From Bedouin to President…a Reading of Kaka’s Biography (1)

By: Adil El-Baz

As I see

1

Since the departure of Dr. Abdullah Hamdna to a paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, God willing, my follow-up of Chadian affairs has weakened, as Dr. Abdullah, the man who was an encyclopedia of Chadian affairs in history and present, was the one from whom we derived our information about the details of Chadian life, which is full of conflicts and full of diverse life.  After the outbreak of the war, we saw how that sister and neighbor country with which we were bound by deep ties turned into an enemy that opened its lands to the conspirators against Sudan and used it as a launching pad for aggression against it.  That war returned our focus to Chad and what was happening there.

On Thursday, April 4, I was struck by an important event, which was the inauguration by the Chadian President of a book entitled (From Bedouin to President) in the French language. The book consists of 153 pages in which he talked about his biography, his upbringing, his professional career within the Chadian armed forces, his relations with his family, and the conflicts within the ruling family, including his father himself.  He also touched on the challenges of the transitional phase.

I obtained a translation of the book after effort, and within an hour I completed reading the summary of the book and found it enjoyable and useful. The book illuminated for me aspects of the events that Chad witnessed and aspects of Kaka’s strange personality, the background of his current support for the Janjaweed, and I contemplated the lies that the president mobilized towards Sudan to justify his employment with the Emirates.

I will begin my review of the book and comment on it with one of three stories told by Kaka in the book.

2

The first story is funny, narrated by President Kaka himself, and it explains how corrupt regimes deal with corruption. Its hero is President Kaka’s private secretary, Youssuf Boye, who held high-ranking positions in the state, including director of the Military Intelligence Service, the position of Consul General of Chad in Douala, the Cameroonian economic capital, and others. He was previously dismissed due to charges of drug smuggling, and despite that, his friend Kaka appointed him to the position of private secretary, so what did Boye do?

President Kaka himself narrates, saying, “There has been a lot of talk about the case of Idriss Youssuf Boye. He is a childhood friend who accompanies me everywhere, in difficult times and in moments of joy. That is why I appointed him as private secretary to the presidency as soon as I took office, because I knew that I could rely on him.

Unfortunately, Idriss made a mistake and embezzled billions of francs from SHT2. I learned the news during my visit to the north of the country, “Kori Bakoudi”.  It really shocked me.  After returning to N’Djamena, I called Idriss to my office and asked him:

“Did you embezzle state funds from SHT2?

After a long silence, he said yes.

He knew that I knew the matter, so he did not try to deny it. He quickly confessed and confirmed that the amount was about thirteen billion. He also revealed the name of his partner and his role in the operation.

This is not personal betrayal or ambition, but merely the temptation of greed.  Which means that Idriss is not trying to harm me.  He was caught red-handed and immediately confessed.  This action affects me greatly.  He was someone I relied on a lot and trusted.

Based on this statement, Mr. Boye admitted that he had embezzled the state’s funds, and because he was a friend of the president, and because he did not try to harm him through his theft, he pardoned him and appointed him to several positions, moving around, then he was promoted to the position of the most important man in the state, and now his private secretary. It is permissible in Kaka’s custom to harm the state, but not  President.!!.  Thus, President Kaka tolerated Youssuf Boye and kept him by his side, justifying that the motives for his corruption had nothing to do with his betrayal, while he did not tolerate the personal moral corruption of former Defense Minister Daoud Yahya Ibrahim, whose corruption he considered personal.

Stories of Kaka’s book to be continued.