Bereaved by the death of its grand master Hamed Bakayoko, the Grand Lodge of Côte d'Ivoire (GLCI) must quickly find a successor. For the past week, negotiations have been going well.
The death on March 10 of Hamed Bakayoko, hospitalized since March 6 in Freiburg (Germany) where he was to follow an experimental treatment for liver cancer in an advanced stage, aroused a call for air within the Grand Lodge of Côte d'Ivoire (GLCI), of which the prime minister had been the grand master for more than ten years (Africa Intelligence, 25/02/21).
Scheduled for April, the general assembly which was to enthrone Hamed Bakayoko for his second term as head of the GLCI has been cancelled. In the meantime, and once past the various national tributes, the Ivorian masons must decide on the succession. A subject that had already been briefly discussed in the wake of the transfer of the grand master of the GLCI from Paris to Friborg on March 6. Part of the order should meet this week to discuss the terms of the succession.
Alain Richard Donwahi favorite
At the GLCI, it is the current Minister of Waters and Forests, Alain Richard Donwahi, who is the favorite to succeed Hamed Bakayoko. A member of the lodge for more than a decade, the latter is currently "Grand Master of the Masons of the Marks and of the Central Province". According to the rules in force, the grand master must be appointed by the only hundred “sovereigns” that the GLCI has out of its 2 members. On March 000, a dozen of these "sovereigns" had planned to meet at the residence of Alain Richard Donwahi, in the Marcory Résidentiel district, in Abidjan, to take stock of Bakayoko's health and the management of the GLCI. . But the meeting was postponed.
Alain Donwahi can in particular take advantage of the support of the new generation of provincial grand masters promoted throughout the mandate of Hamed Bakayoko and embodied by the number 2 of the GLCI, Sylvère Koyo. Deputy Grand Master, he is particularly close to the current Minister of Forests. In the event of the appointment of a new grand master, the old class of the GLCI represented by the pharmacist Albert Pittey – who has been acting for Bakayoko since February 18 – could thus find themselves in the minority. The historic branch of Pittey was notably all-powerful under ex-Grand Master Clotaire Magloire Coffie, but saw its influence greatly diminish under Bakayoko.
The relationship between Hamed Bakayoko and Alain Donwahi, who the former succeeded to the Ministry of Defense in July 2017, had been tumultuous in recent years. Upon his arrival at the head of the sovereign ministry, Hamed Bakayoko had audited nearly 61 billion CFA francs (90 million euros) of orders placed by his predecessor. Several of them had been suspended.
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