserves in 2011 – which are of high quality and light, making it cheap to produce – the country has become central in the new power game to control the resources of central Africa. It is not only oil that has mesmerised investors, but gold, diamonds, timber, iron, coltan and uranium.

The CAR is, unfortunately, a country waiting to be plundered, which is why this month’s presidential elections are more significant than most people realise. Whoever takes over the reins of power this month will determine whether the CAR’s wealth is reserved for the powers of the East or those of the West. The current transitional government had cancelled the oil deal with the Chinese, leaving the CAR’s resources up for grabs.

One of the contenders for the presidency of the CAR, Pascal Bida Koyagbele – who leads the peasant movement – alleges that he was approached in recent months by the head of French intelligence, the French president’s African affairs envoy as well as the French oil giant Total. According to Koyagbele, the French wanted him to agree that were he to become president, he would sign over 90 percent of the CAR’s oil to Total, leaving 10 percent for the CAR, of which he could personally benefit from 2 percent.

He responded that the Chinese had done the oil exploration and had already offered the CAR 55 percent in return for the Chinese getting 45 percent, which seemed like a more palatable deal. It has not been possible to independently confirm Koyagbele’s claims.

Mysteriously, Koyagbele was dropped from the official list of presidential candidates three weeks before the elections. According to Koyagbele’s counsel, the president of the constitutional court spent a sleepless night having received endless calls from France, pressuring him to drop Koyagbele from the list, which was reinforced the next day by a visit from the French ambassador in Bangui. The French supposedly argued that Koyagbele was too close to the Anglophone countries like South Africa, and would destabilise the country.

Koyagbele took the matter to court, which resulted in him being ordered back on the electoral list merely five days before the election. Given the lack of time to campaign, insecurity on the ground and disorganisation of the voter’s list, Koyagbele called for the election to be boycotted.

Koyagbele’s election manifesto sought free education, health care and water for the citizens of the CAR. He also insisted that women comprise 50 percent of the seats in parliament, and as an ecologist is intent on protecting the forests of the CAR, which are arguably the country’s greatest asset.

The list of presidential candidates that citizens had to choose from on December 30th largely emanate from the discredited political establishment. The list reads like a who’s who of the past two regimes – including several former prime ministers, former ministers and relatives of past presidents.

The election results from the December 30th poll have yet to be finalised, but initial counting puts the French-favoured candidate, former prime minister Martin Ziguele in fourth place, and Anicet Dologuele as the front runner. A second round of voting will take place on January 31 if none of the candidates win a majority. To date, 20 of the 30 presidential candidates have called the elections illegitimate and for them to be scrapped.

Whoever takes the reins will have a monumental challenge to deal with, considering the education system in the country collapsed a long time ago, there are no local administrations in a country that is larger than France, and that the total length of tarred road in the CAR is 700km. The judicial system is barely functioning and much of the country is still controlled by a myriad armed groups, with no disarmament having begun in earnest.

The fact that the elections were conducted peacefully in a country which has been ravaged by violence is significant, but without visionary leadership that will capitalise on the country’s wealth in order to spur development, all will be lost.

l Global Eye is published weekly on a Friday

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