By Tim Tanton*
July 22, 2009 | ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire (UMNS)

Robert Beugré Mambé is relying on prayer as he plans his country’s first presidential election since 2000.

“I am only a man,” says the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission.

He is a man with a task both delicate and monumental. As his country makes it way into an uncertain future following a period of civil war, he must balance competing political pressures and organize an election that must be seen as fair and democratic.

God’s help is essential, he says.

A United Methodist, he believes spirituality is necessary for solving the country’s crisis. All the religious bodies – Methodist, Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox – have a role to educate the people in order to have a balanced society, he says.

The West African country has struggled through violence and volatility for much of the new century. A rebellion by disgruntled soldiers, heightened by the addition of other rebel groups, led to five years of fighting before agreements signed in 2007 brought a measure of peace. The country’s northern region remains in the hands of the Forces Nouvelles – the New Forces rebels.

And to a significant degree, the country’s political future is in the hands of Mambé.

“God leads me to this place because I never expected to be where I am today,” says Mambé, flanked by staff in a stately government meeting room in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Cote d’Ivoire.

“And for me, it is like a ministry, a divine ministry, where I have to work for the truth to prevail.”

A ‘very difficult’ task

Planning an election in a country still recovering from war is complicated, in part because the people have had no identification papers. Mambé and his staff have been developing an electoral list, working to identify people who can vote in the next election, and getting voters registered.

In recent months, the Ivoirian press has reported accusations of fraud in the identification and registration process. Militants with the ruling Front Populaire Ivoirien – or Ivoirian Popular Front – have reportedly attacked some registration sites, alleging that foreigners are passing themselves as Ivoirians.

The elections are expected to be held Nov. 29, but the date has shifted in the past year. In trying to reach that elusive date, Mambé is navigating through a political landscape weakened by upheavals that predate the civil war.

“For me, it is like a ministry, a divine ministry, where I have to work for the truth to prevail.”–Robert Beugré Mambé

When longtime president Félix Houphouët-Boigny died in 1993, a struggle ensued among top-ranking officials in the government. Henri Konan Bédié emerged as president, but he came under attack for alleged corruption, and he alienated some with his “Ivoirité” principle, favoring people of pure Ivorian heritage for leadership of the country.

Bédié was overthrown in a 1999 coup by dissident soldiers demanding back pay and better living conditions. His successor, Gen. Robert Guei, held power for only 10 months before being driven from office by the public outcry over his handling of the 2000 presidential election, which he was accused of rigging. Laurent Gbagbo, who had won a larger percentage of the vote than Guei, became president, a post he holds today.

Today, Gbagbo and Bédié are among the contenders for the presidency. Former prime minister Alassane Ouattara is also a major candidate who, like the other two men, bears the marks of high-level political battles.

Ouattara was on the losing end of a struggle with Bédié for power following Houphouët-Boigny’s death, and was barred from running in subsequent presidential elections because he was not of pure Ivorian parentage – a requirement that was added to the electoral code in the 1990s and viewed by some as a way of specifically preventing an Ouattara candidacy. However, in 2007, Gbagbo said Ouattara could run for election.

Mambé is trying to organize the elections without favoring any side, “in order for the hand of God to complete its work,” he says. He is a member of the Parti Démocratique de Côte d’Ivoire, or Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire, an opposition party.

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Before taking on his current role in 2005, Mambé worked for more than 30 years in civil engineering. While he has had public service roles in the past, none has been as prominent or consequential as the one he now fills.

His job, he says, is “very difficult,” but he takes comfort from Scripture. God never gives someone a task without providing the necessary means, he says. He believes God is helping move the peace process forward. For him, prayer is a must with every step, and he asks that all church members pray for peace.

Leadership values

Mambé draws strength from his spiritual background as well as his experience as a lay preacher at Jubilee United Methodist Church in Abidjan. His church role required him to manage the personal, professional and spiritual sides of his life, a skill that helps him today. One of his leadership principles: If you want to manage people, you have to give yourself up, and you have to love.

He hails from the same region of the country as the Rev. Isaac Bodjé, secretary of The United Methodist Church’s Côte d’Ivoire Conference, and the two are good friends. They became close when Bodjé was pastor of Jubilee from 1995 to 1999.

Bodjé says that Mambé, a lay preacher since 1974, has responded to the call to preach whenever asked, despite his other duties. “He’s very good,” Bodjé says of the former engineer, adding: “He uses a lot of numbers.”

Asked what his future holds, Mambé says he wants the glory of God to prevail. “Where He will send me after the election, I will go, always to His glory.”

*Tanton is director of the Media Group at United Methodist Communications.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

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Cote d’Ivoire (U.S. Department of State)