Dr Mohamed Kirat
By Dr Mohamed Kirat
After the black decade (1990-2000) and after the loss of 200,000 people and material losses estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars, many thought that Algeria will enter a new stage of democracy, transparency, good governance and learn from mistakes and errors and past abuses .
With Bouteflika as a president since 1999, many thought that Algeria will enter a new era of democracy and sustainable development, given the fact that the country enjoys large revenues from its oil and gas exports and has all the preconditions of a strong economy namely in the field of agriculture, tourism, industry as well as manpower and qualified human resources. Algeria experienced “Arab Spring” well before any other Arab country. Things however haven’t changed that much regarding power sharing with the opposition and solving socio- economic problems chiefly unemployment and housing. Even with a multi party system the political life in Algeria remained closed and in the hands of a nomenclature which rules the country in total harmony with the army. Algerian opposition proved to be weak, political parties lacked pragmatism and the ability to gain the support of the masses, and civil society couldn’t find a way to break the status quo and enter an era of real democracy. Single party system way of thinking and ruling still dominates Algerian political life after more than two decades of adopting a multi party system.
Unfortunately, Algeria didn’t take advantage of the “Arab Spring” which it experienced in the nineties. President Bouteflika who came to power in 1999 did his best since to remain in power for life. He amended the constitution in 2008 by scrapping Article 74, which limits the terms of presidency to two, thus opening the doors wide to presidency for life.
The reign of Bouteflika during the last 15 years was characterised by a score of financial scandals and cases of corruption and mismanagement. The most known to the Algerian public opinion are the largest oil company SONATRACH’s case of corruption, the East West Highway and Alkhalifa financial scandal which cost Algeria over $7bn. Thanks to large oil and gas revenues, Bouteflika was able to “buy social peace” by giving loans to young unemployed Algerians to start their own businesses. He also used the revenues to provide social housing to the needy masses. These measures, aesthetic as they are, however, are temporary solutions that calm the pain and don’t cure the disease, as the needs and demands of the masses are increasing daily.
President Bouteflika is taking the oath for another five years, meaning that he is going to rule Algeria for twenty years in total and maybe more, meaning that the country is not going to experience any advances in democracy and economic development. During the last 15 years of Bouteflika in power, Algeria didn’t take advantage of its civil war that lasted 10 years. The country still suffers from heavy bureaucratic practices, corruption, and mismanagement. One of the major challenges Algeria is going to face is the health of the president who cast his vote on April 17 on a wheel chair. Some wonder if President Bouteflika will be able to rule the country, if so why he didn’t run his own political campaign? Why he didn’t submit a medical report about his health to the Algerian people who still do not know the details of the sickness of their president.
About the transparency of the elections, many argue that state media and even private satellite channels and newspapers, public administration and the governors and heads of “dairas” and municipalities were mobilised to ensure the victory of President Bouteflika. In Algeria, people vote every now and then, in municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections, unfortunately these elections are without democracy, and the system is still the same since the independence of the country in 1962. Some aesthetic changes have been made from time to time but the status-quo prevails over the years.
Algerian masses are manipulated in a way to think that they are free to choose their representatives in the parliament and their president but at the end everything is well orchestrated and planned in advance. The masses are helpless and still do not understand how a country of the size and wealth of Algeria is still suffering from unemployment, housing problems, corruption, mismanagement, bureaucracy and countless socio-economic problems.
Elections are held repeatedly and continuously in Algeria and the results are the same, the results are known in advance and the majority of people are not interested in them anymore. More than half of the Algerians do vote according to official statistics. In reality, we are talking about 20pc who vote. With all these elections, things remain the same or move towards the worst. The recent presidential elections in Algeria were contrary to the standards of democracy, transparency and respect for the will of the people. In 2008, there was a violation of the will of the people, there was an attack on democracy when the regime amended the constitution and scrapped Article 74. This article banned presidency for life and limited it to two terms, meaning to a maximum of 10 years. Bouteflika and his entourage argue that the president needs more time to finish his programmes and achieve development and democracy for the country. Many observers wonder what Bouteflika did in 15 years during which he was in power, and why these 15 years were not enough to complete his programmes. Under President Bouteflika’s rule, and although the price of oil was high generating more than $200bn, young university educated Algerians think of immigrating, riding boats of death to reach the shores of southern Europe for a better life since they can’t find a job in their rich but poor country. These young doctors, engineers and university graduates have been helpless and hopeless in a country that has all the ingredients of success, but unfortunately lacks good governance, transparency, democracy and a president who wants to rule the country for life. Although Algeria was the harbinger of the Arab Spring, and despite the death of 200,000 people during its civil war, things are the same. President Bouteflika had the opportunity to follow into the steps of the charismatic South African president Nelson Mandela, and to show respect for sharing power and democracy and hand over the torch to another leader.
However, the veteran president seems to be one of those who believe in ruling for life.
Kirat is a professor of Public Relations and Mass Communication at the College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University.
