"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

English version Raymond Ndong Sima is certainly an affable person. He seems like a nice guy who smiles a lot and treats people with respect. From his background, we can say that he has some undeniable achievements such as the founding of a successful transportation company. However, as Prime Minister, it should not be a shock to anyone if we said that Raymond Ndong Sima has proven to be very transparent, invisible, ineffective, paralyzed, weak and dithering. We acknowledge and we have said so previously before, that the job of Prime Minister in Gabon is a thankless exercise, because all the prerogative of power are concentrated in the presidency and the prime minister is often just there for window dressing. Nevertheless, like others who have occupied this function before, Raymond Ndong Sima finds himself at the head of a very corrupt government that is incapable of stopping the continuous deterioration of the economic condition of the majority of the population. ...

English version There is a new a new periodical that was launched this Friday and treats African information in the model of “La Lettre du Continent”. This periodical is called “La Lettre-Prospective Africaine”. Below is the first issue of that new periodical. We hope that its editors will not react by asking us not to publish their periodical. We promise not to publish subsequent issues. We are publishing it here to let our readers know that they have an additional source of information. Version française Il y a un nouveau périodique qui a été lancé ce vendredi et traite l'information africaine dans le modèle de «La Lettre du Continent". Ce périodique est appelé "La Lettre-Prospective Africaine". Ci-dessous le premier numéro de cette nouvelle revue. Nous espérons que ses rédacteurs ne réagiront pas en nous demandant de ne pas publier leur périodique. Nous promettons de ne pas publier les numéros subséquents. Nous publions le premier numéro ici,...

English version Dr Guilou Bitsutsu-Gielessen, a Gabonese politician and intellectual, recently wrote a text we are publishing below, calling the Gabonese people to activate their national consciousness. That text made us question what a national consciousness was. We can define national consciousness, as the collective consciousness of all the people in a given space, a given nation, a given country. In the same way as the individual mind governs the individual, the national consciousness should govern the action of the state, the action of government. Therefore, the performance and quality of a given government would depend upon the quality of the national consciousness; which leads us to conclude that a disintegrated national consciousness would ultimately create a disintegrated and ineffective government, which would lead to a disintegrated nation. From Dr Bitsutsu's analysis, this may be the situation in Gabon. Dr Bitsutsu has the courage to directly que...

English version Gabon-Oil: Setanta Energy and Petroplus share Roussette: does the Gabonese people know what time is it? Before the United Nations, Ali Bongo advocated for an impartial judiciary. One may well ask what is the point of these hypocrite messages from a president badly elected and in quest for legitimacy. Indeed, while Ali Bongo is strutting internationally, the only place where some people still listen to what he says, for obvious reasons of interest to come loot our resources, we learn that suspicious transactions continue to be legion in the Gabonese oil emirate. A recent dispatch from "Africa Energy Intelligence" tells us that the oil field Roussette that was being coveted for some time by the British company (based in Port-Gentil), Setanta Energy, will be shared between that company and the Angolan company Petroplus led by the Frenchman Vincent Miclet and the Angolan Sandro Dos Santos. But under what conditions did this transaction take...

English version A reader suggested the relevant article below. Its author is Guy Nang Bekale, Doctor of Political Sciences. The original can be read on his blog by clicking here . PRESENT TIMES: THE SOVEREIGN NATIONAL CONFERENCE, FROM THE EMBARRASSMENT OF THE REGIME TO THE HOPE OF THE OPPOSITION THE CORNELIAN DILEMMA OF PRESIDENT ALI BONGO ONDIMBA - From memory of a citizen, I had never heard a political speech, at once so poorly drafted and badly delivered, as the one the President of the Republic gave before Senators and Deputies. A real spluttering, a hodgepodge written hastily by poorly inspired, misguided experts, without any state policy experience, without a culture and education in strategy and political communication and without a sense of care for the form and contents of the addresses aimed at national diversity, in a context marked by extreme social and political tension. What was the president speech's framework? Was it a warning? ...