TITLE:
Political History of Equatorial Guinea: “The Rise and Entrenchment of Nguemism” (Geoffrey Wood, 2004: p. 548)
AUTHORS:
Martin Revayi Rupiya
KEYWORDS:
Equatorial Guinea, Fragile State, Incumbent, Political, Power Retention, Dominance
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Historical Studies,
Vol.9 No.3,
September
17,
2020
ABSTRACT: Since the 1960s watershed events of decolonization,
the African state has remained locked in monarchist’s chains, outwardly fragile
and denied the opportunity of transiting into mature, predictable, stable and
developing states. This has been the lived experience of Equatorial Guinea,
awarded independence from Spain through the technical intervention of the
United Nations in 1968, after the violent reign of two presidents over the
fifty years, the incumbent, President
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has anointed his son, “Teodorin” to become the future leader. Meanwhile, several
courts in the United States,
Switzerland, Spain and more recently, in February 2020, a French Court
found him guilty of squandering public monies through an extravagant lifestyle
and following the now established international norm, confiscated and auctioned
the assets luxury mansions, fast cars, yachts and airplanes in order to donate
the proceeds towards impoverished Equatoguineans. The challenge is therefore
that, for more than three generations, Equatorial Guinea leadership will remain
in the hands of the Nguemas notwithstanding the periodic and farcical
multiparty elections since 1991. Using secondary sources, country reports,
academic thesis and dissertation as well as newspaper reports, this article traces the accession to power and power
retention strategies and his intention of 2016 appointing his son as the
First Vice President and constitutional heir after his long reign of four
decades and its political implications? This research is about the nature of
political leadership and democratic succession in Africa. In the case of
Equatorial Guinea, this reveals a case of arrested
political transition under the tutelage of family rule that appears to
have marginalised constitutional institutions while creating a parallel power
consolidation leadership typology and culture.