By Dr Mohamed Kirat
After the black decade (1990-2000) and after the loss of 200,000 people and material losses estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars, many thought that Algeria will enter a new stage of democracy, transparency, good governance and learn from mistakes and errors and past abuses .
With Bouteflika as a president since 1999, many thought that Algeria will enter a new era of democracy and sustainable development, given the fact that the country enjoys large revenues from its oil and gas exports and has all the preconditions of a strong economy namely in the field of agriculture, tourism, industry as well as manpower and qualified human resources. Algeria experienced “Arab Spring” well before any other Arab country. Things however haven’t changed that much regarding power sharing with the opposition and solving socio- economic problems chiefly unemployment and housing. Even with a multi party system the political life in Algeria remained closed and in the hands of a nomenclature which rules the country in total harmony with the army. Algerian opposition proved to be weak, political parties lacked pragmatism and the ability to gain the support of the masses, and civil society couldn’t find a way to break the status quo and enter an era of real democracy. Single party system way of thinking and ruling still dominates Algerian political life after more than two decades of adopting a multi party system.
Unfortunately, Algeria didn’t take advantage of the “Arab Spring” which it experienced in the nineties. President Bouteflika who came to power in 1999 did his best since to remain in power for life. He amended the constitution in 2008 by scrapping Article 74, which limits the terms of presidency to two, thus opening the doors wide to presidency for life.
The reign of Bouteflika during the last 15 years was characterised by a score of financial scandals and cases of corruption and mismanagement. The most known to the Algerian public opinion are the largest oil company SONATRACH’s case of corruption, the East West Highway and Alkhalifa financial scandal which cost Algeria over $7bn. Thanks to large oil and gas revenues, Bouteflika was able to “buy social peace” by giving loans to young unemployed Algerians to start their own businesses. He also used the revenues to provide social housing to the needy masses. These measures, aesthetic as they are, however, are temporary solutions that calm the pain and don’t cure the disease, as the needs and demands of the masses are increasing daily.
President Bouteflika is taking the oath for another five years, meaning that he is going to rule Algeria for twenty years in total and maybe more, meaning that the country is not going to experience any advances in democracy and economic development. During the last 15 years of Bouteflika in power, Algeria didn’t take advantage of its civil war that lasted 10 years. The country still suffers from heavy bureaucratic practices, corruption, and mismanagement. One of the major challenges Algeria is going to face is the health of the president who cast his vote on April 17 on a wheel chair. Some wonder if President Bouteflika will be able to rule the country, if so why he didn’t run his own political campaign? Why he didn’t submit a medical report about his health to the Algerian people who still do not know the details of the sickness of their president.
About the transparency of the elections, many argue that state media and even private satellite channels and newspapers, public administration and the governors and heads of “dairas” and municipalities were mobilised to ensure the victory of President Bouteflika. In Algeria, people vote every now and then, in municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections, unfortunately these elections are without democracy, and the system is still the same since the independence of the country in 1962. Some aesthetic changes have been made from time to time but the status-quo prevails over the years.
Algerian masses are manipulated in a way to think that they are free to choose their representatives in the parliament and their president but at the end everything is well orchestrated and planned in advance. The masses are helpless and still do not understand how a country of the size and wealth of Algeria is still suffering from unemployment, housing problems, corruption, mismanagement, bureaucracy and countless socio-economic problems.
Elections are held repeatedly and continuously in Algeria and the results are the same, the results are known in advance and the majority of people are not interested in them anymore. More than half of the Algerians do vote according to official statistics. In reality, we are talking about 20pc who vote. With all these elections, things remain the same or move towards the worst. The recent presidential elections in Algeria were contrary to the standards of democracy, transparency and respect for the will of the people. In 2008, there was a violation of the will of the people, there was an attack on democracy when the regime amended the constitution and scrapped Article 74. This article banned presidency for life and limited it to two terms, meaning to a maximum of 10 years. Bouteflika and his entourage argue that the president needs more time to finish his programmes and achieve development and democracy for the country. Many observers wonder what Bouteflika did in 15 years during which he was in power, and why these 15 years were not enough to complete his programmes. Under President Bouteflika’s rule, and although the price of oil was high generating more than $200bn, young university educated Algerians think of immigrating, riding boats of death to reach the shores of southern Europe for a better life since they can’t find a job in their rich but poor country. These young doctors, engineers and university graduates have been helpless and hopeless in a country that has all the ingredients of success, but unfortunately lacks good governance, transparency, democracy and a president who wants to rule the country for life. Although Algeria was the harbinger of the Arab Spring, and despite the death of 200,000 people during its civil war, things are the same. President Bouteflika had the opportunity to follow into the steps of the charismatic South African president Nelson Mandela, and to show respect for sharing power and democracy and hand over the torch to another leader.
However, the veteran president seems to be one of those who believe in ruling for life.
Kirat is a professor of Public Relations and Mass Communication at the College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University.
