President Ali Bongo kept the carrots to himself. Many dictators especially benevolent ones use both the stick and carrot to secure obedience and in case of excessive disobedience from compatriots, the stick will effectively be relied on and the carrots withdrawn. The idea of not baiting the hook well enough to attract enemies to his cause was bound to backfire as it eventually did.
The president forgot French, it is wrong for a head of state not to master the language of his former political colonizers/bosses, when he was shouting for help after being exposed using English in a video gone viral. This was a very fatal mistake, since his former colonizers may have wanted to hear words like “Jes UIs arr`rete”, the English equivalent of “I have been arrested”. To them, this was perceived as a sign of disloyalty and hence they also abandoned him. If you mutter in one’s language, you will quickly be understood.
Thirdly the weak regional and military blocks in central Africa, for example In West Africa when there were coups Ecowas and its military wing ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group) issued various demands and orders nothing has so far come from the economic community of central Africa (ECCAS) the regional equivalent of ECOWAS or EAC, recall when there was an attempted coup in Burundi Uganda spoke vehemently against the coup on behalf of the East African community and the situation has been worsened further by the Africa Union (AU)a well known non-biting canine
Fourthly the wrong man at the helm of the special forces command, General Nguema was no relative of ‘anyone’ it was wrong both from a military and from a security artcheture to have those securing the head of state without certain filial or kindred ties to the principal especially in Africa which is prone to coups.
Eat with the people.
Ali Bongo ignored certain groups during his reign as President. Recall his father, Omar Bongo was on record for buying off the opposition. For about 40 years from 1967, there was no coup, as he very well knew how to manage the wanainchi and make them free Gabonese. Unlike his father, Bongo failed to follow the the same footsteps.
Costly electoral mistakes especially combining the presidential, parliamentary and Local council elections at once and it was structured in a manner that whoever would vote for a member of parliament would automatically be voting for President Ali Bongo. This was worsened by the complete switching of various media platforms like the internet, including social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). When the Gabonese suspected foul play, they got of slumber and matched on the streets.
If you are serving a meal and switch off the main bulbs people will quickly decipher your intentions. It was Therefore a lousy security and political decision and guidance to have these media platforms switched during the tabulation of such a contested election
Mr Ali Bongo Ondimba learnt nothing and forgot nothing for example, in a span of 14 years in power he had about three attempted coup de tats, he didn’t address concerns raised in all the coups and meanwhile SFC was studying the general mood in all the previous coups.
No military background, his father Obongo who became president from 1967 after serving briefly as a vice president following the death of the then-president, was no military man and the record captures Ali Obongo as not a military man. This was a fatal mistake, in some homes and families even among well-educated homes, they can have a witch among them so that if anything requires witchcraft he will be the right man for the job.
His religion as a moslem was of no use to the French who have a phobia of Islam and even when he developed a medical condition which eventually metamorphized into a stroke he ignored going to France for treatment and when the coup took place he was also ignored
Bongo failed to develop and control a small population of just about 2m people. If he had used such poor leadership skills in some other country he couldn’t have lasted for even a day.
His assets surprised Europeans. In Europe, the standard practice of owning or acquiring property like homes is through a mortgage which you can pay in peace meals until you complete. Unfortunately, and unaware of this Modus operandi, monsieur Ali just bought about 40 flats in a fortnight this surprised the whole of Europe with how corrupt he had become
Currently, it is unfashionable to acquire political power through coups and my article shouldn’t be seen to support coup de tats in Africa.
In Uganda, heavy national rewards are reserved for anyone who opposes taking over the Government through force; refer to Article 3 of the country’s constitution in its wholeness
The author, Steven Masiga, is a socio-political researcher from Mbale; Tel 0706655811.
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