The second round of the Ivorian electoral campaign was an opportunity for the RDR to openly accuse President Gbagbo of being corrupt surrounded by corrupt people. This is illustrated on large format posters which adorn here and there the city of Abidjan. As the rdr has a short memory, we will first define corruption, then show the acts that Ouattara has taken or continues to take which make him one of the most corrupt politicians in the recent history of the Côte d” Ivory.
Definition of corruption
Etymology: from the verb to corrupt, coming from the Latin corrumpere, to break completely, to deteriorate, physically or morally.
Corruption is the misuse of power received by delegation for private purposes such as personal enrichment or that of a third party (family, friend, etc.). It consists, for a public official, an elected official, a doctor, a sports referee, an employee of a private company, etc., of refraining from doing, doing, facilitating something, because of his function, in exchange for a promise, a gift, a sum of money, various benefits…
There are two types of corruption:
– Active corruption for the author of the offer of promises, presents, benefits, etc.
– Passive corruption for the person who, because of his position, accepts or solicits this offer.
Examples of forms of corruption:
• “kickback”, “bribe”, bribe,
• fraud (falsification of data, invoices),
• extortion (obtaining money by coercion or force),
• misappropriation ( receiving or demanding sums not due, in the exercise of a public function, presenting them as legally due),
• favoritism (or nepotism) (favoring relatives),
• embezzlement (theft of public resources by civil servants),
• distortion of competition in public procurement.
Corruption is an illicit practice that can lead, in France for example, to fines of 150,000 euros and up to 10
years’ imprisonment for persons exercising a public function.
According to the World Bank, corruption would have represented, in 2001-2002, one trillion dollars, or approximately 3% of the planet’s trade.
Why is Ouattara corrupt?
Ouattara won the sympathy of Ivorians in 1990 by promising to fight against the corruption that plagued the Ivorian public administration. The man therefore asked for 100 days to clean up public finances and restore hope to the people. Unfortunately the result was the opposite of the expectation because 100 days later the man from the BCEAO, all shame drunk, presented himself to the Ivorians to request another 900 days of probation. It was then 900 days of mediocrity, nepotism, attack on individual freedoms and the press, non-respect of the law that we had right from Dramane Ouattara.
Abuse of power
We still remember the affair of the 19 tons of personal belongings which led opposition journalists at the time to prison. Indeed Ouattara who shouted everywhere that he is a man of irreproachable probity to use his power as Prime Minister to illegally return to Ivorian territory more than 19 tons of personal effects. The illegal nature of the procedure is due to the fact that the said effects were not subject to the regulatory customs clearance fees required. The man who today shouts out loud that he is clean put the directors general of customs and the port at the time to contribute so as not to pay customs clearance costs. For having revealed it, opposition journalists have experienced the coldness of Ivorian jails. Alassane is therefore corrupt because he took advantage of his position to be offered tax exemption outside of any rule. It is favoritism and therefore corruption as defined above.
Distortion of competition in public procurement
When it came to the restructuring of EECI and SODECI, Ouattara broke completely with the ethics of awarding public contracts and offered the distribution of water and electricity in Côte d’Ivoire. ‘Ivoire to its French friends from the Bouygues group through an over-the-counter market. This transaction that the rdr tends to pass off as the deal of the century today is in fact a fool’s bargain that Ouattara signed. Indeed, Bouygues was responsible for the distribution of electricity and water when the means of production were the responsibility of the state of Côte d’Ivoire. In a nutshell, the EECI, therefore the Ivorian taxpayer, produced electricity, and Ouattara’s friends sold it. It is good to know that the IMF, where Ouattara came from at the time, has always considered over-the-counter markets as markets that favor corruption. So why did Ouattara, who was Africa Director at the IMF, make an over-the-counter contract with Bouygues? Why didn’t he put out a call for tenders? Would he have received bribes for doing so? The questions remain as this way of doing things is a result of the corruption that Mr. Ouattara was supposed to fight. So why did Ouattara, who was Africa Director at the IMF, make an over-the-counter contract with Bouygues? Why didn’t he put out a call for tenders? Would he have received bribes for doing so? The questions remain as this way of doing things is a result of the corruption that Mr. Ouattara was supposed to fight. So why did Ouattara, who was Africa Director at the IMF, make an over-the-counter contract with Bouygues? Why didn’t he put out a call for tenders? Would he have received bribes for doing so? The questions remain as this way of doing things is a result of the corruption that Mr. Ouattara was supposed to fight.
