Open Letter of Gabonese
Civil Society
To
François Hollande,
President of the Republic of France
Palais de l’Elysée, 55 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris
Your Excellency, President of the Republic of France,
Your election to the Presidency of France has been widely
welcomed and celebrated by the African people in general and in particular the people
of Gabon. Through this exceptional event, we base the hope of a new partnership
between our country Gabon, and the French government after 52 years of
independence, marked by underground relations characterized by a seizure of
some leaders of the state of France on the main instruments of governance in
Gabon.
I-Your commitment to
democracy
During the presidential campaign from which you were elected
to highest office of the state, you have solemnly pledged to promote and defend
democracy. You have publicly proclaimed loud and clear your opposition to the
dictatorial regimes that oppress their people, which are maintained by fraud
and rigged elections against the expressed will of the people. And so, Mr.
President, you promised to be with the oppressed, to support civil society and
democratic opposition wherever democracy is threatened, and this is the case in
Gabon where it is dying!
II-Confiscation of
democracy
Mr. President,
If democracy has led a son of Hungarian immigrants to be the
president of France, it is through the sense that the «Republic» gives its
institutions. It is to remind you how this vital desire is pending for the
people of Gabon; in fact, Gabonese living in France had sent on August 12, 2011,
an anathema to the then Prime Minister Francois Fillon on his last visit to
Gabon, a visit that was an insult to the people of Gabon who suffer deprivation
of their fundamental rights and well-being. For 44 years, our country has been
facing an archaic political system and it is locked by a clan of incompetents
and profiteers making it impossible to democratic change through the ballot box
or voting.
This system has always operated by fraud, rigged elections,
the results of elections are known in advance, the polling list maintained by a
partisan administration not to say family and orders are in favor of the
Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), one-party state, in power for 44 years, one of
the last vestiges of monolithic political system in Africa, and whose policies
are responsible for the bankruptcy and ruin of a country with enormous recognized
potentials, including natural resources.
In this context, and following slogans of civil society and
the opposition, the parliamentary elections of December 17, 2011, took place
amid general indifference because boycotted by over 90% of the Gabonese
population who refused to vote and endorsing a mock election fomented by the
party-state PDG whose heir is Ali Bongo, after 42 years of the reign of his
father. The voting centers throughout the country were occupied by the armed
forces under the exclusive supervision of representatives of the party-state,
the PDG. Of the 120 seats of deputies in the National Assembly of Gabon, 116
deputies are immediately requisitioned by the totalitarian party, the PDG, and
four other seats are shared between other four parties, two parties of the
Republican majority, really to say subservient to the party-state PDG, and two
minority parties and dissident opposition.
This election in 2009, Mr President, is indicative of a
declining democracy unprecedented in Gabon with a National Assembly of a bygone
era because it is composed at 99% of representatives of one party, the party in
power for nearly 44 years. This reflects more the refusal by the Government of
Ali Bongo to adopt international standards of electoral transparency that could
ensure the reliability of the vote and the legitimacy of the sovereign people
in a democratic state. In the same spirit of contempt for the people, the
government of Ali Bongo pledged to introduce biometrics to local and Senate
elections of 2013. This deception is particularly unconscionable that so far,
we find a total opacity and lack of transparency of government which does not
associate any other neutral expertise and even less that of the opposition and
civil society in setting establishment of this protocol.
The choice of the company GEMALTO responsible of the implementation
of the biometric device is operated in complete illegality and violation of the
law on public procurement which notifies such a procedure must resort to an international
open call for tender. We note in this illegal transaction, a fraudulent
intention, an act of bribery and overbilling against government complicity
conducted in Gabon with a French company. For all practical purposes, in
Cameroon, a country of 22 million inhabitants, the introduction of biometrics
in the electoral process and civil status from an international tender returned
to 7.5 billion of FCFA. In Gabon, a country of 1.5 million inhabitants, with no-bid,
it comes to a total cost of 14 billion of FCFA to achieve the same technology.
We do not need to be accountants to understand the inconsistency of this
operation with this comparison! Given the involvement of a French company in such
a doubtful case, Gabonese civil society demands that the French Government opens
a judicial inquiry to identify the contours of this scandal absolutely
detrimental to Gabon.
III-The antidemocratic reforms
Since the usurpation of power in 2009 by Mr Ali BONGO, son of
Omar Bongo, he is illustrated by a solitary exercise of power whose
characteristics are:
Reform of the Constitution of 2010 that deprived the
Fundamental Law of all its substance, allowing the Chief Executive to arrogate
all powers, exerting hyper precedence over other constitutional institutions,
to the point that he alone holds the ability to appoint members of these
institutions.
Moreover, this reform offers no possibility of alternation and
presidential term limits, noting without surprise the type of governance of his
late father during his 42 years in power undivided and without alternation. It
provides even less judicial independence and democratic control of defense
forces security. To this end, the President of the Republic, without going
through Parliament may decree a state of siege or state of emergency when it
wants to muzzle any attempt to express or assert any single fundamental right.
