The death has been announced in Ivory Coast of Mamie Faitai, the elder sister of the late President Felix Houphouet Boigny, who led the country from independence till his own death in 1993. The passing of Mamie Faitai, who is rumoured to have been a century old, is being treated as an event of great importance in Ivory Coast, because of the influence she is said to have had over her younger brother. Our West Africa correspondent Mark Doyle reports from Abidjan:

If Felix Houphouet Boigny was the father of the Ivorian nation, his elder sister was the mother. The equivalent of Winnie Mandela in South Africa perhaps, or the Queen Mother in Britain.

Ivorians close to the handful of families who effectively run this country, say she had great power over her brother, partly because his mother died when he was a toddler, and it was Mamie Faitai who carried the future President around, strapped to her back - African-style.

Influence over Houphouet Boigny was crucial, because although he ran the country efficiently from the point of view of foreign investors and some Ivorians, he also ran it like a personal fiefdom, financially benefiting himself and his close circle.

On one occasion he openly boasted of owning the largest pineapple plantations in the country, and he wasn't ashamed to say he had huge sums in Swiss bank accounts. Access to, and influence over such a man bestowed great power, and Mamie Faitai was said to have had a hand in many ministerial appointments.

One occasion Houphouet Boigny exasperated by his sister's power broking is said to have sent her to his mansion in Geneva before announcing government reshuffles, so he could make his own decisions. Mamie Faitai's influence will live on through her adopted children.

She didn't have any of her own. It is whispered that marriage into her adopted family was an automatic passport into a top government job.

No wonder then, that her funeral is expected to be lavish, and its even said that a national holiday may be announced to commemorate Mamie Faitai's life and death.
 

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