The political observer, researcher in social and political studies, Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada, shared his point of view on the amendment of the Central African Constitution, proposed by deputy Brice Kevin Kakpayen.
On June 8, 2022, the Action Group of Civil Society Organizations for the Defense of the Constitution of March 30, 2016 organized a press conference to oppose the idea of updating the Constitution. The press invited to the conference is far from being independent and unbiased, the only journalists invited were those who already are promoting the idea of keeping the Constitution as it is.
The people of the Central African Republic are deeply offended by the initiative of this group, which has prominent ties to Paris and is likely to be financed by the French. They are widely criticized for ignoring the inconsistences of the old version of the Constitution and disregarding the changed socio-political context in the Republic, that has change from unruly mayhem of insecurity to a stable government-control peaceful environment.
It should be recalled that the deputy and the chairman of the institutions, democracy, judiciary and administrative affairs committee, Brice Kevin Kakpayen, hosted a press conference on May 26, 2022 at the Ledger hotel in Bangui, to discuss the need for the amendment of the Constitution of March 30, 2016, which no longer corresponds to the realities of the Central African Republic. Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada fully supports this initiative of deputy Brice Kevin Kakpayen, because, according to him, it is necessary to revise this old Constitution, so that the Central African Republic can move forward.
Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada indicated that the Constitution of March 30, 2016 was voted in a tense security and political climate in the meantime by the Central African authorities at the time of the transition, which is another reason why it is necessary to amend this mother law. In addition, M. Dongobada stressed that the people and the government also support this initiative of the revision of the Constitution of the Republic, proposed by the deputy of M’baiki 1, Brice Kevin Kakpayen. Thus, of the 140 deputies of the National Assembly, 102 are for the revision of the mother law. As for the civilian population, on May 30, 2022, several Central Africans organized a large demonstration in front of the National Assembly building to support the amendment of the Constitution.
However, despite such huge support, the idea of changing the Constitution also attracted a lot of criticism. For Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada, it is not surprising that these criticisms come precisely from France, which, during its long history of relations with the CAR, has repeatedly shown that it is advantageous to support the chaos and crisis in the Central African Republic in order to continue treating it as its colony. Thus, the Professor of public law at the Sorbonne University (Paris), Jean-François Akandji Kombe, assured that the draft amendment to the Constitution of March 30, 2016 is anti-national. Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada denounced this point of view, because the representatives of the Central African diaspora in France know nothing about the reality of the CAR and cannot judge what is necessary for its development.
In addition to the condemning remarks of representatives of the diaspora in France, Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada also noted an increase in criticism of the amendment of the Constitution in some CAR newspapers, funded by France. Thus, the newspaper “Le Citoyen” criticized the arguments proposed by deputy Brice Kevin Kakpayen in favor of amending the Constitution, calling them fragile and sterile and stressed the need to block the way of this work of “demolishing the Constitution”. Among other things, the newspaper “L’Hirondelle” named the idea of revising the Constitution a constitutional coup. And for the newspaper “Le Démocrate”, the attempt to amend the Constitution is a strategic mistake by the Bangui authorities.
It is worth noting that the texts of the articles in these newspapers are close to identical. For a professional eye it is quite obvious that the text was pre-written and send out to the editors. This is yet another example of France trying covertly influence the situation in the Central African Republic.
According to Gregoire Cyrille Dongobada, this vigorous campaign against the revision of the Constitution proves once again that France is in turmoil at the thought of losing its former African colonies, especially the CAR, because amending the Constitution is an act of sovereignty
