There is no smoke without fire

”There is no smoke without fire,” as the saying goes. But from a distance, smoke does not necessarily indicate the nature and intensity of the fire. Necessary efforts should be made to get close to the origin of the smoke in order to inevitably find oneself in front of the fire to be controlled or extinguished. After having determined the nature of the fire.
For several months now, smoke has been escaping from the glass house, from this imposing and uniquely shaped building that stands on the Abidjan Plateau: the African Development Bank. Dispatches and numerous documents circulating, denounce or comment on alleged mismanagement by the current President, Chief Executive and legal representative of the institution.

The AfDB Board of Governors, the institution’s supreme organ, has just decided to launch an independent investigation into this burning and complex issue. For the time being, the Board of Governors is naturally concerned about whether the reported abuses are verifiable and proven, in the immediate perspective of the re-election of the current President, who is the sole candidate in the next presidential election scheduled for August 2020.

In my view, there are no perceptible signs that the Board of Governors is already concerned about the extent to which the latent crisis could have a detrimental impact on the quality and effectiveness of the work, the developmental impact, the credibility and the competitiveness of the institution in the medium and long term. It is a question of knowing whether the smoke observed from near or far, emanates from an anthropogenic fire, ignited by a person in distress seeking help or from a natural fire or caused by procedural short circuits, and which could threaten the intact survival of the institution in the medium term or its perennial usefulness in the long term. (to be continued)