POLITICS-GUINEA: Conte’s Attempt to Run Again Sparks Controversy

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Oct 10 2001 (IPS) - President Lansana Conte’s attempt to run again has sparked controversy, with Guinean opposition parties launching a campaign to prevent him from seeking a third term of office.

The controversy heightened after Conte asked for a review of the country’s constitution to allow him to run for another term.

“I will give my support to those people who are calling for a referendum to review the constitution,” Conte told a gathering of his supporters last week in the capital, Conakry.

At a banquet organised last week, to mark the West African state’s 43rd independence anniversary, Conte urged members of parliament, civil society, trade unions and ordinary Guineans to work in the best interest of their country,

“We must not rely on other people’s concept of democracy. The best form of governance in Guinea is what the Guinean people themselves chose,” he added.

Guinea’s constitution provides for only two terms of office.

The opposition coalition, known as CODEM, denounced Conte’s move, claiming that it was all the President’s manipulation to perpetuate his power.

Conte was elected in 1993 as civilian President after ruling for nine years as head of a military junta, which took power in 1984 after the death of the country’s first President Ahmed Sekou Toure. After 17 years in power Conte still considers himself a military general, living in a military barracks and relying heavily on the armed forces for his tenuous hold on power.

The 1998 Presidential elections, which his party won, were fraught with allegations of massive vote rigging and intimidation of his opponents.

Conte arrested his key opponent, Alpha Conde, on trump-up charges of subversion and plots to violently remove the government from office. Conde was detained for more than a year in defiance of widespread international condemnation and only released on a presidential pardon.

Like Sekou Toure, whom he succeeded, Conte has fast metamorphosed into a dictator trampling on fundamental human rights like freedom of speech and assembly. Vocal journalists and politicians have often been hounded and either locked-up in the country’s prisons or forced into exile.

It is this creeping dictatorial rule that the opposition is challenging and hence giving the President a run for his money.

A spokesperson of CODEM said: “Lansana Conte does not have a monopoly of leadership and we think he has outlived his usefulness politically”. He added that the opposition would resist attempts at altering the country’s constitution to suit the interests of one man.

Even within his ruling Unity and Progress Party (PUP), opposition to the idea of a third-term presidency has started gathering pace. The speaker of parliament Alhaji Biroh Jalloh said, at a news conference in Conakry over the weekend, that Conte’s move is “is illegal and dictatorial”.

The speaker said: “The idea of a referendum has to be discussed by parliament and, in fact, we see no sense in altering the constitution which is a sacred document to satisfy the whims of one person.”

The past few months have witnessed a beehive of activities with supporters of the President’s party traversing the countryside, especially the Upper Guinea region to sell the idea of a referendum and possible third term for Conte.

His supporters argue that the incumbent President is a symbol of stability, having fought and crushed armed dissidents who launched incursions into Guinea last year.

Said Guinea political analyst Morie Sillah: “General Conte may be a strong and decisive man quite capable of taking the country through a war, but a third term for him could only prepare the ground for the dictator to stay in power for life.”

There is growing disillusionment at Conte’s autocratic rule as well as official corruption that has largely remained unchecked. His intolerance of criticism and promotion of ethnic loyalty have all helped to further polarise the country of about 12 million people.

Opposition parties fear that the President’s supporters may try to force opponents by way of confrontations, to get their way through. But militants of the opposition say they have power to resist any attempts by PUP supporters whose objective now is to have Conte re-elected for a third term.

Observers in the volatile sub-region, mindful of the civil wars in neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, have cautioned the Guinean leader not to go against the wishes of the people and invite anarchy in his relatively stable country.