Trouble brewing in Chad after 31-year incumbent president is poised to win re-election

It must be something in the water they drink at the presidential palaces in Francophone Africa. When the leaders taste power, they do not want to relinquish it. With the exception of Niger, where president Mahamadou Isoufou willingly left after his constitutionally mandated two terms, nearly all other Francophone leaders have plunged their countries into turmoil for their obstinate refusal to leave.

Now it is Chad’s turn to weather what promises to be a rough road ahead.

Idriss Deby has been president of Chad since 1990. Thirty-one years later, he is willing to plunge his country into political turmoil by running for re-election. “I have lost count,” replied one Chadian bus driver when asked how many terms Deby has been president.

The political climate currently in Chad is tense. So far the votes were completed last night at 23:59 but with great difficulties because a major part of the population and the leaders of the political opposing parties opted for boycott. Through out day many polling stations were noticeably empty with no voters

The outgoing president after great confidence and hope for the support of the population now knows that he isn’t liked by the population and that Chadians are really fed up of his presence on the presidential throne.

His party militants are disappointed and facing real challenges on how to rig the election results. But even if the rigging takes place and he ‘wins’, it would undoubtedly be a victory without honor.

Now there are unconfirmed reports of rebel and terrorist activities in the region of Tibesti (North-Chad), which is causing great panic among the citizens.

As usual, France will send in troops to quell the uprising and shore up another dictator in another francophone African country. This dictatorial behavior is expected to attract no response from the African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Mahamat Faki, who is from Chad, and who himself is dictatorial in his leadership at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Idriss Deby took power at the head of a rebellion against President Hissène Habré in December 1990 and has since survived various rebellions and coup attempts against his own rule. He won elections in 1996 and 2001.

Thereafter, Deby changed the Chadian constitution to eliminate term limits and has since then won every election in 2006, 2011, and2016. Now he is on the verge of ‘winning’ another shady election to continue his illegitimate rule over the Central African country.

DNT News, Accra with Correspondence reports from Bakaine Toko Alliance, N’Djamena

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