2016 Tutu Fellow Succès Masra, who until recently was the Principal Economist for the African Development Bank, has resigned his position to launch a political movement called The Transformers, with the aim of rebuilding his home country, Chad.
The movement was launched on 29 April. He has called on Chadians, both insiders and outsiders, to join him to create a new republic that is united, demanding of its leadership, and just.
In media interviews, he has been critical of the country's new constitution, especially of the power of the presidency, currently occupied by Idriss Déby Itno. He said that instead of answering the real questions and finding answers to the crisis that Chad has been going through for more than 30 years, the president has set up a forum where only his faithful hold sway. Masra said this structure is a sham that removed certain symbols such as the Court of Accounts, the Constitutional Council, the High Court of Justice, and the Prime Minister, which were tools of national unity.
His movement, he hopes, will build a Chad in which citizens would feel they are co-owners of a national unity and a protective state towards the most disadvantaged. Each one, according to his capacities, must have the feeling of working for a project which concerns him. We must put an end to the idea that Chad is a spoils of war confiscated by a caste. For this, we need a demanding but just and united Republic.
Succès explains that by demanding, he means a republic based on performance contracts. Rather than taking an oath on the Bible or the Koran, let the agents of the state sign a secular commitment. If I am the Minister of Energy, I must make a commitment to increase the rate of access to electricity. If not, I have failed. We must introduce an obligation of results, with a dose of benevolence, which will lead people to improve. It's a question of credibility.
Chad has elections in November of this year. Succès says that what he is seeking is something that goes beyond elections. We want to be a force for proposals to build a better Chad and train people in a new mode of leadership to progressively win the public square. The idea is to train future decision-makers, to bring people who do not necessarily feel concerned by politics to address local leadership and begin to be active citizens. Some of us can then go to the Assembly to continue this work. This is what I call the school of transformation, which must work at all levels. This will not happen in a day but every person trained will be a time bomb for the current system.
An interview of Succès, originally in French, upon which much of this article is based, first appeared in JeuneAfricque
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