User:Smart-and-clever/Exorcising Devils from the Throne

Exorcising Devils From The Throne is a political treatise that examines the socio-political problems specific to Sao Tome and Principe (STP), censures those who have caused or contributed to them, proposes solutions and tries to bring the matter to the attention of the public. It is written by two young naturals of the archipelago, Albertino da Boa Morte Francisco and Nujoma Sancho Quraresma Agostinho. It is a portrait in depth of STP and discusses the policies that led an entire nation to despair and poverty. Starting from a radical, intriguing and 'ruthless' viewpoint, according to critics, the book went further, proposing the withdrawal of the entire political class and the replacement of the country's political system by a new political system which the authors designated 'Meritocratic Republic'. Thought-provoking, creative and, above all, bitterly honest, the authors attempt to invoke emotion and enthusiasm into readers for what is a beautiful and refined country which slowly but surely has been getting lost in a battle of politics and pitfalls. Their main aim is to improving governance, promoting democratic processes and protecting human rights through the promotion of civil society.

The First Edition (May 2009)
The book came out publicly for the first time in May 2009 and sparked violent criticism from the audience and literary criticism, being described as intriguing, or even an extremist diatribe. However, it was applauded by the merit it has to be the first work of its kind over the country, written by country's own citizens. The authors are engineers by profession but decided to write a book about politics in the country by sheer frustration and by the fact that nobody had felt emboldened to do so. This edition included twelve chapters. The Chapter 1: The Roots of Our Reasoning expresses personal reasons, spiritual and moral values that motivated the writing of the book. It is followed by the Chapter 2: the Clowns ’ Party which starts with a portrayal of the actual political scenario and scene, where politicians are seen as clowns and government affairs are being treated as a party; the Chapter 3: the Voyage is an introduction to the following chapters. The description of ‘Paradise on Earth’ followed in the Chapter 4: the Promised Land, where the authors described a current portrayal of the archipelago and a brief history. An illustration of the State bankruptcy follows in Chapter 5: State Bankruptcy. Then, in Chapter 6: an Evil Creed, the voyage continued with a discussion surrounding the faith of the evil men who have been ruling the country since Independence on 12 July, 1975. In Chapter 7: Three Prophets of Misfortune, brief biographies of the three most important rulers are presented, and, in Chapter 8: the Ten Greatest Sins, a description of the ten greatest sins they committed is also presented. The proposal on raising a 'New State' is presented in Chapter 9: Rising from the Dead; the need for exorcising evil souls from politics in STP is discussed, and a proposal is presented on the establishment of the 'Reborn Country'. Chapter 10: A Short Stop continues with stating how, despite the country playing a key role in the world’s economic system, it is still, nevertheless, relatively unknown. It shows how the reader has been taken on an interesting journey concerning the reality of the people, and proposes a revolution as being a way of reaping the deserved happiness and vibrancy of the people, and wealth and affluence for the state. The authors depicted that the monster with two faces of Paradise and Hell — the beautiful country — could be transformed — reborn — back into the breathtaking country it once was, with a bright future in its hands; a country which needs to now be put firmly on the map. Finally, the Chapter 11: the Ultimate Assignment: the REVOLUTION discusses the confrontation with the established power and redemption of the national souls for the sake of reshuffling the actual political scenario, conferring power to the nation to fire the country’s driving machine.

Overall, the book is basically divided into two parts: one in which the authors described the current situation of the country, the people, their history, their political leaders and the sins committed by the latter; and another in which they proposed alternatives to reverse the situation.

The international context
The international economic environment is visibly difficult. With the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War, the world faces new challenges to all levels from social to economic, through cultural, political, ecological, scientific and military. The conflicts in the Middle East, the race to nuclear energy, the emergence of states such as China, India, and Brazil have played international focus of attention, and not infrequently have been approached to emerge in diplomatic and even military conflicts between the United States and the European Union on the one hand, and ‘emerging countries’ on the other. The world today seems to turn around the interests of developed countries, the so-called G-8, on the one hand, and ‘emerging countries’, on the other. Amid all this, what is the role of the African continent? Africa remains, as always, the source of greed of the great international powers, representing the largest source of raw materials and the world's largest market for selling the excess of products manufactured worldwide. Therefore, it is of international concern that Africa remains on the state of social, economic and political backwardness so that the great international powers can take advantage of opportunities and resources in this continent.

