It’s raining money in Chad – at least for president's son

Damning video evidence of the lavish wedding celebrations of one of Chadian president Idriss Déby's sons, in which guests are showered with bills, was recently leaked online. Our Observer says such behaviour is not uncommon in this central African country blighted by poverty.

The wedding took place in the summer of 2011 in the capital city of N’Djamena. Adam Déby, one of the president’s sons, was married to the daughter of the former transport minister, who died in 1998 in a plane crash.

The video shows wedding guests dancing to loud music, and showering each other with money.

These scenes are not rare during celebrations organised by powerful Chadians. One of our Observers in Chad confirmed that this was a common practice. He noted that during a recent party organised by the president’s brother-in-law, Ousmane Breme, politicians threw vast amounts of money at the singer hired to entertain the guests. Some of them, he said, even threw 200 euro bills, and at the end of the night, the singer reportedly had to collect all the bills in a flour sack.

“It’s ludicrous to behave like this in a countr with so much poverty”

Makaila Nguebla is a Chadian activist and blogger who lives in Senegal.

I received this video a few days ago. It was filmed by a local video production company. At one point, you can clearly see Zakaria Déby, who is the son of the president’s cabinet director, throwing piles of bills on the singer and on women dancing around him [at 2’48” into the video]. It’s just ludicrous to behave like this in a country with so much unemployment and poverty.

 

The bride was chosen because she comes from a noble family; her lineage traces back to the Kanem Bornu royals. Those who leaked the video are discontent relatives who seek to denounce this union.

 

Chadian union workers have been on strike since the month of August because the government reneged on an agreement signed during the summer of 2011 that was supposed to increase the minimum wage from 90 euros to 180 euros per month. One year later, nothing has changed, and the president keeps saying that the government doesn’t have enough money to make good on this promise. It’s really insulting to hear this, and then see how impudently those close to the president are wasting the Chadian people’s money.