They are societies where one first respects the rule, then the one who incarnates. There are others where man is first respected, then only the rules he agrees to let exist. In much of contemporary Africa, the relationship to power is still trapped in this second logic. The head precedes the institution. The person absorbs the function. Authority is confused with rank.

The cult of the leader is not merely a political anomaly. This is not only the problem of a few presidents who cling to power or some charismatic leaders surrounded by courtesans. It's a social matrix. It crosses the family, administration, enterprise, religion, political parties and ordinary relationships between individuals.

Power Before the Rule

The contemporary African leader is therefore not only the president installed at the top of the state. He is also the head of the family, the boss, the superior, the mayor, the notable, the religious guide, the director of administration, the party leader, the rich of the neighborhood, the untouchable elder, the indisputable teacher, the official who keeps a file. The cult of the leader is not only vertical; He's fractal. It reproduces at all levels of society.

Confusion between respect and submission

Every society needs authority. Every organization needs a hierarchy. The problem is therefore not the existence of leaders. The problem begins when respect due to a function turns into submission due to a person.

Family as the first vertical school

The cult of the chief does not always start in presidential palaces. He often starts in the family. The child learns very early that certain words are not disputed, that some elders do not question, that some decisions are not explained. The traditional African family has certainly produced powerful solidarity. She protected, transmitted, framed, supported. It has often replaced an absent social state.

But it has also sometimes established a culture of verticality where age, sex, rank, money and proximity to symbolic power determine the right to speech. The contradiction is easily equated with disrespect. The young person who questions is seen as insolent. The woman who contests is perceived as rebel. The cadet asking for accounts is suspected of ingratitude.

This family pattern does not mechanically produce political authoritarianism. But it makes certain forms of authority more acceptable: A society accustomed to confusing seniority with truth, wealth and wisdom, power and virtue, protection and domination, can more easily accept that the political leader behaves like a father.

The political party as a man's property

It is in politics that the cult of the leader reveals itself most clearly. In many African countries, political parties are not primarily places of ideological elaboration. They are often machines built around a man, a name, a journey, an aura, a network, a clientele.

We don't always adhere to a doctrine. We're following a person. A programme is not always debated. We're defending a leader. The party becomes a house, sometimes a yard, often an addiction. The founder is the moral owner.

Providential man: symptom of institutional weakness

The cult of the leader is nourished by a very ancient expectation: that of the providential man. When institutions disappoint, when administrations humiliate, when democratic promises remain abstract, the collective imagination seeks a figure of reparation. He wants a strong man, a righteous man, an incorruptible man, a broken man.

This expectation is understandable. It expresses fatigue. But it contains a trap. It asks a person what only institutions can produce in a sustainable way.

The leader as father: the great political infantilization

African political vocabulary is often saturated with family figures. The president is called the father of the nation. The leader is presented as a guide. The party becomes family. Citizens are encouraged to trust, wait, respect, understand and not disturb unity.

This vocabulary is not innocent. In a mature democracy, the citizen is not the child of power; He is the principal. He should not be grateful to the one he elects; He's asking for his accounts. He does not receive a favor; He exercises a right. He does not lack respect when he criticizes; He performs a civic function.

Administration as a daily place of personal power

The cult of the leader is confirmed every day in the administrations. A citizen who wants paper, authorization, payment or file processing often discovers that the procedure is not enough. We need to know someone. We need to find a contact. We have to go through an intermediary.

This phrase so common — « you need to know someone » — In itself, the bankruptcy of the impersonal state is summarized. In a rule of law, the citizen does not need a protector to get what he or she has. In a personalized state, the law is weak and the relationship becomes decisive. The official ceases to be the agent of a rule; he becomes the guardian of a passage.

Fear of Succession

One of the most visible manifestations of the cult of the leader is the difficulty in organizing the succession. In an institutional organization, the departure of the leader is a normal time. In a personalized organization, the leader's departure looks like an existential crisis.

The chief made himself indispensable. His relatives built their careers around him. Activists have learned to defend his name more than political orientation. No one's better off asking the question of the next too soon. Succession thus becomes unthinkable until it becomes brutal.

The cult of the leader always produces a crisis of succession, because he never prepares the institution to live without the one who incarnates.

Africa facing its institutional challenge

It would be unfair to portray the cult of the leader as an African essence. All societies have experienced forms of power customization. Western democracies themselves are not immune. But in several African societies, the phenomenon is aggravated by the historical fragility of institutions, economic scarcity, colonial inheritances, family hierarchies and political socialization.