THEY TALK ABOUT IT IN JEUNE AFRIQUE ! ILS EN PARLENT DANS JEUNE AFRIQUE !
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CHICKEN MEAT, THE CACOPHONY CONTINUES ! POULET DE CHAIR ; LA CACOPHONIE CONTINUE !
English version Three months before January 1, 2027, the government keeps repeating that the ban on broiler chicken imports still stands. The figures it puts forward, however, tell a more complicated story. In forty-eight hours, L'Union went from "A thwarted ambition?" (September 22) to "Gabon stays the course" (September 23). In between came an interview with the Minister of Agriculture, Pacôme Kossy, who sought to reassure the public after Gabon's so-called query by the United States at the WTO. The message is clear: "Our course remains unchanged: produce in Gabon the chicken we consume." The question is whether this course leads to an actual ban on January 1, or to something else. The most important sentence in the interview is the one where the minister explains that the decision to halt imports "is therefore an instrument" of poultry policy, and that "it is not the end goal." This is a notable shift in tone. In May 2025, t...
CHICKEN MEAT, WHAT’S GOING ON ? POULET DE CHAIR ; QU’EST-CE QUI SE PASSE ?
English version There seems to be a cacophony within the government: a blurred message, all of it amplified by contradictory readings in the media. The communiqué from the September 18 Council of Ministers announced a strategy based on WTO exceptions and diplomatic negotiation. It announced no decision to postpone or abandon the January 1, 2027 deadline. In Tuesday's edition of L'Union, the Minister of Agriculture reaffirmed the course, arguing that the United States was defending its commercial interests and Gabon its food sovereignty. But is Gabon really a market for the United States? The signals are confusing. The article above itself says the government is going to change tack, while concluding that the goal remains to lock down the sector from January 2027. But objectively, it would seem that the scenario of an abrupt halt to imports in early 2027 is receding. Even CBON is now striking a more nuanced tone, saying that 2027 remains the target, but that it will not be appl...
THESE VERY RICH POLITICIANS WHO HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING ELSE BUT BEING CIVIL SERVANTS! CES POLITICIENS RICHISSIMES QUI N’ONT JAMAIS RIEN FAIT QUE LE FONCTIONNARIAT!
English version Harry Truman was the 33rd president, serving from April 12, 1945, until January 20, 1953. He took office when Franklin D. Roosevelt died, then won a full term in his own right in the 1948 election. He famously said the following that this blog would like to submit to observers of the Gabonese political scene: « I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency. Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I’ll show you a crook. » Harry Truman treated wealth gained through public office as evidence of corruption. The logic being that a politician's income comes from a salary, so getting rich must mean using the office for private gain (bribes, insider deals, favors). This reflects a real ethical principle, that public office is a trust and shouldn't be a business. However, it should not be use as a sweeping generalization. Some politicians, most...