Affair Alassane sells and buys
It is this same Ouattara who was guilty of fraud in public contracts by selling Ivorian public companies at a low price for his own account or to people close to him. For having said it there too, the opposition press suffered from the mafia and despotic practice of Mr. Dramane.
Under the distortion of competition in public procurement, there is a fact that has gone unnoticed here in Côte d’Ivoire. It is the non-attribution of the Radio/TV license to Ben Soumahoro when he fulfilled all the required conditions. He had the experience of the trade, the financing and the coherent business plan. Instead, Ouattara granted the license to radio nostalgia, of which his wife is the majority shareholder in Côte d’Ivoire. But to better show us that he cared little about Ivorian laws, he gave the license to a channel whose CEO was none other than a student failing at school. I named the eternal hoodlum Hamed Bakayoko. Here too, history will remember that the audiovisual license was refused to an emeritus journalist recognized by all, former Director General of Radio Télévision Ivoirienne to offer it to the wife of the Prime Minister who has appointed an incompetent without experience as President and Director General. Who would’ve believed that ?
Fescists of the early 90s all still remember a hoodlum student named Hamed Bakayoko . This individual in a situation of school failure put his muscles at the service of Alassane Ouattara. He was the leader of the hoodlums paid by the prime minister to carry out subversive activities to the detriment of FESCI and its then leaders. Following the tragic death of Thierry Zébié, Hamed is converted into Publication Director of Le Patriote by Dramane Ouattara. Later when the audiovisual license was refused to Ben Soumahoro it fell to this incompetent straw man without experience. As long as this activism remained confined to the entourage of the RDR and Dramane, no one had to complain about it. But the man demonstrated the full extent of his incompetence, his ignorance and above all his lack of education when his mentor’s war allowed him to become Minister of NTICS for the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. He tells himself that he is then a past master in the art of blackmail and embezzlement of public funds at the Ministry of NTICS. As far as I am concerned, I can affirm that a few months after his appointment, the simple manager of a nightclub (La Java and La PIEDRA in their time) offered himself a luxurious apartment in Neuilly sur Seine with millions of Euros . He then immediately acquired the Alizée Night Club in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. 3 years ago a young Cameroonian living in France would have been asked by Mr. Bakayoko to find him two or three villas to buy in Saint-Tropez in the south of France. What was done and settled ruby on nail. Finally, therefore, to stick better to the very archetype of the upstart, the man then offered himself a Ferrari which he does not hesitate to make roar at start-up like suburban mobsters in front of the trade winds when his ministerial functions allowed him to be in Paris. This guy who without any respect for the function that was yours for 7 years danced on the armchairs of the trade winds in Paris like a vulgar badly brought up, it is he who today wants to give the moral lesson in the wake of his mentor Dramane Ouattara. If good souls read me that they tell him from me that when you have the pedigree which is yours, you do not open it in public but you follow the recommendations of wisdom which would like you to keep a low profile. This guy who without any respect for the function that was yours for 7 years danced on the armchairs of the trade winds in Paris like a vulgar badly brought up, it is he who today wants to give the moral lesson in the wake of his mentor Dramane Ouattara. If good souls read me that they tell him from me that when you have the pedigree which is yours, you do not open it in public but you follow the recommendations of wisdom which would like you to keep a low profile. This guy who without any respect for the function that was yours for 7 years danced on the armchairs of the trade winds in Paris like a vulgar badly brought up, it is he who today wants to give the moral lesson in the wake of his mentor Dramane Ouattara. If good souls read me that they tell him on my behalf that when you have the pedigree which is yours, you do not open it in public but you follow the recommendations of wisdom which would like you to keep a low profile.
Under the embezzlement of public funds, Ouattara must tell us if Marcel Amon Tanoh, the man he is said to have demanded 300,000 FCFA per signature and other bribes from the Ministry of Construction can be considered above the fray ?
Ultimately, Alassane Ouattara, who spent all his time only appointing or having appointed people who were incompetent or who had respect for public finances, another definition or even people from his supposed tribe (central directors of the administration, all Dioulas in Ministry of Technical Education, NTICS for example) when he was 1st Minister and still in all the ministries run by the rdr since 2003 would benefit from not taking the Ivorians for amnesiacs. We all know he is far from the incorruptible he wants to sell us today. He will therefore be punished by the Ivorians at the polls on Sunday, November 28, 2010.