The regional context: the Gulf of Guinea
And speaking of Africa and of resources, a particular region of this continent has represented the centre of attention of the world due to its large amount of oil and other marine resources – the Gulf of Guinea. And it is precisely in this location of Africa which is located a country called Sao Tome and Principe. More curious still is the fact that this country lies exactly at the point at which the two main geographic references of the international location system cross each other, the Prime Meridian (zero longitude) and the Equator (zero latitude). In other words, we are talking about a country that, geographically, is located in one of four central points of the Earth’s hemisphere (The Equator and the Meridian Greenwich cross each other at only two points.). In addition, the country has a lush virgin rainforest, which occupies about 30% of its territory and has an enormous range of endemic plants and animals. To complete the picture of opportunities and resources, it is extremely beautiful, which in terms of tourism, can be considered a gift. Both from the geopolitical, geostrategic and economic standpoint and from the standpoint of ecology, environment and natural reserves, Sao Tome and Principe did not go unnoticed in the eyes of the world. All this presents important development opportunities and resources which have not been recovered; the country is now one of the most economically poor and underdeveloped of the world. One cannot blame the international environment for problems of this country. For, as we know, due to its geographical location, its smallness both in terms of population and in terms of territorial extent, its climate, its pristine nature and the enormous quantity and variety of natural resources, this country has been coveted by all. Even in the era of the Cold War, the country has maintained relationships with both the Socialist Bloc and the Capitalist Bloc. This means that it did not lack partners or economic opportunities to make demands and sign agreements highly profitable for it. What it lacked, indeed, is the sense of opportunity, knowledge and intelligence. Nothing more. One can blame, oh yes, its political leaders.

The local context
For up to three decades, since its independence from Portugal in 1975, STP has been a model of worst possible economic and socio-political performances. In a few words, stories from STP have dominated headlines for bad reasons only: coups d’état, successive government changes, poverty, corruption, poor economic and government performances, and the like.

The ambiguous provisions of the semi-presidential constitution with regard to the roles of the different state organs have been a fertile ground for conflicts about areas of responsibilities and resource competition between the president and the government that have provoked various government changes – 13 (thirteen) different prime-ministers and respective government changes in 15 years, from 1991 to 2006. The consequent political instability has negatively affected the socio-economic development of this country which has already been marked by poor institutional capacities and corruption by office holders.

There is an agreement among authors that, as a result of STP’s dependence on foreign aid and loans, STP became what they termed an ‘unviable state’ even before the end of the Cold War and has remained unviable ever since. There is also an agreement that failures of public policy and the weakness of the local economy are the reasons why the country remains amongst the poorest states in terms of GDP per capita. The democratic process in STP is now dived into a profound, unrecoverable political crisis. The country has been shaken by a wave of scandals involving corruption (for instance, the recent corruption scandals involving GGA, CGI, ENASA, STP-Trading and Oil negotiations, to name just a few), and several high-ranking authorities have been summoned to appear in court. There has been a long-running disagreement between the political parties in the country and the presidency and government concerning allegations of corruption within the oil sector, which involves highly-ranked former and present government officials.

The extraordinary close interconnections within the socio-political elite have facilitated the generalization of corruption and the lack of accountability experienced by this country. This situation is not similar to those observed in other African countries because, due to the small size of the country, trafficking of influences can be kept within small socio-political elite. Nevertheless, there is a whole dimension, a context, which acts behind the scenes, that is the socio-political performance in the mainland Africa and the wide range of supports the STP’s political elite receive from the outside world, especially from some of the internationally known corrupt governments. There are warnings that several other nations have interests in keeping the people of STP either under-educated or off-island. In the one hand, those nations are giving the ‘leaders’ the money and/or seducing them into betraying their own people; and, in the other hand, they may have interests in benefiting from oil contracts or extraction. The recent corruption scandals in connection with the signing of agreements with oil companies serve as excellent examples when attempting to illustrate the aforementioned thesis. Successive governments — which there are many — have admitted that their respective predecessors were involved in illegal agreements with those companies; however, neither the president nor the successive governments show the will or want to seriously prosecute those involved. This is due, on the one hand, to the fact that all have common interests, and on the other hand, the fact that small quarrels can easily be resolved with the signing of new agreements. On a short term basis, the removal of some individuals from the political landscape provides benefits to whomever is in power but, in the long term, this can prove to be harmful. Instead, it is always better to leave the possibility open for future negotiations within the underlining elite than ever risking the emergence of a new movement, which is opposite to the existing system and represents the most marginalized social groups.

