Cote d’Ivoire’s Lost Opportunity to deal with its Ghost
It's been
an interesting debate with a good friend over Cote d’Ivoire’s new constitution.
I thought constitutional making process sometimes is a good opportunity for
nations to have national consultations and conversations on thorny issues that
threaten their very existence. It so appears to me that the country lost this
opportunity and moved on even with clamor from certain quarters. My friend says
the country is on the right track and should be left to move and adds that it is not possible to
please everybody. I agreed that it is not possible to please everybody but
argued that it is not a matter of pleasing but a question of accommodating
people; creating compromise and finding tolerable ways to move forward
together.
We must not forget that political instability has dogged Cote
d’Ivoire for more than two decades, often driven by the question of Ivoirian
nationality. Former President Henri Konan Bedie, who took office in 1993 and
currently leads the Democratic Party of Cote d’Ivoire (PDCI), aggressively promoted
the concept of “Ivoirite,” an interpretation of national identity that called
into question the nationality of citizens of foreign origin. Divisions deepened
and, in the context of economic decline, helped precipitate a military coup in
1999 that ousted Bedie. Today, Ouattara - whose nationality is contested - has
put the country on economic recovery, growing at above 10 percent for over 5
years.
So my friend supports President Alassane Ouattara and argues that those
who have issues with him have done nothing other than blocking the president
from taking the country forward. I said I do not think that is the only thing
they are doing. I do not necessarily support them but I know that even if the
country's economy grows hundred fold if the fault-lines of conflict are not
sealed; there is glaring the risk of relapse into conflict. The more reason
they should have a more robust conversation. But they have lost that
opportunity. The president is keen on operationilizing the new constitution,
largely because the new draft makes good on his 2015 campaign promise to lift
the restriction on presidential candidates with dual nationality. Does this
heal the country or does it prepare ground for future eruption of violent
conflicts?
Cote d’Ivoire’s Lost Opportunity to deal with its Ghost
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
November 10, 2016
Rating:
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