Robert Sirleaf on Wednesday announced his Montserrado county senatorial
bid, breathing new life into President Sirleaf succession plan.
Robert Sirleaf is the son of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, current President of
Liberia. Robert Sirleaf speedy ascent to the top—he only came to
Liberia when his mother became the President of Liberia—feed into the
narrative that proximity to power through kinship is a useful ingredient
for the growing list of succession plans by African leaders.
He had served in top governmental positions, including Senior Advisor
to President Sirleaf and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
National Oil Company of Liberia. ( President Sirleaf also awarded her
other sons governmental positions. Fumba Sirleaf is head of the National
Security Agency while Charles is deputy governor of the Central Bank).
Robert is highly qualified. According to the report, Robert is a
financial expert, educated in the US and who has spent an inordinate
time abroad, adding to the little-noticed trend that nearly all African
leaders who are beneficiaries of dynastic or patronage politics have
been educated abroad.
President Sirleaf, who is the darling of the West, was educated at
Harvard University. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenya, the son of Kenya’s
founding father Jomo Kenyetta, in March 2013 edged out rival Raila
Odinga in a closely-contest election. Kenyatta studied political science
at Amherst college in the United States before returning to Kenya.
It is not only in monarchies that the Head of State’s children succeed
to power; it is also, alas, not unknown in republics. It has already
happened in Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Syria. Togo, Gabon, the Democratic
Republic of Congo. It sometimes happens that elections are announced to
decide the succession, but it is known in advance who will emerge from
them as the victor.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila studied at the
National Defense University. He was awarded the rank of major-general
and appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the
Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998. He was later, in 2000, appointed
Chief of Staff of the land forces, a position he held until the elder
Kabila’s was assassinated in January 2001. As chief of staff, he was one
of the main military leaders in charge of government troops and when
his father was assassinated, he succeeded his father.
Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba, the son of Omar Bongo, who headed
the country for 41 years, was educated in France from the age of nine,
where he graduated from Sorbonne with a PhD in law. In preparing his son
for the succession, Omar Bongo appointed him to governmental
positions, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation,
Minister of State for National Defense. Ali Bongo was elected to
parliament in 2001 and 2006 respectively. Through a bogus election, he
succeeded his father immediately after his death.
Another graduate of the famous Sorbonne in Paris is Faure Essozimna
Gnassingbe, current President of Togo. Of the many children of former
Togo President Gnassingbe Eyadema, Faure beat out his other siblings to
succeed his father in February 2005. Through his father’s influence, he
was elected to the National Assembly of Togo in the October 2002
parliamentary election. His father amended the constitution in December
2002, lowering the minimum age for the president from 45 years to 35
years, which was intended to benefit Faure. In 2003, he was appointed
as Minister of Equipment, Mines, Posts, and Telecommunications, serving
in that position until becoming president in February 2005. His
appointment to the government in July 2003 came after he had already
been appearing with his father at official functions and contributed to
speculation that he was intended as his father’s successor.
Even those seen as being prepped for presidency seem to have read the
script of succession. Muhooozi Kaineraguba, the first born son of Uganda
President Yoweri Museveni, is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst, which trains all British Army Officers, before adding stints
in the military colleges in Egypt, the United States and South Africa.
He is the Commander of the Special Forces Group, responsible for
providing security to the President of Uganda and has been heavily
linked to succeed his father who has been in power since 1986.
Fiddled with the Constitution for succession
Speculation has remained rife in Burkina Faso that Francois Compaore,
the younger brother of Blaise Compaore is being groomed to take over
next year, should the veteran failed to amend the two-term presidential
limit. The younger Compaore studied economics in the Ivory Coast and the
United States and has been the president’s powerful economic advisor
since 1989.
Ex-Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade’s positioning of his son Karim as
successor contributed to his ouster in 2012 elections, following a
failed bid by Wade to fiddle the constitution. Karim was referred to
caustically as “Minister of Heaven and Earth” for holding several
ministerial positions under his father (at one point, he reportedly
controlled nearly half of the state budget). He graduated from the
University of Paris with a master’s degree.
Ex-Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was widely seen as preparing his
younger son, Gamal to succeed him before the 2011 revolution. Gamal
studied at the American University in Cairo, which offers an
American-style curriculum and which has been the stop for many of
Egypt’s and the Arab world’s foremost intellectuals and leaders.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was mentioned strongly as possible successor to
his father, Muammar Gaddafi and was said to be the de facto prime
minister. He earned his PhD from the London School of Economics
By promoting the political and business interests of their families,
most African presidents can complicate their own successions. Handing
power from father to son has not been accepted by the population, while
the president is living, but has happened when a sitting president dies
in office, as in Togo,Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo as stated
above.
But the stakes are deadly serious for the would-be dynasties. In
Equatorial Guinea, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s grip on
power ensures the dominance of his children and relatives in the
political, military and business elite in Malabo. His son Teodoro Nguema
Obiang Mangue (‘Teodorín’) is vice-president for defense and security;
Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima, a son from another mother, is oil minister;
and his brother-in-law Candido Nsue Okomo runs the state- owned oil
company GE Petrol.
President Obiang gave Teodorín a more powerful post and a claimed
diplomatic immunity in a situation in May 2012 as France and the US were
pursuing charges against the president’s son for money laundering.
Although it’s clear that most of the veteran presidents in sub-Sharan
Africa who are contemplating political successions are scheming to
prolong their grip on power by installing their children or relative. It
is equally clear they will face a better organized and equipped
opposition well able to exploit information technology and social media.
Not only is popular resistance growing to the tired formula of dynastic
politics still being planned in states such as Equatorial Guinea,
Uganda and Liberia, but people resent the chaos and repression that go
along with such systems.
Up to now, it has been the cause for the popular lamentation that power
has almost always been in the hands of profiteers who are not concerned
with serving the national interest; their concern is rather to take
up their privileged positions. Not only in Liberia, not only in Africa
in general, but throughout the world too, this state of affairs must
come to an end.
The political turmoil left in the wake of Ben Ali’s, Muammar Gaddafi
and Mubarak’s dynastic ambitions could provide a stark reality check
for Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Yoweri Museveni and Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf. We are watching.
Seltue Karweaye, the writer holds an MS in Development Studies & MS
in Politics and International studies with specialization in Peace and
Conflict Studies from Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden and can be
reached at Seltue.Karweaye.4687@student.uu.se or karweayee@gmail.com
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