Military Coup Follows Death of Guinea’s Autocratic
'Life President';
Who is Next?
BY LT. COL. SAMSUDEEN SARR (Rtd.)
Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinea's New Military Ruler
Before detailing my opinion on this subject I will first express my sincere condolences to the family of the late President Lansana Conte and the people of Guinea following his death on Monday, December 22, 2008. It is sad to add that two weeks ago when his deteriorating health was reported to have reached an alarming state, members of his government refused to acknowledge the facts. Instead, a journalist was punished for publishing pictures of the physically frail president being helped to stand on his feet. The reporter was in turn coerced to recant his story, republish better portraits of Conte appearing sharp and healthy. Yet, the politically correct world not exempting the UN and AU remained indifferent to the madness of a government that didn’t want to accept the mortality of a dying autocrat. Only God knows how many more of these absurd political dramas characterizing the end of “Life Presidents” the world organizations will continue to condone and still expect to be taken seriously as negotiators when crisis effectectively erupts.
In Guinea, we cannot forget that Ahmed Sekou Toure more or less perpetrated the same personality cult leadership before Lansana Conte; and it is quite probable that the new coup leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara will follow suit. The captain is already being referred to in Guinea as President Camara and his pledge to restore a democratic constitutional government in two years is a familiar tale told by many of his colleagues before him. Be that as it may, i pray that the soul of President Lansana Conte rests in peace.
Is it not fascinating to note the drastic change of political events in the country barely six hours after the death of their “Life President”? The late President Conte was among those African presidents I discussed briefly in my last paper arguing forcefully, that their replacements might in the future pose transitional problems for a stable political change in their nations.
Libya’s Ghaddafi and Egypt’s Mubarack were the other two heads of state I criticized for being dangerously irreplaceable in a world clearly aware of the consequences of the phenomenon. I had forgotten President Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso who by all indications perfectly matches the profiles of these ridiculous leaders. But until there is total chaos in these countries resulting from justifiable demands by better informed and totally fed up citizens to scrap the illegality of these crownless “monarchial” governments, the world only sits by and pretend that they do not exist. It is like the proverbial doctors trained for the treatment of only symptoms instead of the diseases that cause them. No wonder, the remedies prescribed by world organizations or leaders for nations in turmoil are hardly effective if ever applicable.
I had also mentioned the danger faced by the followers and or cohorts of these leaders in the wake of an unexpected or sudden change of leadership. Yes, in the majority of cases documented, these people who anchor all their hopes and aspirations on the survival of one person often loose everything with the last breath of the leader, if dead, or after his last day in office, if overthrown.
Ironically, what happened in Guinea this week shows striking resemblance to events there in April 1984 after “Life President” Sekou Toure suddenly died of heart disease. Toure’s legacy as a hardliner who ruled Guinea with an iron fist from 1958 to 1984 is still remembered as one of the most repressive, corrupt and inefficient, adjectives quickly dismissed by such leaders as unacceptable, since most of them believe they are omnipotent. Just last year for example, over 180 Guineans peacefully demonstrating for a change of government in the hands of a sickly incompetent president were shot and killed by the security forces on his orders. Conte was so gravely ill that if his case were treated with candor, medical doctors would have clinically declared him mentally and physically unfit to run his household more so state.
But in an interview following the relentless pressure of opposition forces to see him leave voluntarily, President Conte had this to say: “I am the boss, others are my subordinate”. When asked who might eventually replace him, he added with some air of arrogance, “There is no question of transition”.
These life leaders, after consolidating their grips on power, and very comfortable, usually surround themselves with loyalists whose competence or qualifications to inherit office during an emergency, is hindered by their inadequacies. Indeed, they avoid appointing deputies who can easily succeed them without problems even if they unexpectedly died in office making it rather more attractive for the armed forces to intervene and throw these clowns under the bus. Apparently, the Guineans only had a symbolic constitutional Prime Minister, Ahmed Tidiane Souare and a National Assembly President, Aboubacar Sompare, who Captain Camara immediately booted out knowing fully well that his beleaguered countrymen would endorse the operation.
That was how the late Sekou Toure ran his government for 26 years, making it inevitable and acceptable for Conte to seize power after his death in 1984 and subsequently dismantling almost everything he had built, replacing it with his own political vanguard. As usual, world leaders and organizations had to offer their lip service by initially condemning these military actions in hasty conferences organized by clueless delegates arguably more enthusiastic about the food and drinks served and the per diem allowances paid than anything of serious significance.
In the end, everyone gets accustom to it and shy away by treating the germ as an internal matter, especially when the new leader shows overwhelming support from televised home crowds.
As for the home crowds, the vast majority evidently live below the poverty line making them gullible to state-sponsored propaganda to rally behind new unfamiliar leaders. Often, the only benefits realized by these uninformed crowds are free meals and soda served in organized congregations.