There is no doubt that the existing lack of understanding of democratic ideals combined with the failure to adopt democratic institutions has caused the State to fail to conform with each of its four main purposes, which are: 1) To build a free, just and solitary society; 2) to guarantee national development; 3) to eradicate poverty and marginalization, as well as reduce social and regional inequalities; and 4) to promote wellbeing for all, without discrimination of origin, race, sex, colour, age, and other forms of discrimination. So far, the socio-political performance, which leads to incompleteness and fragility of the social, economic, political and institutional structures, is appalling. There is not a consistent and real sense of the concepts of state and nation. STP is a peculiar society in which one pretends to live in an established state, but the very idea of a nation and nationality sounds vague and diffused. The huge political irresponsibility of politicians and government officials has led the country to undertake fatal errors in international relationships, which has restrained sovereignty and all other democratic principles. Furthermore, new generations have inherited an awful foreign debt from the previous ones, while government officials have assured and secured themselves and their relatives a huge fortune in foreign bank accounts and investments outside of the country. Consequently, for the majority of the population, reaching the above-mentioned State goals still appears to be nothing more than a mirage, and a dream which seems to be impossible to make a reality.

The existing negligence and frivolity in all country’s departments is another up-to-date question for discussion. There is the common and widespread feeling that people should not care about accountability of professional services in STP. There is no moral, legal, or any other kind of obligation to deontological norms. And because the Sao Tomean people do not believe in improvement or better performance anymore, they seem to be unable to strive for improvement. This is a consequence of three decades of misfortune and deception carried out by state office holders. And, if we look at the state of human development in the country, we can make a vast and dramatic analysis of the situation given the uncertainties about the economy and opportunities for production in the archipelago.

The situation in STP is characterized by the scarcity of available natural resources — such as water, salt, and the like — and enormous economic vulnerability, accentuated by an inadequate management of the State crisis, with the glaring absence of policies, of economic actors, which, when in existence, are feeble and ineffective. In the educational field, we notice a decline in the teaching quality due to the increasing absence of capacity — both physical and technical — with regards to school accommodation, such as the limited number of classrooms and consequent overcrowding, as well as the insufficient qualifications and lack of interests among teachers.

Approximately 50 per cent of teachers in the primary education field and more than 80 per cent in the secondary education field do not have appropriate qualifications. In a country with so many economic problems which have derived from a lack of qualifications and training of economic agents, public officers and civil servants, the triviality and lack of attention given to the educational sector are worsened still by the lack of educational policies; moreover, less than 10 per cent of the State Budget is appointed for the education sector, while a miniscule 0.4 per cent of GNP is for the primary education. As such, beyond the myopic vision of government leaders which disables them to observe events very closely to the horizons of the views of ordinary people, they are also unable to learn from the experiences of the past. In addition, given its unidirectional nature, the national educational system faces many more constraints oriented towards the end of the pre-university course; there is a stark lack of alternative means of access to technical and vocational training for jobs. However, there are some embryonic initiatives of training, both technical and vocational and higher education. Thus, the youths of the current generation face serious fulfilment problems, both in terms of training and employment, which can only result in widespread frustration, discontentment, and revolt. As the situation seems to be worsening, the many occasional docents, forced by circumstances to annual recruitment, manifest their revolt, even throughout simple attitudes, words and actions.

