Military Coup: Why the People of Gabon Must Stop Dancing
“The people of Gabon should stop dancing and reconsider the complex political equations before them. The arduous business of running Gabon should not be left to those in power alone.”
Wednesday’s military takeover in Gabon left many citizens of the central African country dancing on the streets as if possessed by Dionysius, the god of wine in Greek mythology. The coup and its repercussion on the country’s nine provinces highlights the angst that had bottled up in many people spanning over five decades that the Bongo Ondimba family ruled over the land as if it were their possessions and spoils from battle.
Media footage has emerged of a baffled former President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest. Conversely, the people are busy dancing on the street as if the country has Africa’s most prominent street party in a bid to rival earlier public jubilations over coups that took place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and the Niger Republic.
Not many people in Gabon seem distressed by the former President’s new lifestyle of limited freedom against the background of his former life of spectacular opulence and endless political opportunities. And this is where there may be a growing danger in the whole fogginess of the current power struggle in Gabon. The consequences of what is going on in Gabon may spread further afield and shake other troubling governments on the African continent. We may as well be witnessing the early throes of incoming coups. The optics are not looking too good for many African Presidents who have overstayed in office and burnt political bridges to the opposition.
Consistently, some of us have insisted on democracy from Cape Town to Cairo, from Morocco to Mozambique, from the Nile to Nsukka, and from Myanmar to Maiduguri. Citizens and their freedoms fare better under a genuinely democratic form of governance, not a government of military announcements and authorizations. A casual look worldwide would convince even the staunchest military apologist that militarism stands no worthy chance against democracy. The gulf of goodness between both government forms is too vast for comfort.
It is rather strange to many observers that people are dancing on the streets of Libreville and elsewhere, pulsating with formerly suppressed delights as they go to meet new oppressors. One would have expected a somber national mood across the nine provinces of Gabon, a time for deep reflections about the character and temperaments of the new khaki boys and how soon they would return to barracks. That has not been the case, as many citizens appear less bothered about the spooling political complexities in the land. If one looks closely and deeply, the current triumphal mood around brute soldiers in Gabon portends naked and terrifying danger. The military guys may assume the citizens want them in power. But soldiers often become the worst monsters to citizens who desire unaffected democratic space and freedom.
But is it safe to dance in Gabon? Will these new guys not turn out worse than the Bongos? Only time will tell. One hopes that when that time comes, it won’t meet those dancing in hot tears. The people of Gabon should stop dancing and reconsider the complex political equations before them. The arduous business of running Gabon should not be left to those in power alone. The people have a part to play in governance. Their collective voices can effect tremendous and positive change.
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