However, in Guinea, the late Ahmed Sekou Toure, was at least honored with a decent state burial before the political disruption commenced a week later. But Conte’s case is reminiscent of Nigeria's late brutal dictator, General Sani Abacha. In these cases, before the world took notice of their death, the nasty struggle for power had overtaken the importance of even their funerals. It looks like Captain Camara took charge in a decisive move attributable to a premeditated master plan. Of course, soldiers in totalitarian countries are like the commoners. They feel it all around them that the leadership is not based on legitimate grounds and therefore, hope and pray like everybody that it will soon come to an end possibly with their intervention. Their advantage over the commoners is their ability to draw schemes on a daily basis of how or when they can step in and effectively bring the desired change. Hence whether verbally expressed or not, soldiers in these governments especially, those formed from coups will almost always resort to the same actions if the opportunity avails. It’s a vicious circle unstoppable under the circumstances.
The Guinean prime minister was either in denial or merely delusional out of shock during the first day of the coup. While the security forces were consolidating their command and control over key positions, he was in the air with the international media, assuring journalists that his government was still in charge. And then there was the desperate call from all of them for the international community not to recognize the military government. I only hope they were not banking on the Constitutive Act of the AU or the Lome' Convention and the new chapter on governance which completely condemn unconstitutional means of overtaking governments or coup d’e tats? Well, such legal instruments and or regional agreements I believe, will only work if complemented by definitive regulations to end pseudo democratic governments identifiable not by how they conduct elections or how many they have won but by their rejection of TERM LIMIT. Unless African governments unanimously agree to a clause stating that presidents must leave after a reasonable period in office, then the chances of enforcing any international conventions to protect them against undemocratic practices will be remote. I think those against term limits should even be denied membership status in these organizations.
A term limit preferably maximized at two terms of 5 years is a progressive policy for an inclusive government that could provide opportunity for all, if not now, in the reasonable future and helps curb the massive exodus of talents from underdeveloped to developed countries. And after 10 years in power in a 5 year term limit, not only should that president quit for a new person, but must not be allowed to introduce a brother, wife, son or relative as candidates to succeed him.
One finds it hard to sympathize with the Conte government for what happened in November 2001 when he orchestrated a constitutional amendment for the president to run indefinitely with an extension of the 5-year term to 7 years. A 7-year term looks like an idea stolen from Senegal where President Wade is no longer viewed as the cool leader who initially campaigned on a platform of positive change (i.e. SOPI) for a progressive government. It is now feared that he is bent on consolidating a dynasty by grooming his son, Karim Wade to bequeath to him the presidential seat. Clearly, this consitutes another recipe for a future political disaster in a country hailed for its brand of genuine African democracy.
On Guinea however, I can certainly imagine the chaotic moment behind the scenes where perhaps the Conte family is virtually under siege as scary-looking soldiers storm their homes and properties for loots at the heat of the moment.
Remember how after his sudden death, Abacha’s house was ransacked by his closest loyalists in the presence of his wife and children with millions of foreign currencies found crammed in suitcases and handbags hidden behind closets and cupboards? The same thing might have happened at Conte’s palace. Except that in Nigeria, it was the senior officers led by General Abubacarr who took over and showed a more responsible approach to the death of a dictator than what might have prevailed in Guinea under the command of a relatively junior ranking officer. So far, the coup also seemed to have gone violence-free; but the way coups go, if not sooner, I am afraid there will be a counter-coup attempt in the near future.
Another possible scenario behind the scenes should be the frantic efforts by senior government officials including ministers, department heads and party heavyweights to cover up their illegal footprints which among other things will include the destruction of incriminating evidences in files, hard drives, discs or notebooks. Those with foreign accounts will be consulting their banks for immediate withdrawals of possible stolen funds; diplomats like Ambassador Mory Karamoko Kaba in the US and Alpha Ibrahima Sow, Ambassador to the UN will along with their counterparts be wondering what will become of their fate after Conte; they are mostly political appointees whose careers are usually terminated and replaced by new loyalists. Because of their deep connections with the deposed regime and conscious of the doom and gloom that await them and their families at home, they usually constitute the first batch of political exiles. That means they may already be brooding over how to apply for political asylum in Western nations. It is always Western nations. Only those denied in Western nations consider going to African countries where they sometimes risk being later extradited.
In Ahmed Sekou Toure’s 26 years government, one million Guineans out of a population of 8 million was driven into exile with most of them never to return home. Figures of how many more had to leave in the 24-year-old Conte’s government might be lower, but thousands had to leave with many doing so merely for being hopeless in a country indefinitely hijacked by one person.
The most unfortunate ones in these coup situations are those ex-officials and their parasitic partisans stuck at ground zero after the collapse of the empire with no means of getting out of the unforeseen quagmire or ever redeeming their battered lives. Their miseries are often compounded by their desperate resolve to depend on spiritual advisors, “marabouts” or natives believed to possess special supernatural powers that can revert the undesirable situation back to the good old times. Call it a field day for these natives who have perfected their art of putting hopes in the minds of these temporary lunatics. Their services will however be equally as available to those ousted as to those who ousted them.
The answer to this whole nightmare is after all, to encourage these life presidents to change their dogmatic beliefs with the understanding that what happened in Guinea on the 22nd of December 2008 could happen in their countries any day. TERM LIMIT must be adopted.