Africa / Emmanuel Macron: How can you lecture Africa when you can’t control your own house?

French President Emmanuel Macron will stop at nothing to give himself the image of an unshakeable Head of State, but the facts always catch up with him. The latest episode: a video that has gone viral shows Brigitte Macron giving her husband what strongly resembles a slap. Rather than assume responsibility, the Élysée and its relays are once again trying to force us to swallow the enormous sop that this was merely a “misinterpreted gesture”. Contempt for the intelligence of citizens, as usual.

But this symbolic (or real) slap comes at a time when Macron is increasingly unmasked. Remember: on May 9, on his way to Kiev, a video showed him fiddling with a handkerchief in a manner that was, to say the least, suspicious. Millions of Internet users saw it, suspicions of cocaine use arose, and all the President had to say was that he was blowing his nose. Are you serious? You sound like a schoolboy caught red-handed in front of his principal.

Emmanuel Macron tries to govern with arrogance, as if he were above the people and their laws, but his facade is cracking. The man who claims to embody the rigor, seriousness and grandeur of France now finds himself at the heart of ridiculous scenes bordering on vaudeville. How can one lecture Africa, give orders on democracy, finance or security, when one is incapable of controlling one’s own image, one’s own entourage, one’s own house?

The French are not sheep, and Africans even less so. The neo-colonial contempt shown by Macron and his entourage is no longer acceptable. Whether he is booed in the streets, slapped by citizens or discredited by his own, the message is clear: his power rests on an illusion that is dissipating by the day. By dint of manipulation, he has trapped himself in a spiral of lies, hubris and pathetic spectacle.

It’s time for people in France, Africa and everywhere to stop believing in the fables of a President who has become a caricature. Let Macron start by cleaning up his own house, instead of giving lessons in morality and democracy to the whole world. The king is naked. And this time, everyone can see it.