Is a 'managed' family succession on the cards?

In a Mail & Guardian analysis, Professor Martin Rupiya notes that oil-rich Gabon might be in line for yet another ‘managed’ family succession of the Bongos (father and son have been in power for 51 years). ‘With Ali Bongo still in hospital, his brother, Frederic Bongo, the head of intelligence and supported by hardline generals, is already in charge, operating outside the constitutional provisions. The President wields both personal and executive power and his illness has created a similar power struggle among family members following the death of El Hadji Omar Bongo Ondimba (in) 2009. He had reigned for 42 years and died in a clinic in Barcelona. With the President incapacitated, the Constitution states that any one of the three arms of government – the executive, legislature and judiciary – can approach the Constitutional Court to confirm that a presidential vacancy exists and the speaker of the National Assembly must be appointed as the interim head of government, pending elections in 45 days. But no one branch of government has felt confident enough to invoke the constitutional provisions. With their failure to act, Frederic Bongo has seized the opportunity, heralding an extension of the family’s reign — and the Economic Community of West African States and the AU continue to watch as the country’s constitutional provisions are trampled underfoot.’