Failure of Democracy in Africa: The Case of Equatorial Guinea

By Allison Johnson

How Dictatorship has wreaked havoc, poverty and deprivation for the people of Equatorial Guinea

Introduction

Throughout my 25 years in and out of Africa, working in international development, democratization, economic, social and political development, I have come across, time and time again, the deplorable results of bad governance, inexistent rule of law and rampant corruption across the continent. Yet, the case of Equatorial Guinea is particularly acute.

Since it only gained political independence from Spain on October 12, 1968, it is a relatively young nation, yet in its short history the country has been riddled by brutal dictatorship and extreme deprivation and poverty.  In 1968, the then political leadership chose Francisco Nguema as President, who subsequently declared himself President for Life in 1972; and who was betrayed by his nephew - Lieutenant Colonel Teodoro Obiang - a low ranking military official, who graduated last in his class at the military academy in Zaragoza, Spain, prior to his return to what was then known as Spanish Guinea. On August 3, 1979 there was a coup d’etat in which Obiang became the ruler, making him now the longest dictator oppressively serving, in Africa.

Misused Oil Revenues

After the discovery and extraction of oil in 1995, by a small Texas oil company called Walter International, which would be later be acquired by ExxonMobil, the dictatorship became even more entrenched in its brutal, despotic governance, as the Obiang regime began to use new found oil wealth to enrich the inner circle and leave the people in dire poverty. The legacy of both the uncle Nguema and the nephew Obiang has taken African kleptocracy to its greatest lows.

Lack of Transparency

According to Transparency International, the country is ranked as number 172 out 183 countries in terms of being one of the most corrupt in the world. There is no transparency in this government, nor accountability as to how the profits in oil revenues are being used and distributed. In point of fact, President Obiang has declared that the petro revenues are a state secret, thereby precluding the public from knowing the exact amounts filling state coffers. Meanwhile, the people of Equatorial Guinea live in extreme poverty, with no electricity, no running water and inadequate nutrition in a country that, in 2013, had one of the highest per capita incomes in the African continent. Moreover, there's a clear misappropriation of the people’s money, particularly in a country which makes an estimated $3.3 billion dollars a month from oil revenues. With a small population of just over 700,000 and a size equivalent to the state of Maryland in the USA, it is discouraging to see how this dictatorship has used these funds to enrich itself and squander the wealth on its own vices and whims.

The French Government, in cooperation with the USA in 2012, seized over $4.9 million dollars of luxury goods from the President's son, Teodorín, which is only a small fraction of the close to $4 billion under his suspected control, all of which is believed to have been secretly stolen and stashed in banks all over the world by the Obiang family and regime.

Human Rights Violations

The abuses of the dictatorship have been well documented by the Human Rights Watch, during Equatorial Guinea’s false and rigged elections. Amnesty International has documented extrajudicial killings, torture and clandestine operations to quash the opposition. Even the US government has voiced its opposition to the Obiang regimes’ human rights abuses, killings of opposition leaders and unlawful detentions of nationals and foreign nationals.
So, at this point, one might ask what is the international community doing to aid a population in such dire straits. It must be taxing on the USA, after so many challenges across the Middle East and Central Asia, to then turn to Africa and take on the dictatorships that rape, pillage and pawn their countries for fodder. An estimated 15 percent of USA oil imports originates from Africa - after Nigeria and Angola, the third most important country is Equatorial Guinea.
Now that globalization has pushed the oil market to a level of importance for countries like China and India, there is little political pressure from the international community to end this reign of terror; but something must be done, in order to usher change on the African Continent; and Equatorial Guinea is a perfect place to start, with a manageable geography, coupled with its strategic location in the Gulf of Guinea, it is a prominent trading zone in Central West Africa.

Opposition Movement: Light at the End of the Tunnel

When I first began my career working in Africa, I served briefly for an advisory firm that represented the interest of dictators in Gabon, Cameroon and Nigeria, and after a short stint of pure frustration about how global politics really works, I vowed that the future of Africa was not in dictatorship. I proclaimed that I would no longer serve the interests of despots, while the people of Africa were suffering. But that was 22 years ago when I left that firm and unfortunately not much has changed when it comes to the crisis of democracy in Central and West Africa.

But there can be a beacon of light in the small central west African nation of Equatorial Guinea. There is an opposition movement swelling across the world of citizens of Equatorial Guinea that long for true freedom, independence and democracy in their country. They are organizing themselves to raise a united flag for democratization and a clarion call to put an end to this dictatorship. It is my hope that they can spread the call for true democracy and pressure the international community to demand the ouster of the Obiang Regime. It is time for a new Equatorial Guinea. It is time for a new democracy in Africa.

A New Presidential Candidate

Since 1991, there is a champion for human rights, democracy and dignity for the people of Equatorial Guinea and that is Gustavo Envela Jr. who has been fighting tirelessly to usher in regime change in his country. He calls on the USA and the global community to end the rampant rage and unaccountable scourge of dictatorship in his country, and bring an end to the dictatorial pandemic across the continent of Africa, which has infected the continent since colonialism.

We are now jointly appealing, both here in the North America as well as in Europe and Africa, to the entire opposition landscape across the world, to join forces and resources in creating an environment in which democratic space will be achieved; where the tenant of good governance, rule of law, respect for human rights and human dignity and instruct that free, fair, open and transparent elections be mandated as the standard for the will of the people to be expressed in Equatorial Guinea and throughout the African continent.

The future of Africa is in our hands and so we hope to initiate an African Renaissance. The future of Equatorial Guinea will be determined by the actions or inactions that we take this year to organize the opposition movement in a massive coalition to push for elections and finally transition this ruthless, vindictive and corrupt regime out of power. The will of the people must triumph. Those who have died for true freedom and democracy, in Equatorial Guinea, must not have died in vain.


Allison Johnson is a Senior Vice-President of Business Development at Global Business Solutions Inc. 

[The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dissecting Society]