Politics

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. How Bongo Family Collapsed

The military coup of August 30, 2023 put a full-stop to more than half a century of family “reign” over Gabon. The family’s influence has been reduced to nothing, real estate seized, securities returned to the State.

It perhaps also marked the beginning of the end for the most powerful economic empire in the country’s history.

For more than five decades, the Bongo family entrenched itself through patronage, awarding lucrative roles in government to allies and extended family.

Their path to power began when Bongo’s father Albert-Bernard (Omar) was backed by France to take over as president in December 1967 following the death of the country’s independence leader Leon Mba, who succumbed to cancer after being bolstered back into power following a coup in 1964.

The elder Bongo won a series of elections under claims of electoral rigging; he removed the country’s run-off system, and replaced it with single-round voting.

For years, Omar imposed a one-party system. Gabonese authorities claimed he won 100 percent of the vote in a 1986 presidential election, with an apparent 99.9 percent voter turnout.

The central African nation’s oil wealth was recirculated among the elite to ensure loyalty.

Omar’s regime extended Bongo family jobs into the military, parliament and state commerce. The current president of the constitutional court, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo was Omar’s former lover.

France became a close ally under a system known as Francafrique, in which French corporations maintained good relations with African politicians in order to benefit from lucrative resource deals.

A French police investigation in 2007 found the Bongo family owned 39 properties in France, 70 bank accounts, and nine luxury cars worth a total of 1.5 million euros.

At the time, lawyers disputed those assets were acquired through his 20,000 euro-per-month salary. According to the United States Senate, Omar reportedly moved U$100m in suspect funds through a New York Citibank account from 2003 to 2007.

Conradie said that for many years the Bongos invested money into French politics.

Parisian lawyer, Robert Bourgi, who advised former French president Jacques Chirac and his prime minister Dominique de Villepin claimed he had been allegedly handed U$20m in cash from five African heads of state, including Omar, to support Chirac’s election campaign.

Paris prosecutors dropped an investigation into the claims due to lack of evidence.

What kept the Bongos in power?

Ali Bongo had sought to start a new chapter when he took over following Omar’s death in 2009.

Bongo had previously served as foreign minister and defence minister, and had started to distance himself from France.

Ali Bongo’s wife Sylvia and son Noureddin Bongo Valentin started to spend more time in London than they spent in Paris.

“Gabon recently became a [British] Commonwealth member,” said Bovcon. His policies around environmental conservation made him a respectable Western ally.

But oil riches continued to flow within Bongo’s inner circle. Last year, French authorities indicted nine of Omar Bongo’s 54 children for fraudulently benefitting from at least 85 million euros ($92m) worth of real estate.

Each of Bongo’s three election wins has been highly disputed. Protesters set fire to the country’s parliament building after his re-election in 2016.

Even then, his main rival was his former brother-in-law Jean Ping, a half-Chinese diplomat who previously held high-ranking posts within the elder Bongo’s cabinet. Ping had two children with Omar’s daughter Pascaline, also a government minister.

Many questioned Bongo’s fitness to lead after a serious stroke in 2018. He wasn’t seen publicly for nearly a year. But he began making political changes after a failed coup attempt in 2019.

He sacked his sister Pascaline from her role as high representative of the head of state, and sidelined his half-brother Frederic Bongo as head of state to military attache in South Africa.

Brice Laccruche Alihanga, a high-ranking French-Gabonese was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 in what Bongo framed as a crackdown on corruption.

“Laccruche Alihanga used to be a very influential chief of staff but because he reportedly showed too much ambition during Ali Bongo’s recovery period he was then charged over corruption allegations and put in jail,” explained Bovcon.

After Laccruche’s removal, Bongo appointed his eldest son Noureddin as his aide, with the title of coordinator of presidential affairs.

The Bongo family stayed resilient to the military coups happening elsewhere in Africa by buying off opponents and moving relatives into strategic positions.

Yet Bongo’s attempts to coup-proof his cabinet may have helped hand power to Nguema.

In 2009 when Bongo took over from his father, he had dismissed Nguema who was an assistant to the late president.

But following the 2019 coup attempt, Nguema, who had been serving as an attache to the Gabonese embassies in Morocco and Senegal was brought back and promoted to head of the Republican Guard.

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