Power and Corruption

Mabanckou connects power and corruption throughout Black Moses. He highlights that this occurs at all levels, from the bosses of a petty gang to the mayor. The director of the orphanage, Dieudonné Ngoulmoumako, abuses his power to achieve personal gains and maintain his position of power. Originally he had gotten his position due to his political connections. He uses his position to support the political party in power, promoting southerners and demoting and firing the northerners that were on the losing side of the ethnic war. He promotes his family members to positions of power, giving his nephews jobs as wardens even though they “had zero experience in educating children, who they treated no better than cattle” (6). He favors his nephews on his father’s side, “pulling strings” to get them positions as section leaders. Once he becomes director, he changes the staff to...