Published on : 10/08/2022 – 12:00
The Minister of Reconciliation, Kouadio Konan Bertin, gave a long television interview on Tuesday evening, a few days following the national holiday and the announcement of the presidential pardon granted to Laurent Gbagbo by President Ouattara.
He wanted to take stock of his first 20 months at the head of the Ministry of Reconciliation and National Cohesion, says our correspondent in Abidjan, Youenn Gourlay. But Minister Kouadio Konan Bertin was especially expected on one subject: the presidential pardon granted to Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday. A gesture that was not to the liking of the former president, absent Sunday in Yamoussoukro during Independence Day.
And for good reason, his party, the African Peoples’ Party-Côte d’Ivoire (PPA-CI) explained on Tuesday that Laurent Gbagbo had asked not for a pardon, but for an amnesty during the political dialogue. Kouadio Konan Bertin pointed to the wait-and-see attitude of the opposition. ” Amnesty comes under the law, the law is taken in the Assembly, in parliament. If indeed our brothers of PPA-CI want an amnesty, even though they have deputies and a parliamentary group, why did they not take this path themselves? »
The difference is significant for Laurent Gbagbo, since pardon, unlike amnesty, does not remove the conviction from the criminal record. Conviction that the PPA-CI strongly contests, since it was pronounced in the absence of the former head of state. It would also prevent him from standing for re-election in 2025.
But on the subject, the minister brushes aside the criticism. ” How do you expect that in 2022, what concerns us is the candidacy of an individual? We want to build peace, create the conditions for peaceful elections in 2025. The priority is not to identify candidates now. The episode seems to put a stop to political dialogue. But the minister felt that Laurent Gbagbo had to accept this first step in the reconciliation process.
A question of honor, for Justin Katinan Koné
It is too early to discuss the political aspect of this announcement by President Ouattara, also judges the vice-president and spokesman of the PPA-CI, Justin Katinan Koné. Obtaining amnesty for Laurent Gbagbo aims above all, according to him, to clear the honor of the former Ivorian head of state.
« Grace does not erase the facts, he explains at the microphone of Claire Fage. That is to say that President Laurent Gbagbo is considered a criminal. Whether he was deprived of his civic rights, I don’t know. That’s why I don’t get into that debate. It will certainly take place, but for the moment, what interests us is a man, a father, even a former president, someone who has built his whole life around certain values, to whom we attribute responsibility for things that never happened. For the moment, we stop at that. If indeed those who offered the grace, their intention is other than what I have just said, then we will advise. But for us, we say that the objective is amnesty which completely removes this infamous writing in the criminal record of President Laurent Gbagbo and in his life, this black stain that we artificially want to put on his life. »
