Meet the African Dictator Using Soccer to Hide His Crimes

An oil rich nation with a horrendous human rights record selected by a chronically corrupt football organizing body to host an international tournament. For those who haven't been following the news lately, they would be forgiven for assuming the issue under the spotlight here is FIFA's questionable decision to hand over the hosting rights of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, but it's Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou's hand-picking of a tiny West African nation, Equatorial Guinea, to host the continent's flagship competition in January 2015 that has raised eyebrows around the continent and the world at large.

Morocco was initially scheduled to host the biennial tournament until the North African nation claimed fear of the Ebola virus—which is currently ravaging parts of Western Africa, especially Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone—spreading to its shores. The Moroccan government asked that the tournament be postponed by a few weeks, but CAF, desperate not to lose millions of dollars in sponsorship money, refused. The tournament had to go on as planned and countries such as South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria were sounded out, but all concluded that a competition of such magnitude could not be organized on short notice.

Running out of time and options, a meeting was hastily arranged between Hayatou and Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang. The result came in the form of Morocco's expulsion from the tournament and Equatorial Guinea, who themselves had been previously banned for fielding an ineligible player during the preliminary rounds of qualifying, taking their place as hosts. "CAF wishes to express its sincere thanks to the Equatorial Guinea people, its government and particularly President Obiang," Hayatou said in a statement. "To agree to organize a competition like this two months before the event, you must admit you really have to be a true African," Hayatou concluded.

While it is perhaps understandable that Hayatou views Obiang's efforts through rose-tinted spectacles, the harsh reality is that hosting the tournament is a disaster for the people of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang, 71, is the longest serving head of state in the world, having been in power since 1979 after deposing his uncle in a military coup, winning the most recent 2009 election with 95 percent of the total vote. While oil revenues continue to fund the ostentatious lifestyle of the microscopic few elite, 75 percent of the country's population of around 750,000 live on less than one U.S. dollar daily.

It is a situation that Tutu Alicante, a Washington D.C based human rights lawyer and executive director of EG Justice, describes as a "perfect paradise of toothy crocodiles guarding a prolific henhouse.

"This decision means that close to $40 million will be wasted and diverted through more 'bread and circuses,' at the cost of desperately needed hospitals and other social sector priorities. Young people in Equatorial Guinea dream of an accountable government that can deliver meaningful economic reforms that lift the majority of the people out of poverty. They want to be educated in good schools and be gainfully employed helping to build their nation."

Obiang's decision is the latest in a long list of sweeping gestures with the aim of boosting his international reputation, while ignoring the important issues that ought to be at the forefront. Despite a GDP per capita that has risen by over 5,000 percent in the last 22 years and currently stands at $32,026—the highest of any African country and above Italy, Spain, and Russia—Equatorial Guinea is ranked 136 out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index, which measures the key factors in quality of human life, taking into consideration life expectancy, literacy, and standard of living. Infant mortality rates are among the worst in the world and less than 50% of the country's population have access to clean water, according to a special U.N report.

Remarkably, this has not stopped Obiang from wasting millions of dollars on hosting events which include: a 2013 friendly with the Spanish National team, two African Union Summits, a number of international economic and political conferences, and even an international beauty pageant. In 2009, a huge basilica, 200 meters long, was built, and there's also a modern five-star hotel that the impoverished people of Mongomo—the President's hometown—do not have access to.

Obiang's strategy of putting on airs has worked to perfection, with Alicante saying, "Indeed, Obiang has been busy giving people 'bread and circuses' at home; while for the West, he has the absence of the rule of law and the hypnotic powers of oil and gas do the trick.

"This combination has led to Obiang's ability to hide a ruthless iron fist in a dazzling velvet glove," Alicante continued.

Football administrators often suggest that football can be a vehicle for societal change, with Sepp Blatter saying recently of Qatar's human rights condition, "These very discussions about Qatar show just what an important role football can play in generating publicity and thus bringing about change." But it is a notion that Alicante finds fanciful: "To people who claim there will be a benefit for the people, I have challenged them to point out a single benefit that emanated from the country co-hosting this same tournament in 2012. So like most of the infrastructure projects in Equatorial Guinea, this is yet a huge white elephant for self-enrichment and diversion of public funds." Both Obiang and his son Nguema Mangue—who is the country's Vice President—have been under investigation by both France and the U.S. for money laundering and abusing public funds, lending credence to staunch allegations of corruption levelled against the ruling elite.

In a nation where dissenters are detained and the notorious Black Beach prison is regarded as the most inhumane correction facility in all of Africa, it is baffling that CAF opted to hand over the hosting rights amid strong calls from several human rights groups like Freedom House and Alicante's EG Justice. "The real question is why CAF and many other governments and institutions [chose to be] complicit in this injustice," Alicante said. "Most Equatorial Guineans will enjoy watching the Ghana Black Stars or the Ivorian Elephants, the Leopards, Bafana Bafana, and other teams, but it would be better if we could say that all Equatorial Guineans have access to clean running water, electricity and food," Alicante concluded, stressing the importance of providing basic amenities to the people.

Football has often been said to operate in its own world with laws that defy common sense, logic, and decency. CAF's decision has reinforced that opinion. Alicante's message may fall on deaf ears to those that matter, as it has in years past, but football administrators have confirmed what we knew all along: the game does not care about the welfare of the people it is supposed to entertain, and those controlling the game are just as corrupt and power-drunk as the politicians they so gladly collude with.