The declines of the principal healthcare indicators are evident; food security and increasing poverty are real threats, and all them generate fear amongst the population whose growth rate is larger than the economics’. The number of people living in extreme poverty is increasing at an alarmingly high rate, while the number of poor people as a whole totals approximately 50 per cent of the population. Even investments realized in the economic ground — some which are, without argument, considerably large-scale — have not reaped the expected results, which fosters degradation of the population’s quality of life. This fearful scenery is furthermore unsettling by the absence of a social security system. More than three decades of existence as a sovereign state only means for us a long-standing national ‘conscientious childhood’, where ‘mental infantilism’ does not allow the Nation to define fully grown State’s administration guidelines. There is no doubt that, as we are witnessing, both ‘conscientious childhood’ and ‘mental infantilism’ are responsible for the lack of a consistent political ideology leading to human, social and economic development. This is the origin of the increasing institutional degradation and absolute State bankruptcy we are facing today. Up to date, the Nation could not gather party-free thinking heads in an entity responsible for consistent State organization and ideological development. Thus, it could not define its own rational State ideology and mature in it in order to be capable of conducting its people to the desired sustainable development.

When discussing governance and human security, signs of a ‘dogmatic’ lack of common sense are evident. Governmental and institutional stability appears to be an unattainable goal; the level of wellbeing and the fulfilment of the citizens are poor. Persistently, series of institutional weaknesses have hampered the process of confirming the citizen’s liberal and democratic guarantees, making clear the evidence in support of the inadequacy of the country’s politico-administrative divisions, the insufficiencies of the Constitution, the lack of stability and enough continuity of the government action, the persistence of imperfections and inefficacity at the jurisdictional apparel and the lack of institutional performance, based on the inefficient ability of political decision-making, the absence of clear sectored policies and the inefficiency of the public administration.

It reins an environment of impunity and a persistent lack of both obedience and application of the Law, which makes it difficult to exercise the civil and political rights, and others, as well as the effective protection of the citizen’s legitimate interests. As well as in other domains, we observe here several forms of discrimination, of which women are still victims in STP; women are forced to stay out of major decision centres or with deficient representation; sometimes, derisory is present at the administration and management levels, especially in government departments and other instances of political power.

Change is demanded now in order to achieve the goal of overcoming the actual situation of widespread crisis. Many people now believe that the actual situation is inescapable; this is a chronic cynicism that erodes people’s souls and minds, discouraging all attempts at finding possible and optimal solutions for the country. It is urgent and vital that the Sao Tomean people begin to make up for lost time, acting in order to resurrect the Country as a democratic, sovereign and transparent welfare state, which serves its legitimate interests, observes human rights, and fully reflects democratic principles.

Albertino Francisco's Quick Bio
'Albertino Francisco' lived and studied both in STP and Portugal. His life and work expresses the maturity and experience needed for writing a work of this magnitude. Since very early, Francisco lived an intense life, full of adventures, challenges, sacrifices and uncertainties. He was born to a family of Catholic tradition and, therefore, very early, he began to attend religion and take part in religious life. However, he abandoned the religious life by the age of twelve, unhappy and dissatisfied with the performance of the Church and immense hypocrisy that reigned among the clergy. He finished his pre-university course in Sao Tome in 1994. Like most youngsters of his age, the next step was the first job. But there were no many opportunities at that time; the few existing opportunities at that time were reserved to a small group of people who had privileged links with the ruling elite of the country. There were no opportunity to pursue a university career in the country, in those years, yet there were no schools of higher education in the country. There were few opportunities for training abroad, by obtaining scholarships, but, as in the case of employment, they were strictly reserved for people who had privileged links to holders of public office.

But as if by a stroke of luck, after a whole year chasing a first opportunity for employment, a public tender for hiring journalists to the only television station existing in the country, Televisão São-Tomense (TVS), was opened. He was one of six selected in a universe of dozens of people. In February 1996, Francisco began to serve as a TVS television reporter, after attending a training course of six months. In September the same year, he was incorporated into the STP Army in compulsory military service, where he served as administrative assistant. He completed his compulsory military service in 1999. The same year he travelled to Portugal with a scholarship to study mathematics. He obtained the Licentiate Degree in Applied Mathematics and Computing from the University of Aveiro in 2005. In October of 2007, he obtained the pre-doctoral ‘Extended Advanced Training Diploma’ (DFA) in Management of Technology, Innovation and Knowledge again from the University of Aveiro. Between 2008 and 2009, Francisco was offered places in a few doctoral programs, including Management at Lancaster University Management School (2008 and 2009), Management at Brunel University (2009), and Information Systems at CMU-Portugal (2009). However, due to financial difficulties, he was forced to decline the offers. All proposals submitted for these applications are related to the economic system of his country. Despite not getting the desired funding, Francisco has not given up his dream and continues seeking alternative ways to meet the goals.

