(3 minutes read)
· Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba sought the support of MPs and senators for nation building and not to let Gabon’s “unity” disintegrate, in his first speech to parliament in five years and two years and eight months after a serious stroke
· His last address to the Congress of the two chambers was in June 2016, two months before his re-election, which was heavily contested by the opposition
· He has been head of state since 2009
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba sought the support of MPs and senators for nation building and not to let Gabon’s “unity” disintegrate, in his first speech to parliament in five years and two years and eight months after a serious stroke.
His last address to the Congress of the two chambers was in June 2016, two months before his re-election, which was heavily contested by the opposition. He has been head of state since 2009.However, he has been making televised speeches and public appearances for the past year, this was the first time he had given a speech broadcast live by the national media since a stroke on 24 October 2018. He kept himself away for nine months from a country when there were attempted military coups and the rise of an all-powerful chief of staff. He eventually fell from grace and was jailed for embezzlement.
His long absence had allowed all the rumors to flourish, including his death. There was also attempts of de facto seizure of power by this director of cabinet, Franco-Gabonese Brice Laccruche Alihanga. He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned in December 2019.
In his speech, Bongo made general remarks and recalled the actions taken by his government and the laws passed over the past two years. There were no concrete announcements in his 15- minutes long speech. He spelt out measures taken by the administration to tackle the pandemic.
Gabon has so far officially recorded less than 25,000 positive cases of Covid-19, 159 deaths and, as of today, has 290 active cases for a population of less than two million inhabitants.
