"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

Ali Bongo dancing during his “summer” on the Bouenguidi river Ali Bongo dansant durant son “été” au bord de la Bouenguidi (Photo : Infos Kingu é l é ) English version Dear readers, you have probably been amazed and amused to read that the PDG or UJPDG to be more precise, organized its "Summer University" in Koulamoutou, in the province of Ogooue-Lolo in southern Gabon. We knew that climate change was a serious phenomenon, but we were far from imagining that climate change had already transformed our Equatorial Africa dry seasons into a summer from the temperate and polar zones of the northern hemisphere of our planet. Indeed, summer is one of the four seasons of temperate zones, the other being fall, spring and winter. But if we dusted our Geography textbooks which we inherited from our national Frederic Meyo-Bibang, we would read that Gabon is characterized by an equatorial climate, hot and humid, with an average temperature of 26 ° C which varie...

Jules Aristide Bourdès-Ogouliguendé (photo J.P. Rougou) English version Biometric enrollment: between blackmail and disinformation "All the same! All rotten! " It is violent, reductive and simplistic. Probably. But this invective balanced at will by the "good people" to politicians is often fueled by these politicians themselves. And it is not the last flip-flop by the Union of Forces for Alternance (UFA) which will improve the image of our hateful filth - sorry, political class! Indeed, on Wednesday, 21 Aug. 2013, the president of that conglomerate of former ayatollahs of bongoïsm made a curious statement, to say the least; in which he asked Gabonese citizens to go to "in every neighborhood, village and home to encourage each other for enrollment." This position is markedly different with that of the previous week when UFA called for the cessation of enrollment because they were " flawed and poorly organized. " Bett...

Martin Luther King Junior (Photo CNN) English version This Wednesday, in the United States, was celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech pronounced by the Reverent Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. This blog would like to commemorate this important anniversary because that event changed not only the USA, but changed the way black people were perceived around the world; and also, that event and the life of Martin Luther King demonstrated the power of the will of an individual or a group of individuals to affect and implement change despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. For Gabonese citizens, the trajectory of Martin Luther King has many lessons that need to be clarified and that is what we will do in this post. 1. The first is the well-known concept that tells us that to souls nobly born valor does not wait for the number of years People often talk about Martin Luther King, but it seems that t...

Jean Eyeghe-Ndong (photo RFI) English version Dear readers, among the many qualities recognized as necessary for any good politician, is the need to be constantly and carefully listening to the citizens. That is to say, to listen when things are going well, but also to listen even more when things are difficult and confusing. The good politician must be able to read the signs of the time and get into the skin of the citizens who talk to them. A good politician must reassure citizens and their supporters. They must take into account people's opinions and those of their supporters. It is because he has none of these abilities required for performing the job of command and decision making that is the Presidency of a country, that Ali Bongo is seen stammering, wading, entangling himself miserably in knots, being unable to convince and reassure the Gabonese citizens through a press conference prepared in advance with a press corps he controls, or being unable to prepa...

English version The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “Pessimism” as: “to emphasize the possibility of the worst possible outcome.” The Financial Times is a British newspaper with an emphasis on economics that has been published for 125 years and is considered to be a reliable and respected publication. This newspaper has recently published an article about the African countries that have the more attractive business environment and therefore are more likely to attract investors. Needless to say that Gabon, the country the people ruling it are saying that it would be within the next 12 years an emerging country, did not fare well in this classification. In fact, in the 6 categories examined by the Financial Times: Best Overall, Best Economic Potential, Best Labor Environment, Best Cost Effectiveness, Best Infrastructure and Best Business Friendliness, Gabon appears in the top 10 only once, for infrastructure, at the 9th position. Not exactly the desirable outcome one m...

Image: Gabonews English version Apparently, this blog and its readers are not the only ones intrigued by the announcement of the candidacy of former Prime Minister Jean-Eyeghe Ndong, for Mayor of Libreville. The press of the regime, instead of providing their readers with deep analyses and thoughtful responses to this candidacy, yet chose to cover themselves in ridicule trying to discredit this candidacy by the rumor that Ali Bongo had received Jean Eyeghe-Ndong; an information proved to be completely false. But the regime's media are no strangers to lies and fabrications. If we can understand that the regime wants to engage in information warfare against its opponents, one is nevertheless taken aback when Gabonews, the press organ belonging to Laure Gondjout, as headline: "Meeting between Ali Bongo Ondimba and Jean Eyeghé Ndong" and then Jean-Eyeghe Ndong and other sources have said that this meeting never took place and that the headline is false and pure lyin...

English version Jean-Eyeghe Ndong, the last Prime Minister to serve under Omar Bongo made a remarkable entry into the collective consciousness of Gabonese people when he delivered a memorable eulogy at the funeral of Omar Bongo; eulogy during which he blew the whistle regarding maneuvers by Ali Bongo and his family clan to impose a hereditary succession to the country. Jean-Eyeghe Ndong was opposed to Ali Bongo within the PDG, during the campaign and after the usurpation of the latter by joining Andre Mba Obame and other former presidential candidates for the formation of the Union National party. In 2011, Jean-Eyeghe Ndong was among those who lucidly, called for a boycott of the elections, as transparency requirements were not met. Since 2009, Jean-Eyeghe Ndong has been an uncompromising voice against the imposture reign in Gabon. But then a twist comes in. This past week, at a press conference, Jean-Eyeghe Ndong made the announcement of his run for mayor of Libr...