Whether we like him or not, at least the late Chadian President, Idriss Déby Itno was one of the very first African leaders to decry the Monetary Cooperation Agreements of French-speaking countries with France and he has always been consistent in his fight and his argument on this subject. Thus, during an interview granted to several French media, in this case RFI, TV5 and Le Monde, he had stated in particular: "This pre-square story... You have recently listened to President Alpha Condé of Guinea-Conakry . He says cut that cord. I am of the opinion that this cord must be cut (…) This currency must become the currency of these countries, but that the Treasury does not manage us, that the French Treasury does not manage our currency, that we as sovereign countries manage our currency by ourselves, by our own central bank (…) There are three French people who sit with us and who have the right to everything. Where is the monetary sovereignty in that. How do you want French-speaking Africa to build itself in this situation? ”
He added: “Our friends, our English-speaking, Portuguese-speaking and Arabic-speaking fellow heads of state tell us that if we are experiencing misfortunes today, it is because of you French-speaking people: with your Francophonie, your thing… They tell us…”
Long before President Patrice Talon, for unacknowledged and eminently political reasons, sounded the trumpet at a certain time. Clearly, the interview during which President Idriss Déby Itno had banged his fist on the table about the CFA Franc dates from 2017. It is well before the media release of Patrice Talon which took place only on Thursday, November 07 2019. Which only proceeded from a political communication operation on his part. After his revision of the Constitution of December 11, 1990 with forceps, he was indirectly looking for a way to restore, in the eyes of Africans, his now tarnished image of a President whose socio-political reforms finally excluded the opposition from the political game and instituted a dictatorship in a country which is nevertheless the first in French-speaking Africa to turn its back on the single Party and to proclaim integral multipartyism. By adopting, at the same time, the Constitution of December 11, 1990.
However, under the title Reform of the CFA Franc: Talon has sounded the tocsin! After Patrice Talon, Idriss Deby reacts: "The injustice has lasted too long, the "Klébés" (thurifers) of the President of Benin Republic wanted to make Africans believe that it was he who started the rebellion against the CFA franc when he is absolutely nothing. Long before him, other African heads of state have already denounced these agreements with France around the CFA Franc.
In truth, the CFA Franc has become an argument of authority for populists and other sociopolitical actors in search of popularity. Because if Africans are not happy, nobody prevents them from organizing themselves in Africa instead of continuing to depend on France for their currency and many other things. But many prefer to attack France simply because doing so makes it easier to smoke the world out to look better instead of taking responsibility.
As President Idriss Déby Itno wondered: “Now, are African countries ready to move towards integration so that we can leave future generations a united continent without borders? (...) We must move quickly towards a global integration of the African continent”. And to insist: “The small currencies of each country, CFA Franc on one side (…) there is no hope. If we want to give hope to the African continent, to Africans, let's take charge, take our responsibilities, let's assume ourselves”.
Why talk long and too complicated when you can make it shorter and simpler? Dismantling or abandoning the CFA Franc in use mainly in the former colonies of France should no longer be taboo. Including for the people. But instead of the intellectual and political elites of the countries concerned spending most of their time elaborating on the subject, they must go straight to the point and to the end of their logic. By signing the definitive death warrant of the CFA Franc, if things are as simple as that instead of continuing to lie to the African populations, most of whom do not understand much about the advantages of such an operation. Indeed, for many, it is a strategy that consists in masking their inability to face the political regimes in place or to use an electoral theme by claiming to defend a certain sovereignty of Africa by abandoning and decoupling of the CFA Franc from the Euro.
It is too easy to pose as an ardent defender of the death of the CFA Franc and its undocking of the Euro when it is these same elites - intellectual, political and economic - who will come out of it the best, with least collateral damage, ultimately. And that, unfortunately, it is the people who are already having a lot of trouble living in the current state of the economies of their respective countries who will suffer the most, paying a high price. Because the abandonment just like the maintenance of the CFA has advantages and disadvantages and it must be said too. Not that it is necessary to preserve and perpetuate the CFA Franc, but on the other hand that we should in no way delude ourselves as to the consequences of a sudden disengagement on national economies. What the ardent defenders of the brutal exit of the CFA Franc forget to tell the African populations is that this operation has an enormous economic cost which must first be prepared and then faced. The only most immediate advantage for all, all social categories combined, being only the accession to monetary sovereignty by all the countries of the CFA zone. And after?... If we all agree, for reasons of sovereignty and tutti quanti..., that we must abandon the CFA Franc and as soon as possible, it is this after that it is appropriate first of all to worry about. Instead, clever minds and many clever manipulators do not hesitate to go and vociferate from all the rooftops all the evil that we think of the CFA Franc. Without brandishing the panacea to the consequences of this operation. "The elegance of a silence is worth more than the impotence of all the words", said very nicely John Joos. Otherwise, what are we waiting for to abandon the CFA Franc? Now that French-speaking African countries such as the Central African Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso have distanced themselves from France for sovereignty reasons, this is a perfect opportunity to show the way to follow… After all, the English-speaking countries of Africa almost all have their own currency. And they didn't die. Why not the French-speaking countries of Africa? Guinea, Madagascar and Mauritania are eloquent examples.
Some would object in this regard that instead of evolving separately, it is rather a matter of seeking ways and means to establish the architecture of a single currency within the Community of East African States. West (ECOWAS), namely the ECO, replacing the CFA Franc. But never mind, if it's as simple as that, each country could first mint its own currency while waiting for the advent of the ECO, the implementation of which - as we know - has not continues to move away each time we approach the deadline set by the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS member countries. In short, a currency eternally sent back to the African calendars.
We may not appreciate President Emmanuel Macron on certain levels, but one of the rare times when his intervention was most appropriate with regard to Africa was precisely when he told the heads of African states: “If one doesn't feel happy in the franc zone, we leave it and create our own currency, as Mauritania and Madagascar did”. Everything is said in a few words. The rest is only populist manipulation and other comic shows that bring absolutely nothing more to Africans.
By Marcus Boni Teiga
