This announcement from the British media The Telegraph spread like wildfire. Long tipped for a return to political affairs in Côte d’Ivoire since 2011, the man who has several times refused calls from the foot of the Ivorian Head of State Alassane Ouattara, and a post as Minister of Economy and French Finance in 2020 according to the media, seems determined this time to open a chapter that he has closed for 2 decades now, by renouncing his French nationality to meet the Ivorian constitutional requirements.
Absent from the country since the coup d’etat of 1999, the former president of the National Bureau of Technical Studies and Development (BNETD) from 1994-1999, also Minister of Planning and Development, has made a remarkable return to his native land August 08, 2022. The effect produced by this announcement is easily understood as the ex-boss of Credit Suisse has long cast doubt on his political ambitions and on a possible return to Côte d’Ivoire. During an interview with the Jeune Afrique media in December 2021 during which he was asked about his political ambitions, he replied: “I do everything I can in my area of expertise, that is to say in economics, to get things done. But I will answer your question – ask me again in 2025”.
09 months later, Tidjane Thiam returned to Abidjan, and everything suggests that it is to bring his stone to the building. He was received by President Alassane Ouattara, accompanied by a special delegation including his older brothers, the governor of Yamoussoukro, Augustin Thiam, and the former transport minister, Aziz Thiam.
After the Head of State, he also met the President of the Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire-African Democratic Rally (PDCI-RDA), Henri Konan Bédié. If the two men shared the same convictions in the past, there was no guarantee that things would always be at the same stage. On this subject, Tidjane Thiam reaffirmed his membership of the PDCI-RDA. “I never left the PDCI-RDA, I was always a member of the PDCI-RDA […] We know the story of President Houphouët well, we know less that of my maternal grandfather who is one of the signatories of the founding act of the PDCI at the Etoile du Sud. So, we are a PDCI family, we remain PDCI,” he said.
As a seasoned economist, combined with his (albeit brief) experience as a politician, Tidjane Thiam could embody the rebirth of the PDCI-RDA after a few years of scarcity, and constitute a weighty opponent of the power in place. , which seems stronger than ever. However, it seems obvious that nothing is certain yet. Because if his return to the country is welcomed by many, the ex-president Henri Konan Bédié continues to hold the reins of this emblematic political party, without our real intentions for 2025 being known.
In addition, Thiam is not the only ambitious within the oldest party in Côte d’Ivoire, which also includes Jean Louis Billon, already in the starting blocks.
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