Between late 2006 to mid-2007, Francisco has provided services to companies in the field of New Technologies and Information Systems in Portugal. From August 2007 to October of that year, he has served the International Bank of Sao Tome and Principe (BISTP) as an independent consultant in the field of Management of Information Systems. From October 2007 to present day, he works in Companhia Santomense de Telecomunicações (CST), where he served as Head of Marketing and Communications from October 2007 to April 2009. Since May 2009, he works as consultant in the field of Information Technologies, in the Board of the CST. He has revealed great experience and adaptability, from the armed forces to the university campus, and has successfully pursued studies abroad. His life and studies inside and outside STP has undoubtedly heightened his perception about his country.

Nujoma Agostinho's Quick Bio
'Nujoma Agostinho', too, lived and studied both in STP and Portugal. Upon completion of his pre-university studies, there were very few expectations at the time for the future. In the mid-nineties, still living with his parents, he felt the need to go out for an adventure somewhere in the world, seeking to discover and know what was virtually impossible to see in STP. As a young man who had completed one stage of life and thought to start on another, he realized that he would be forced to abandon his most loved ones and country to further his university studies. But, because of not wanting to stand and have thought to develop experience in teaching field of experimental sciences, he ran for a position to teach in the area of physical and chemical sciences, where he was ranked first. It was a very enriching connection in various directions. Agostinho taught the discipline of physics in the National High School of Sao Tome, between late 1994 and late 1997.

During the four academic years where he held a teaching position and established daily contacts with young people aged between 12 and 18 years old, who came from different parts of the country, Agostinho was able to witness numerous instances of students showing signs of malnutrition, which resulted in an extreme lack of concentration and assimilation capacity of the program content, impairing the process of deep learning and growth, something that reflected the reality of the country, in general. It was the mirror of the everyday life of the majority of the population. Like most youths from STP, he was forced to leave his country and joined the University of Aveiro, where he studied Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering both at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels. After completion of his Master's degree in 2009, even with little experience in carrying out engineering projects, he thought he could teach youths in Portugal, which could consist of an asset for his future job performance. In 2009, he applied for a tender for the hiring of teachers by the Ministry of Education of Portugal and was placed in a group of electrical engineering at José Régio High School in Oporto, where he currently teaches the discipline of ‘Automation & Computers’ in the course of electricians, and the discipline of 'Electrical Installations & Driving Force' in the Professional Course in Electronics, Automation & Computers. His thirst for knowledge and experience is insatiable, because he believes that only with much knowledge and experience he will be in a better position to contribute to the development of his country. Agostinho is preparing a PhD project to commence next academic year at the University of Oporto.

At present, he has been linked to a new school environment and discovered how much stranger is STP for the Portuguese society, although STP being a former colony of Portugal, a Portuguese-speaking country. Simply, Agostinho does not understand how a country that once belonged to Portugal is so unknown to the Portuguese community. Nevertheless, it was noticeable that the harmony that existed for at least fifteen years ago, between him and his former students of Sao Tome is similar to that of his new Portuguese students, despite some cultural differences. Agostinho continues to apply the same teaching methodology as applied in Sao Tome, although having technical resources not available in the school where he taught in STP. Students are also others: Happier children, well fed, apparently with all the conditions to succeed. Looking a little further back, Agostinho concluded that the children of his country do not have the same luck ... and that makes all the difference. His life inside and outside his country is full of experiences and actions of patriotism and solidarity with the poor people. He participated in many organizations and humanitarian activities; and events he personally experienced have, without a doubt, built his views and political vision.