"LE GABON ENERVANT" OR "ANNOYING GABON"

English version  In March 2024, CBON, in the midst of a populist campaign, declared: "Oil is oil, it needs to be brought down to 1,000 francs." This statement was made as part of the fight against the high cost of living in Gabon. Faced with inflation and public complaints about basic necessities, CBON addressed economic operators and merchants to demand an immediate reduction in prices. With this odd formula, CBON swept aside the justifications given by importers, who invoked brand, type of refining, or origin to justify higher prices for certain oils compared to others. CBON's reasoning at the time was as follows: cooking oil is a universal staple product, and its retail price to households should be capped at 1,000 CFA francs, without distinction. For CBON, the differences between brands (origin, refining, quality) were merely commercial pretexts to justify higher prices, not substantive differences. The irony of the story is that in today's edition of L'Union ...

English version  Dear readers, when we look at what is happening in Gabon, one cannot help but notice that absolute power gives birth to something even more toxic and pernicious: absolute kounabelism. Absolute power destroys all respect for diversity of opinion, through the absence of contradiction. Don't you hear the uncompromising outbursts of CBON and his courtiers: "Yes, we're going to break things, because the country needs to develop. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs," and so on. When you speak to them of measure and dialogue, they come back shouting: "It's you who are holding the country back; Gabonese people must move forward under the whip." Others go so far as to become apostles of injustice, especially when it falls on Alain Claude Bilié By Nzé. But history teaches us that all power needs resistance, a return of the real, to stay attuned to what it governs. A power that no longer encounters any counter-power, any criticism, a...

English version  Dear readers, this post is a warning about the seduction of affability and simplicity, shown by a leader. Complex problems: economic stagnation, corruption, weak institutions, ethnic or regional tension, etc., have causes that are tangled, structural, and slow-moving. But human beings (and especially uneducated ones and people leaving in precarious conditions) crave clean explanations and quick fixes.  So there's always someone offering one easy ready made solution: "it's the elites," "it's the foreigners," "it's one corrupt minister," "it’s Bilié By Nzé alone" "just do this and it's solved."  History teaches us that the existence of a simple answer is not evidence of its truth. In fact, for genuinely complicated questions, the simple answer is almost always wrong precisely because it ignores the complexity. The neatness is a warning sign, not a reassurance. The belief that a likable president showin...