Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
When Prof Touadera Went On A Private Visit To The University Of Bangui and Gave A Lecture, Many People Thought He Was Already Preparing For Life After The Presidency, As The Second Mandate Was Supposed To Be His Last. But Later ON, President Touadera Started Showing Signs That He Had Been ‘Infected’ By The Sit –Tight Disease Of Presidents In Central Africa Sub –region.
As was stated in Part 1 of the series on the Central African Republic (CAR), in 2021, Prof Faustin Archange Touadera, was re-elected President of Central African Republic (CAR) for a second mandate. In line with the 2016 Constitution, that was supposed to be his last mandate.
As was also stated in the article, there was much hope in CAR that the President of the Republic, Prof Faustin Archange Touadera, who was in his second and supposedly the last mandate, would very likely respect and defend the 2016 Constitution of the country, as he had pledged on coming to power in 2016. There was hope that he would not attempt, to temper with the 2016 Constitution to scrap the limitation of the mandate of the President of the Republic, in a bid to seek a third mandate, at the end of his second mandate. This hope heightened when at the beginning of Prof Touadera’s second mandate, Prof Touadera made a private visit to the University of Bangui, and gave a lecture. It should be recall that before becoming President of CAR in 216, Prof Touadera was a mathematics teacher at the University of Bangui, in the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, the video of President Touadera, holding a piece of chalk, and teaching a group of students in a mathematics class at the University of Bangui, went viral on social media. This was seen or assumed by many, to mean that Prof Touadera had started preparing for life after the Presidency.
Central Africa Sub – region: A Dark Spot In Democracy – The Fear That President Touadera Could Be Infected
It should be noted that there was that fear by France, the United Nations, international organizations, and the citizens of CAR, that wanted to see democracy thrive in the country, that President Faustin Archange Touadera, a former university don, could be contaminated with bad blood by the leaderships of the other countries of the Central Africa Sub – region, that in reality were all dictatorships. The Presidents had all tacitly transformed themselves into monarchs.
In fact the Central Africa Sub – region was considered by international organizations as a dark spot in democracy, in Africa and beyond. There was nothing like limitation of the mandate of the President of the Republic, or some real democracy in any of the countries of the Sub –region. Presidential elections for example, were designed and conducted in a way to maintain the incumbent in power at all cost.
First Two Longest Serving Presidents In Africa, Are In Central Africa Sub-region
In fact the first two longest serving presidents in Africa, are in the Central African Sub –region. The first is 83 years old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, who has been in power since 1979. He was “re-elected’, for another seven year mandate, at the last presidential election which took place in Equatorial Guinea, on November 20, 2022. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo as usual, registered the Soviet –type score in the election, ‘winning’ the election by 94.7 % score. Worth noting, also, that the President’s son, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mangue, is the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea. A monarchy indeed!
The second longest serving President in Africa, who is also from the Central Africa Sub – region, is President Paul Biya of Cameroon. The 93 year old President came to power in 1982, after having been Prime Minister. Worth noting that the 93 year old President Paul Biya, who has been in power now for 43 years,, and who has indisputably been so much naturally weakened physically and mentality by age, was ‘re-elected’ in October 2025 for another seven year mandate.
Gabon, Chad, And Congo Brazzaville
Meanwhile as regards Gabon, it would be recalled that by 2021, the Bongo dynasty was still in power. Omar Bongo Ondimba became President of Gabon in December 1967, and hung on to power until his death in 2009. When he died, his son, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba, took over power through a fake presidential election that, was organized by his late father’s powerful friends in the regime, to implement the wish of President Omar Bongo. The wish was that when he dies, his son should take over as President of the country.
There was a similar situation in neighbouring Chad. The former President, Field Marshal Idris Derby Itno, who came to power in 1990 after coup d’etat, later became a ‘civilian President”. He was reportedly killed by a rebel group in Northern Chad in April 2021. A relatively new Constitution of Chad that was adopted in 2018 under President Idris Derby Itno, stated that in case of vacancy at the high office of President of the Republic, the President of Parliament should become the Interim President, until when a new presidential election would be organized to get a new President of the Republic. But when President Idirs Derby died, it was instead his son, 37 year old General Mahamat Derby Itno, who became the new leader of Chad, to eternalize the Idris Derby Itno Dynasty in power. Leaders of all the other countries of the Central Africa Sub –region recognized General Mahamat Derby Itno, as the new leader of Chad.
