San Francisco- Bouteflika’s reign over Algeria is undoubtedly coming to an end. But instead of leaving on his own term and do the honorable thing, to simply call for an early free and fair presidential election, he chose to defy nature and stay in office for life.
San Francisco- Bouteflika’s reign over Algeria is undoubtedly coming to an end. But instead of leaving on his own term and do the honorable thing, to simply call for an early free and fair presidential election, he chose to defy nature and stay in office for life.
At 77 years old, ill, frail, and absent minded, the right thing for him to do is to think about those Algerians who put their trust on him to lead them to a better Algeria, and he probably did. Many Algerians credit him for helping end a devastating civil war by offering amnesty to rebels who laid down their arms, and secured public endorsement for “national reconciliation”.
Instead of stepping down, he’s clinging to power, dismissing the opposition call on him to resign. His backers in Algeria contend that his state of mind is top notch, and that he is capable to manage the day-to-day affairs of Algeria. They claim that his problems are more physical than anything else.
Many Algerians appreciate what they considered an ‘outstanding achievement’ on the part of their president in the last fifteen years. The president of the Algerian People’s Movement and Trade Minister Amara Benyounès went as far as crediting the success of the political process in Tunisia to Bouteflika.
Those same Algerians are now asking Bouteflika to step down in dignity. They no longer consider the paternalist system of governance in their country a way to move forward.
The majority of Algerians love their president and do not want him to end up like Mubarak of Egypt or Zine Al Abidine of Tunisia. They wish to remember him as someone who brought Algerian from some very tough times. Unfortunately he is not helping them to fulfill their wish. Before his illness, you could see that he was very much involved in leading Algerians; he would make very long speeches and travel to far places to represent Algeria. Now many in Algeria feel sorrow for this man who once was on top of Algerian politics.
Algerians are witnessing the end of their leader before their eyes and there isn’t much they can do to help him end his saga with pride. They deplore the fact that he is being taken advantage of by a very secretive military regime working behind the scene.
The people of Algeria’s hope is for their president to relinquish power to someone democratically elected, who will bring inert Algeria into the 21 century, someone in touch with reality and understands that it is impossible to sustain reliance on oil, and who has the courage to make peace with its neighbor and work to achieve a Maghreb union.
Algeria’s military 2014 military budget is a staggering $10.57 billion, and when French Car Manufacturer Renault invests $50 million, Bouteflika’s backers told the Algerian people that their president’s prestige in the world stage brings investors to Algeria, and that such investment are only the beginning of many good things to come.
Algerians are obviously not buying this gross distortion of facts. They know that the military regime has failed them and the only way out is for this military regime to leave and for Bouteflika to step down in dignity.
Unfortunately for them, all signs indicate that they will have to wait for a long time to see change in their leadership. The regime is working very hard to cement his grip on power and Bouteflika is too selfish to honor those who supported him. He’s staying put and will most likely die in office.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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