Ivory Coast, the easy political point to make
E. Ablorh-Odjidja

That ECOWAS has done the right thing by asking Laurent Gbagbo (sorry not the president) to step down or face armed confrontation from the rest of the ECOWAS states is the right thing to do.

Indeed, ECOWAS' decision is commendable. But what if they had made it a requirement that NO president in a member state should go beyond two terms or ten years in office and recommended same for the rest of Africa?

That would be some recommendation. But please, do not hold your breath on the promise because the requirement would not happen.

Experience has shown that most African presidents seek longevity not because they have anything positive to bestow on their societies, by virtue of staying in office over a prolonged period, but do hang on only because of the comfort the big man complex provides; not to mention access to spoils from the office that allow them to build a network of hangers-on for survival.

In this desire for longevity, Gbagbo has company in many compatriots across Africa; including some in office now who should have left years ago.

However, with this quest for longevity comes the political turmoil that has had negative effects on many countries in Africa, the Ivory Coast included.

Many coup makers have cited the obdurate refusal of presidents to leave office peacefully as a reason. These historical lessons must be known to Gbagbo, the historian. But he has made himself immune to them because of his lust for power.

So it must come as a big relief for those yearning for peaceful enforcement of some of these lessons when ECOWAS issued the statement warning Gbagbo that he risked removal by force from his illegally assumed office if he did not step down.

“If he fails to do so, ECOWAS will be left with no option but to use legitimate force to remove him from office,” said Victor Gbeho, a Ghanaian and the president of ECOWAS.

Ghana has reason to be very worried about the political unrest on its western border. But that worry should not stop at that border. All of West Africa, and for that matter the rest of Africa, should be worried if the trouble should persist.

And worry Africa must for this simple reason: The nature of the political concern for the Ivory Coast is not so much because it is a geographic thing that can only take place in that spot alone. Africa must worry because of its example as a continental issue and the principle it embodies for democracy and the rule of law.

That principle, either way, can be endemic. Allow Gbagbo to stay in power and you have a template for African dictators to use. Indeed it can be argued that Gbagbo’s template is one borrowed from Zimbabwe’s Mugabe, the supreme example of a leader who can never say that he has had enough of rule.

Allow the principle of a democratic election result to rule, in this case enforce Ouattara’s victory, and you would be laying the foundation for a preferred template for stability and good governance in Africa. The result will be a win-win situation for all.

For Ghana, it must be both principle and geography because of the proximity and the experience of close encounter with the similar chaotic situation in the Ivory Coast when President Kufuor left office in 2008.

At that time, the presumption was that his party, the NPP, was going to win the elections, including the presidency. The NDC, the opposition party, won by a narrow margin in what some came to regard as stolen election. However, the graceful acceptance of the result has since boosted Ghana’s standing in the eyes of the democratic world.

What has since been forgotten was how close Ghana came to the brink in 2008 and the fact that eight years of calm rule under Kufuor had changed the political taste for violence in Ghana, so it was easy for good sense to prevail.

Still, distaste for the election result of 2008 is festering in the minds of many members of the NPP, the party in opposition.  Thus, 2012 provides the next opportunity for the NDC, the party in government, and the NPP to vie again for power. The future, therefore, will tell whether Ghana has learned its democratic lessons yet; which is why Ivory Coast must be an important lesson now.

So far, the right political pressure has been put on Gbagbo. The UN has kicked out Ivory Coast’s UN Ambassador Ilahiri Djedje, a Gbagbo supporter. In his seat is Youssouf Bamba, an appointee of Ivory Coast’s legitimate government. The World Bank is withholding financial support for the Ivory Coast.

To make matters worse for Gbagbo’s ghost government, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) has blocked access to Ivory Coast’s funds, limiting it only to appointed members of Outara’s government.

And so should it be until sanity prevails in the Ivory Coast. But I suspect that process will not be so easy. It never does with political dinosaurs who seek forceful extinction.

Say goodbye to Laurent Gbagbo and hello to Alassane Ouattara now.

 

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, December 26, 2010

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