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AFPCameroon’s President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982.
Rumors of the unwellness of two African presidents have circulated in recent weeks, sparking contrasting reactions and exposing how the health of leaders is often treated as a state secret.
The incident began when Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 91, denied that his ministers were sick and insisted he was in “excellent health”. However, Cameroonian media have since been banned from reporting on his condition.
Malawi’s state parliament then rejected rumors that President Lazarus Chakwera was unwell by posting a video of the president jogging and doing push-ups in the capital, Lilongwe.
Miles Tendi, an associate professor at Oxford University who specializes in African politics, says of the arrogance and secrecy surrounding African leaders and their health: “To get ahead in politics, you have to reflect a certain type of person.” You can’t show weakness or vulnerability.”
Although Chakwera and Biya used very different approaches to dealing with rumors about their illness, they had similar intentions to project and protect an image of strength and masculinity.
But perhaps most importantly, it keeps rivals and opportunists at bay.
Professor Tendi says the game of politics is a “performance of masculinity” necessary to maintain power.
He added that the masculine nature of politics makes it very difficult for women to succeed. Currently, Africa’s only female head of state is Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, who assumed power as deputy leader after the death of her male boss.
Political leaders in Africa and beyond are expected to be symbols of strength and resilience.
So, as we saw in this year’s US elections, especially as leaders get older, their health becomes a very sensitive issue of great national importance.
Professor Adekeye Adebajo of the University of Johannesburg said the continent’s leaders “give the impression that the health of their countries is tied to the health of individuals” and their concerns are often treated as state secrets.
Zimbabwean security experts told the BBC that extra precautions were taken because anything that happened to them could affect the economy, markets and change the political landscape. .
Countries with weak political systems often lack well-established political succession procedures, raising concerns that leadership vacuums could lead to power struggles.
More than 20 years ago, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assassinated by one of his bodyguards.
Authorities refused to admit he had been killed and maintained the pretext that he had been sent to Zimbabwe for treatment while they considered what to do next.
In fact, it was his corpse that was blown across the continent in an elaborate production.
His inexperienced son, Joseph, was eventually chosen as the country’s next leader.
In Malawi, the government delayed announcing the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika in 2012, sparking speculation that there was a move to prevent Vice President Joyce Banda from succeeding him.
However, in neighboring Zambia, where two presidents have died in office, and in Ghana, where then-president John Atta Mills died in 2012, the process to create a constitution went smoothly.
For years, various African leaders have responded to questions about declining health with silence or anger.
In 2010, former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe denounced years of speculation as “blatant lies perpetrated by a media manipulated by the West”.
Three years ago, the announcement that Tanzanian President John Magufuli had died came after weeks of denying that he was ill. Those who spread false information about his health were also arrested, but in the end they were proven correct.
Lazarus Chakwera/Facebook
Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera, 69, has released a photo of himself doing push-ups to reassure his people that he is not sick.
One of the most extreme cases in which a government concealed the health status of a leader was in Nigeria, where President Umaru Yardua was not seen in public for five months.
His office stated in January 2010 that he was receiving treatment and was “doing better,” but there were numerous reports that he was “brain dead.”
Yardua never appeared in public again, and his death was announced in May of that year.
“Some of them just want to hang on to power,” Professor Tendi said to the end.
Similarly, outside Africa, many leaders do not believe that their citizens have a right to know about their health, and health conditions are kept top secret.
However, there were exceptions.
After taking seven weeks of official sick leave in 2017, Nigeria’s President Buhari said he had never been “so unwell” in his life, although he did not specify what had gone wrong. He announced this to the nation.
Cameroon’s former president Ahmadou Ahidjo is believed to be the only African leader to resign in 1982, citing ill health, after ruling for 22 years.
This kind of transparency and relinquishment of power is rare. More than 20 African leaders have died in office, some without even telling their country that they were unwell.
This example has not been adopted by Ahidjo’s successor, Paul Biya.
Leaders may fear that disclosing health issues could embolden rivals or even foreign powers seeking to influence or destabilize the country. .
Some presidents have been ousted from office after news of their poor health became public.
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Former President of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Mobutu Sese Seko steps down after being hospitalized
In 1996, it became public knowledge that Mobutu Sese Seko, the kleptocratic leader of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
This undoubtedly made it much easier for Laurent Kabila to lead Rwandan-backed rebels across the vast country.
Mobutu was too ill to coordinate a resistance, allowing Kabila to seize power and fleeing to Morocco.
“If you are seen as weak, that is a signal to your internal rivals,” Professor Tendi says.
But Abeku Adams, a 41-year-old Nigerian farmer and teacher who has seen two presidents die in office, said secrecy could also be “cultural.”
“In many African cultures, secrecy about one’s health is considered part of the healing process. This may be the root cause of why they hide or lie about their health status. “There is,” he says.
It has been argued that while civilians have the right to keep their medical records private, political leaders do not have that luxury because their health conditions can affect the entire country.
As more African countries establish stronger succession procedures, Africa’s increasingly younger population demands greater transparency regarding the health of its leaders.
“The government has an obligation to the public to share that information,” Adams said.
He argues that since the people pay taxes, they need to know about the health status of their leaders.
Perhaps it is Malawi’s fiercely competitive political system, with elections due next year, that has pushed Chakwera into the public exercise – he is more physically fit than his arch-rival, Peter Mutharika, who is 15 years his senior. This is to show that.
Mr. Biya, by contrast, faces little electoral threat. He has already won five races, despite opposition claims of wrongdoing.
In a true democracy, the health status of leaders should be transparent, one political analyst told the BBC.
However, due to the nature of politics in much of Africa, where ruling parties are often accused of electoral fraud, military coups are a constant threat, and even elected presidents can be hereditary, transparency is often I don’t think the leaders are ready to hire right away.
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