The situation in Congo Republic commonly known as Congo Brazzaville, was not really different from that of Cameroon. President Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, has today made a total of 40 years in power. He was early this year ‘reelected’ for another seven year mandate as President of Congo Brazzaville.
President Touadera, Of Central African Republic, Infected!
So there was actually reason for the fear in CAR, that the sit-tight Presidents of the other countries of the Central Africa Sub-region, might contaminate President Faustin Archange Touadera, with the syndrome of Sit –tight Presidents.
Later in 2022, President Touadera unfortunately started changing. It looked like he had been infected by the chronic disease of Presidents in the Central Africa Sub – region, that do everything to hang on to power. Presidents that have tacitly transform republics into monarchies.
President Touadera’s Gov’t, Mobilized Students To March, And Call For Modification Of Constitution
Also, in the typical style of those African leaders that want to hang on to power at all cost, the Government of President Touadera, secretly mobilized thousands of people comprised mostly of youths, precisely students, for a march. They jammed the streets, especially in the capital, Bangui, ‘calling’ for the modification of the 2016 Constitution, to scrap the limitation placed on mandate of the President of the Republic.
Participants in the march sang that Prof Touadera as President of the Republic was the best thing that had ever happened to the Central African Republic, and that he was a God – sent leader that could guarantee the effective return of peace, stability, as well as the economic growth of the country. They said the biggest error that the Central African Republic could make, was to allow President Touadera to leave power. Supporters of the regime referred to the limitation of the mandate of the President of the Republic (Prof Touadera), as an obstacle to the development and re-establishment of peace and stability in the Central African Republic.
Opposition Cried Foul / Opposition Leaders Instead Branded As Western Puppets
On their part, the opposition in Central African Republic cried foul, and said that the march was a manipulation organized by the Government of President Touadera, that was scheming to have the Constitution modified to scrap the limitation of the mandate of the President of the Republic, so as to enable him hang on to power. The opposition parties came together and created the ‘Bloc Republicain pour la Defense de la Constitution de 2016’, BRDC, roughly translated as, Republican Bloc for the Defense of the 2016 Constitution. So to the opposition, the undemocratic call for the end of the limitation of the mandate of the President of CAR, was nothing but a strategy to enable President Touadera, who was in his second and last mandate, to hang on to power.
The opposition’s strong criticism of the march, provoked the wrath of militants of the ruling MCU party, and those referred to as President Touadera supporters, including some journalists, who poured invectives on the opposition, especially opposition leaders. Opposition leaders were branded as western puppets, unpatriotic citizens, useless politicians, corrupt and hungry politicians, and even as bandits, and so forth. Tension mounted in the country..
Committee Created To Work On Project To Revise Constitution
President Touadera initially stayed silent, pretending as if he was not behind what his supporters were doing. Then on August 26, 2022, the President signed a decree creating a Committee to work on a project to revise the country’s Constitution. The President said that a referendum would be organized for the people of CAR to vote on the revised Constitution.
It should be noted, as aforementioned, that the then Constitution of the Central African Republic, under which Prof Faustin Touadera came to power, was relatively new. It was adopted on March 30, 2016. It was thanks to that 2016 Constitution, that Prof Touadera came to power. But President Touadera and his supporters in that 2022 were now doing everything to discredit it.
It would be recalled that the United Nations had made a big and costly intervention in the war ravaged Central African Republic, where several war lords and their armed groups were spitting terror. The UN was highly involved in CAR by the time the 2016 Constitution was drawn up. In drawing up the Constitution, note was taken of the unfortunate fact that many people that come to power in Africa, manipulate or modify the Constitution to scrap the limitation of the mandate of the President of the country, so as to hang on to power.
So measures were taken in the new Constitution that was adopted on March 30, 2016, to ensure that the person to come to power in CAR after the long period of crisis and bloodshed, should not have the power to be able to cause the modification of the Constitution, in a bid to hang on to power. Thus there was no provision in the Constitution of CAR that, a referendum could be organized, or that anything could be done, to modify the term of office of the President of the Republic.
