Happy 83rd Birthday, President Chissano!

On Saturday, October 22, 2022, I called the former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano in Maputo, Mozambique, to wish him a happy birthday on the occasion of his 83rd birthday.

At the end of our conversation, both of us excitedly wished each another all the best and hoped that, sooner than later, we shall meet again.

So, who is former President Chissano, and what is the link between us?

In 2006, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed former President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique as his Special-Envoy (SESG) for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)-Affected Areas of Northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The UN was then appointed as President Chissano’s Senior Military Advisor, Ghana’s Brig Gen Dan Frimpong.

For about a year and a half between 2008 and 2009, our destinies were intertwined as we embarked on the dangerous mission of searching for the elusive fugitive leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony.

President Chissano

Born on October 22, 1939, in the remote village of Malehice, Gaza Province, Mozambique then a colony of Portugal, Joaquim Chissano was the first black student to attend high school in Lorenco-Marques, today Maputo.

After high school, he went to Portugal to study Medicine at the University of Lisbon. His political inclinations as a student politician however created problems, forcing him to relocate to France to the University of Poitier.

In 1962, he left for Tanzania where together with other freedom fighters such as Samora Machel, he was one of the “Founding Fathers” of the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO).

At independence in 1975, newly elected President Samora Machel made Joaquim Chissano Mozambique’s Foreign Minister.

In 1986, following the death of President Samora Machel in an air crash still considered controversial or contrived on the South African border, Joachim Chissano became Mozambique’s second president in 1986.

As president of Mozambique between 1986 and 2005, after which he refused a third term as allowed by the Constitution and handed over the presidency, he is credited to have transformed Mozambique into one of Africa’s most successful democracies at the time of leaving office.
Between 2003 and 2004, he was the Chairperson of the AU.

 

Dangers

Kofi Annan appointed President Chissano his Special Envoy in 2006. I have often been asked what the difference is in UN parlance between a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General (SESG) and a Special Representative of the Secretary-General SRSG).

In terms of status, they are equal and both report directly to the Secretary-General in the capacities of Under-Secretary-Generals.

The difference is that, while an Envoy heads an office of Advisors under the UN’s Special Political Office, a Representative heads a Force in the field with peacekeepers.

 

As a Special Envoy, therefore, President Chissano had a Political, Gender/Legal, as well as a Senior Military Advisor.

We were based in Uganda with an office in Kampala. We also had an office in Juba, South Sudan, manned by a Political Advisor.

Our job involved a lot of flying and sometimes could be dangerous. On one occasion, the pilot had to abort the take-off with tyres screaming/screeching frighteningly.

He later joked that if we had taken off from the Entebbe Airport, we would have plunged into Lake Victoria just at the end of the runway and provided good lunch for the fish!

On another occasion, flying from the Garamba Forest in the DRC after a failed attempt to meet Joseph Kony, our helicopter ran into bad weather with the pilots meandering through the mountains and the tall trees.

When we heard a loud bang, we thought it was over for us. When we eventually landed in Juba, drenched with sweat, the captain told us, the helicopter’s rotors must have missed the mountain by only a few feet.

 

Prize for leadership

President Chissano’s leadership qualities are admirable. His intelligence and knowledge aside, his humility is striking.

Perhaps starting life as a poor village boy and later living in the bush as a freedom fighter, he understands poverty and has absolute respect for everybody.

His speech is decent and his sense of humor makes everyone around him comfortable.

At the internally displaced (IDP) camps we visited in Gulu, Northern Uganda, he was loved for his empathy with poverty/ adversity.

On one occasion, I invited him to a Ghanaian Restaurant “Mama Africa” in Kampala.

Knowing East Africans to be no lovers of pepper like us West Africans, I warned the chef, Kofi, to use very little pepper, as I was bringing a powerful non-pepper-eating delegation for lunch.

Course One was light soup. Though fine by me, after two spoonsful, President Chissano sneezed loudly. Shaking his head, he said, “General the ‘piripiri ‘(as he called pepper) is hot, but it has cleared all the cobwebs from my head!”

As we all laughed with others not faring better than him, he continued with the light soup and everyone followed suit happily!

With all his admirable qualities, it was no surprise when he became the first recipient of the African Prize for Leadership instituted by Sudanese/British billionaire entrepreneur, Mo Ibrahim, for former presidents/heads of state.

Incidentally, the fourth recipient was the former President of Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba. When I swooped in on Presidents Kufuor and Chissano during the reception after President Pohamba’s award at the Great Hall, University of Ghana Legon, President Chissano happily introduced me to President Kufuor as his former Senior Military Advisor in Uganda.

Incidentally, since Mo Ibrahim instituted the African Leadership Award in 2007, it has been awarded to only six former presidents: 2007 – President Chissano of Mozambique; 2008 – President Mogae of Botswana; 2011 – President Pedro Pires of Cabo Verde; 2014 – President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia; 2017 – President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia; and 2020 – President Mahammadou Issoufou of Niger.

During our travels it was interesting hearing this experienced linguist, President Chissano, switch over to any of the many languages he speaks fluently — Portuguese, French, English, and Swahili.

To President Chissano, Happy Birthday on your 83rd anniversary, and may God bless you with more years in your role-model disciplined, humble, and dedicated service to mankind! Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Leadership, lead! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!

 

The writer is former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya & Council Chairman, Family Health University College, Accra.