Hamed Bakayoko

Ever since the untimely deaths of president Alassane Ouattara's anointed successors Amadou Gon Coulibaly and Hamed Bakayoko (AC Vol 61 No 15 Quest for a new dauphin & Vol 62 No 6 Many shoes to fill) the RHDP has kicked the succession can down the road which has fuelled wild speculation and increased intra-party tensions...

But two successors-in-waiting Amadou Gon Coulibaly and then Hamed Bakayoko died within less than a year of each other so the Rassemblement des houphouëtistes pour la démocratie et la paix (RHDP) leadership is working on the assumption that only Ouattara can keep the party together...

At the time he felt that neither Achi nor the interim premier at the time Hamed Bakayoko were capable of taking Gon Coulibaly's place as the presidential candidate for the RHDP's ruling alliance...

The President's omnipresent younger brother Téné Birahima Ouattara aka 'photocopie' was widely rumoured to be anointed his brother's dauphin after the deaths of Ouattara's first two choices Amadou Gon Coulibaly and Hamed Bakayoko but it was not to be (AC Vol 62 No 6 Many shoes to fill)...

Given suggestions in Malian media that Keïta like Compaoré has been given Ivorian nationality thanks to Keïta's late brother Hamed Bakayoko the Touré family may have to rely on justice in France having lodged complaints there against Keïta in May 2019 for 'torture' and 'murder'...

Deliberating on such delicate behind-the-scenes negotiations over the path ahead the President must sorely miss the late Hamed Bakayoko former minister and briefly successor to Gon Coulibaly as premier (AC Vol 62 No 6 Many shoes to fill)...

Four prominent onlookers dressed in black oversaw the arrival on 14 March of the remains of Hamed Bakayoko the former Ivorian Prime Minister and Defence Minister seen by many as a president-in-waiting and whose death from cancer has upended Ivorian politics...

Ouattara finally has mortally divided his party and the RHDP is now set to become factionalised between the potential frontrunners for its leadership: Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko party director Adama Bictogo and Secretary-General of the Presidency Patrick Achi...

Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko however has reached to former president Laurent Gbagbo and he had a meeting with Assoa Adou...

It is equally unlikely that the RHDP will survive Ouattara's eventual departure: failure to find a successor – neither Hamed Bakayoko nor fast-rising star Adama Bictogo appear to be to the liking of other party bigwigs – could be fatal...

This is something of an insult to Hamed Bakayoko the former defence minister whom Ouattara appointed prime minister in early August...