"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

Etienne Ngoubou (photo: Gabonreview) English Version The “emergent” think that words can take the place of governance and economic policy. Thus before the unprecedented crisis affecting the supply of refined petroleum products in Gabon, Etienne Ngoubou has dared to lie shamelessly to the Gabonese people about the causes of the drought in petrol stations. The Gabon's oil minister gave to the Gabonese people contradictory explanations to those he gave to the international oil industry. As you can read in the newspaper Business Day above, the truth is that the production of Sogara has fallen by a third, while demand in terms of consumption has remained the same. In this paper it is written that Etienne Ngoubou had said that this fall was due to poor organization of the distribution chain, and to compensate for this deficiency, Gabon now has to import 300,000 barrels of refined oil from the Ivory Coast, per day. Do you realize that? Gabon has been producing oil for more than...

Jean Pierre Lemboumba-Lepandou being installed in Office by Ali Bongo Jean Pierre Lemboumba-Lepandou installé en fonction par Ali Bongo (Photo : COCOM) English Version Dear readers, this blog has very healthy and intellectually stimulating exchanges with a Gabonese citizen who is a reservoir of knowledge and wisdom, Mr. Martin Edzodzomo-Ela; who gives us readings of the facts on angles often difficult for us to evaluate, because his experience generally enables him to see things coming from afar. Thanks to people like him, we can calibrate the reading of events in Gabon and give them a sense that approximates the constructive and intellectually rigorous analysis we know you expect from this blog. It is during one of these exchanges that Mr. Edzodzomo-Ela told us his feeling that since 1957, the Gabonese opposition has suffered a series of takeovers perpetrated by people not heavily invested in this opposition, who have positioned themselves as its leaders, and...

English Version La Lettre du Continent writes in its latest issue of an unusual fact that characterized the city of Franceville this weekend, specifically its hotels. They all were oddly full, even if they remained really desperately empty! The reason for this aberration? Jean Ping held a meeting there in and members of his delegation who came from Libreville or people from other places wanting to attend the meeting, would not be allowed to find where to stay or eat. These are the methods of the regime. Dear readers, we know that you are not surprised by the turn of events in these hotels in Franceville because you are used to this kind of nonsense from the regime. Also recall that Jean Ping was denied by the authorities of the Ministry of Interior, the permission to hold the meeting in a public place; reducing him to hold it in a private concession, the home of Mr. Albert Yangari. All this reminds us of the maneuvering during the 2009 presidential election, when...

Jean Ping (photo from Franck Jocktane) English Version Everyone knows that in Gabon, to oppose the regime in power is not easy. But history shows that going to present oneself as a challenger to the established order in Haut-Ogooué, the province of origin of the Bongos, where people declared opponents are often portrayed as mortal enemies, takes temerity. Yet this is just what has successfully done this weekend, Jean Ping. It is true that doubts persist on Jean Ping’s posture, in view of his past as hierarch of the Bongo regime. We would be hypocritical not to mention these doubts given the skepticism of many of our readers about the amount of credit to be granted to all the Gabonese political class. This skepticism has again been strengthened with the recent defection of Samuel Ngoua Ngou, who took refuge in the corridors of the Presidency of the Republic, denying on the way his past as an opponent of the regime. But he promised us in his recent explanatory communi...

Samuel Ngoua-Ngou (photo: SNN) English Version Dear readers, we submit to your appreciation, the self-defense text published by Samuel Ngoua-Ngou. Everything is there, deceit, craftiness, half-words denial of the past, messianism and the arrogance of the upstart. Here, we discover that even God speaks to him (no kidding). It looks like he will make a good team with Accrombessi! Happy reading To Heaven and Earth and all the other prosecutors of the traitor I have become – to his compatriots- could you tell me in which opposition party I have belonged in Gabon since 1990, to the point of calling me a vehement opponent? May I know in which civil society organization I am registered as a militant or sympathizer? However, I accept even without understanding the reasons, that you may have bitterness toward me. You are free to have your emotions including the most abject ones. But you must tell me why so much bile poured onto a traitor, a person withou...

Samuel Ngoua-Ngou at a recent event by the opposition Samuel Ngoua-Ngou à un évènement récent de l’opposition (Photo : Gabonreview) English Version Given the feedback we have received, our recent text dealing with the betrayal (yes it is one, whatever the person may say) by Samuel Ngoua-Ngou, struck a chord with many of our readers. What many of our finest and most knowledgeable readers find particularly disappointing is not so much the transition to the manger of that man; they almost do not care, but the symbolism it represents as the demonstration of the lack of consistence of those who call themselves leaders in Gabon; their lack of substance, lack of statism, of character. Imagine the makings of a Mandela, a Nujoma, etc..; we are far from that in Gabon. No one under in our equatorial sun, apart from a few specimens as Jean Marc Ekoh and a handful of others, is able to show us an exemplary path of a life of principles and righteousness. We are alw...

Photos: Marc Ona Essangui English Version For several days, an unprecedented fuel shortage has been rampant throughout the Gabonese territory. The Gabonese Minister of Petroleum, Energy and Water Resources, Etienne Ngoubou, during a press conference, explained the reasons for this situation as the result of strong demand in the country. For him, the fuel supply is no longer proportional to the demand. Our blog wanted to see if this increase in consumption announced by the Gabonese Minister was verifiable by a neutral and credible source. A graph from a document published by the Gabonese Ministry of Petroleum, which you can see for yourself here , seems to inform us of the fact that since 1980, consumption of petroleum products in Gabon stands at 40%, and it is assumed to remain at that level until, 2030. So dear readers, where does this sudden increase in demand which Mr. Etienne Ngoubou talks about, comes from, while his own documents say otherwise? Anoth...