By Rodrigue Fénélon Massala, great reporter
Côte d’Ivoire hosted the “Ibrahim Governance Weekend” (Ibrahim Week on Governance), the annual event of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, from 05 to 07 April 2019 in Abidjan. During the meetings, participants from Africa and around the world had to discuss the issue of migration of young Africans. A theme considered by the Foundation as a priority in terms of governance and leadership for the continent.
According to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the issue of migration must be placed at the heart of the governance agenda of African states. Discussions focused, among other things, on the “Realities of African Migration”, “An explosive youth facing jobless growth”, “the management of the migration process between the South and the North, the strengthening of mobility, the updating skills, sharing responsibilities, “between north and south etc.
Beyond the theme of the forum, it is useful to question the choice made by the Foundation to discuss this migration issue in Côte d’Ivoire, a transit country for migrants, but also, according to the International Organization for Migration. Migration (IOM), a country with one of the highest rates of migrants taking the Mediterranean route.
By bringing together young people in Abidjan, this dynamic component which, in the futurology, is the spearhead called to take over tomorrow, the president of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation who has invited seven former heads of state in Abidjan, has he wanted to pass on a message to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara? Was the forum particularly aimed at the man whose mandate ends in 2020?
This is at least the perception of many observers. The action of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation is articulated, remember, around the promotion of two cardinal points namely, “good political governance” and “good economic governance”.
The Mo Ibrahim index, moreover, favors the strict respect of the democratic principles and values which values pass by the respect of the rule of the limitation of the mandates.
Ouattara: “I have never been more than 6 years in a job”
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Ivorian head of state seems to have seen the coded message of Mo Ibhrahim. Fully understanding the issue, Alasane Ouattara said: “I notice here, (7) former heads of state. I think my brother Moh Ibrahim wants to send me a message. I have never been more than 6 years in a job … I have been president for 8 years. This is so obvious, the transmission of power is a moral issue. It’s a moral conscience to know that age can be a drag on a head of state …. I almost made my decision. ”
Indeed, given the profile of former leaders invited to Abidjan, 3 of whom were at the head of post-conflict countries like the Ivory Coast (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of liberia, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone), who at the end of their constitutional mandates had left power by the great door through a peaceful transmission of the public offices of the State.
The six former African heads of state as well as a former European president, Mary Robinson (first woman president of Ireland from December 3, 1990 to September 12, 1997), present in Abidjan, have a particularity: that of having left the power at the end of their constitutional mandates. They have not sought in any way to seek a third term. Another former head of state also present in Abidjan, the Ghanaian John Dramani in this case, had instead consigned his defeat to a candidate of the opposition. Just like former Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Dessalegn who lost power democratically a year ago.
This high influx had an effect. Alassane Ouattara who has decoded the message has decided his political future by announcing his decision, coded means, to leave power. The word of financial doubled of policy will certainly be worth more than a check without guarantee.
