by Djobaye Mbangdoum, N'Djamena, Chad, September 1997
THEME = POLITICS
The 31 March 1996 referendum; the 2 June 1996 presidential election; the 5 January 1997 (first round) and 23 February 1997 parliamentary elections (second round), all show that Chad has truly embarked along the road to democracy. Chad's people have shown, both at home and abroad, that they have truly been touched by "the wind of change" i.e. of democracy, blowing across Africa. They are now able to profit from the substantial aid coming from the West. On 9 May, the new Parliament (National Assembly) elected General Wadal Abdelkader Kamougue, of the Union for Renewal and Democracy as its Speaker (president). This was the outcome of the electoral process, which began with the 31 March 1996 referendum.
Parliament took a long time to get itself organised, because of the large number of political parties and groupings involved. Negotiating with all these people so as to appoint the necessary parliamentary officials, was no easy matter. President Idriss Deby, founder of the Patriotic Movement for Salvation (MPS), the governing party now in power, was prepared to meet the Opposition half-way. The MPS militants, on the other hand, were dead-set to get one of their own elected as Speaker.
On its own, the presidential grouping does not have a majority in Parliament. Chad is a country fraught with political divisions, and it can only become a strong, rich and prosperous nation, through the combined action of its citizens. So, after lengthy negotiations, President Deby's point of view prevailed, and it was his opponent from the south, the Union for Democracy and Renewal (URD)'s leader, General Kamougue, who was elected Speaker. His party has 29 seats out of 125 in Parliament; the MPS - 65.
The question now is: can Parliament fulfils the people's expectations? An important question, because past experience has shown that the people's trust has been sadly abused. Will this present Parliament be able to "deliver the goods"? Perhaps we are thinking too far ahead, but the presence in Parliament of a number of former prime ministers, plus the experience and political maturity of a number of political leaders and other politicians, gives us reason for hope.
The "in-between" period when Parliament was getting itself organised, gave politicians from various political groupings, the opportunity of working towards an "understanding" or at the very least, creating a common political platform with the party having the most parliamentary seats. Out of the eleven political parties now having seats in Parliament (there are about fifty political parties in Chad!), ten signed agreements with the MPS to form a majority. The President now has a multi-party government in which a spirit of solidarity and of social justice must prevail. Through good administration, it must commit itself to creating favourable conditions for reviving and boosting Chad's economic growth, via a just distribution of wealth.
So, the governing party now has a large working majority. What kind of an opposition will it meet with in the parliamentary chamber? Any governing party has to introduce appropriate Bills for discussion, in line with its declared political agenda. Will the government be prepared to do this, or will it be content with trying not to "rock the boat" - trying to build up sufficient goodwill in order to diffuse the country's vitriolic political, economic and socio-cultural situation?
It is to be remembered that politics in Chad bear all the hallmarks of past bitterness - completely out-of-date, nowadays, in a world of international competition, flexibility and adaptation. The watchwords for Chad's new leaders are: "consensus, compromise, reasoning". But are these same leaders being really practical? Don't forget that politics in Chad's past thirty years, have done nothing to help the people. Rather, they have sunk ever-deeper into poverty and misery.
If one is to believe Parliament's Speaker, General Kamougue, the country's political leaders now want to remove all divisions from a population suffering from a north/south, Muslims/Christian divide. One wonders if this is really the right way to go about uniting the country, and in any case, are these the right people to undertake such a task? The population simply cannot trust the politicians who are supposed to safeguard and preserve the higher interests of the nation and whose past actions show the contrary.
Everything now depends on the new government team now in office. Prime Minister Nassour Waidon (50), is a demographer by profession. Immediately after his appointment, he organised his government team of 26 members as compared with 30 in the previous government. A move greatly appreciated by donor nations and organisations, as Chad is presently living through a period of Structural Adjustment.
Will this do the trick? The morning after the publication of the government list, several people expressed disapproval and disappointment. The main government party, the MPS, has kept 17 ministries out of 26 for itself. Then, there's the problem of regrouping various ministerial departments into one. For example, how can the Finance Ministry, which already encompasses various responsibilities, also include the Ministry of Economy Planning and the Ministry of the Environment? It just doesn't make sense and in any case will do nothing to improve ministerial performance.
Does the government want to satisfy the Bretton Woods Institutions (International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) by undertaking these ministerial reforms? The government's radical approach means a cut-back in the machinery of administration, (which we must admit is, archaic, obsolete, unadapted to the country's present needs, corrupt, and still too closely modelled on the country's colonial past). Yes, radical surgery is needed.
Chad is a country which has been wounded by more than 30 years of civil war. Now its people are placing their last hope on the historic change which has just taken place. Chad has gone forward in a decisive way, resolutely committed to democracy, with the participation and consensus of all the people. According to President Deby, it's the only way to get away from the vicious circle of violence, political stalemate and chronic underdevelopment.
Let's hope so!
END