Against all odds, the acting president, without relying on any text, asked Guikahué to resign from his position as Executive Secretary General for having submitted his candidacy for the presidency of the party.

Relying on Article 43, Professor Maurice Guikahué refused to comply with this order, which appeared out of nowhere to sow discord in the party. Things did not take long: this Sunday, Guikahué’s candidacy was rejected.

It should be noted that among the Baoulés, matrilineal lineage takes precedence. Thus, Tidiane Thiam is more Baoulé, and therefore Ivorian, than Senegalese. Also, in the minds of the majority of PDCI members, a Baoulé must lead the party. Maurice Guikahué was number two only by the graces of Bédié, and not by any ‘ethnic merit.’

Even though the Baoulés and Akans are majorities, the PDCI draws its strength from having been for three decades the sole party in Ivory Coast, a party in which each ethnic group has invested.

This situation risks creating an implosion within the party and reserving sad funerals for the late President Bédié, who is waiting for a presidential decision from Alassane Ouattara for his burial.

The Reaction of Professor Maurice Guikahué’s Committee

The spokesperson for candidate Maurice Kakou Guikahué informed the media yesterday of the rejection of his candidacy. “On Sunday, December 3, 2023, the five candidates, namely Noël Akossi Bendjo, Tidjane Thiam, Jean-Marc Yacé, Maurice Kakou Guikahué, and Moïse Koumoué Koffi met with the expanded conciliation and mediation committee and the electoral committee. During this meeting, they were informed of the conclusions of the analysis report of their respective files. From this report of the electoral committee, it appears that candidate Maurice Kakou Guikahué, head of the executive secretariat and vice-president of Pdci-Rda, meets all the conditions and is eligible according to the criteria of the Pdci-Rda statutes,” revealed MP Konan Marius during a press briefing in Cocody. He added: “Due to the judicial control procedure to which he is subject, the electoral committee cannot take the risk of allowing him to compete for the presidency of the Pdci-Rda.”

As a result, the campaign management considers “the rejection of the candidacy of Professor Maurice Kakou Guikahué as arbitrary and unfounded.” For Konan Marius, their candidate “is being penalized by the Pdci-Rda electoral committee for his commitment to the cause of the Pdci-Rda.”

He further added: “Maurice Kakou Guikahué takes note of this decision. This statement is therefore made to inform national and international opinion so that no one is unaware.”

With this declaration, the campaign management “raises strong protest against this surprising, unjust, and legally unfounded decision.”

And for good reason, the alleged judicial control as the sole reason for the rejection of their champion’s candidacy follows his arrest at the residence of President Henri Konan Bédié, following the events that took place after the October 2020 presidential election.

“Furthermore, judicial control is not a conviction decision that impacts an individual’s civil and political rights. It is merely an administrative measure taken by the investigating judge, without impact on the individual’s criminal record; as evidenced by the clean criminal record produced by candidate Maurice Kakou Guikahué,” stated Konan Marius.

He elaborates his argument: “The judicial control of January 18, 2021, did not affect his eligibility for the March 6, 2021 election, during which he was brilliantly elected as a deputy to the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire. Furthermore, despite the judicial control, Professor Maurice Kakou Guikahué, head of the executive secretariat and vice-president of Pdci-Rda, was elected vice-president of the National Assembly for Pdci-Rda in 2021.

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