Mali: President's son, a target of contestation, leaves a key position

The son of the Malian president, one of the public figures on which the ongoing dispute in the country is focused, announced on Monday July 13, resign from the important chairmanship of the Parliamentary Defense Committee.

Read also: The dispute against "IBK" is gaining momentum in Mali

The name of Karim Keïta, the son of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, was one of those who were vindicated in the demonstrations which have brought together thousands of Malians against the government on several occasions since June and which degenerated Friday into an almost insurgency situation in the capital Bamako.

Protesters used images of him showing happy holidays abroad with friends and in the company of young, lightly dressed women, in the form of posters, to present him as a character with light customs who could have a good time while his country is suffering. Karim Keïta had assured that he had not been responsible for the guest list and that this private trip had cost the taxpayer nothing.

In a statement published Monday, Karim Keïta said that, in the context of the current dispute, " some have made my modest person a political business, others a spillway of their unfulfilled ambitions. Nothing will have been spared me ”. Karim Keïta, elected deputy in 2013, re-elected in 2020, denounces a “ surname crime ” to mean that through him, it is his father who is targeted.

He says he puts " Mali above everything ", but does not "want to be an argument for people in need of a program " and therefore resigns from the chairmanship of the Defense Commission. He remains a parliamentarian.