Certainly,
the current Constitution of Gabon has been imposed on the people in violation
of the principles and objectives of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections
and Governance which Gabon had signed February 2, 2010 and the International
Covenant on Civil Rights Policies and ratified by Gabon in 1983. The power of the
BONGO in Gabon, which has been for over 44 years, has often sprained any form
of mechanism operation to endeavor to make institutional strength which
guarantees the rule of law and democracy.
IV-The establishment of
a repressive regime
In addition to this anti-democratic reform, Ali Bongo comes
off worse by instituting a reign of terror, violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, namely:
• The destruction of millions of
homes for low-income populations in Libreville since December 2011;
• Land grabbing people in rural areas
and the planned destruction of hundreds of thousands of hectares of virgin
forests for the benefit of Asian manufacturers, namely the infamous Singaporean
company OLAM, for the creation of rubber plantations in own violation of
international commitments of Gabon in the preservation of the environment;
• Torture, arbitrary arrests and
degrading treatment in detention facilities and detention centers across the
country;
• The continuing brutal police
repression and violence against student movements;
• The restriction of freedom of
expression characterized by numerous bans media outlets critical of the regime
as Echos of the North (Échos du Nord), Ezombolo, TV+. Some journalists are
victims of fallacious lawsuits mounted to dissuade them from criticising the
regime, this is the case of Mr Désiré ENAME who had to flee and take refuge in
Cameroon;
• The restriction of actions of
organizations of civil society and free trade unions who see theirs constantly
hampered by the Government: Trade Unionists have seen their salaries suspended
in 2011 for calling for the best working conditions;
• The prohibition of a political
party of the opposition and nationwide, the National Union for legitimately
vehemently disputed the 2009 election of Ali Bongo and arbitrary prosecutions
against many executives and supporters of that party.
V-Your commitment
against Françafrique
When you went head to head with Nicolas Sarkozy, and during
your first speech to the French people as a candidate elected, we have marked
three values: justice, youth and respect for law.
So Mr. President, how would you explain the relationships
that inevitably develop between your democratic institutions and those of a
country where leaders are not your legitimacy?
For the values that you defend, and for the strength of
institutions and the freedom of citizens to be meaningful, must we not first say
that those who claim to promote them, leaders, must be credible showing
exemplary as you the suggested to your opponent during the debate? But given
the litigation that the Gabonese regime has towards the institutions of his
country and the people of Gabon, what could justify your tenderness to such
ignominy than the dictatorship of Bongo in Gabon? The Bongo regime from father
to son has used all the heads of state of France before you were elected to
clear itself off of his crimes and his moral, political, institutional and
social debts, and suddenly they (the French leaders) are all presumed
established or complicity of guilt in this so pathetic situation of Gabon.
Knowing your exemplary morality, Mr. President, were you
going to extend the black list with your name in the register of inhuman French
leaders that protect dictatorships in Africa?
So you committed to ending the Françafrique, this system of
underground relations, corruption, briefcases which allows some leaders of
France to continue to ensure control of its former colonies, maintain and
install in power incompetent and dictatorial regimes under his benevolent
protection.
Yes, Mr. President, we must eradicate this nebula
immediately, the African people expect from you a strong signal, acts of
irreversible rupture. On this aspect, you had resolutely refused to endorse
unconstitutional changes, marked by manipulation of the basic laws for the
benefit of African dictators, the presidencies for life, just as topical as
inheritance in Gabon because of falsification of the constitution and the
electoral code which reads the truncated elections and who schedule in advance
the victory that the people disavow, in this case Mr. Ali BONGO.
France must defend and promote its core values in the world,
and democracy is one of them that we need to see finally established in Gabon.
The message from France should not vary. The same
requirements that are imposed on Syria should be consistency in echoing the
regime of Ali Bongo who, long before that of Syria, already saw his father Omar
Bongo ruled for 42 years by opposing the introduction of the rule of law and
inalienable rights.
If the long-awaited change has taken place democratically and
in France as we, African Francophile, had hoped, it is because the wheel of
history does not stop. The field of struggle for freedom is gradually expanding
in the world, time of change and renewal must be provided for policy full of
paradoxes that France leads in Africa and particularly in Gabon.
VI-Support for civil
society and democratic forces
Mr. President, Gabonese civil society wishes to establish a
new alliance with Gabon based on a mutually beneficial strategic partnership
between our two peoples linked by an ancient story of two centuries. This
collaboration we want strengthened to be effective must necessarily take into
account the imperatives of democracy, civil liberties, human rights,
transparency in short good governance.
You are committed to supporting the work of civil society; we
sincerely hope that France is more attentive and more active in its support for
the Movement "Enough is Enough" whose role of opposite-power is vital
to democracy in Gabon against an oligarchic, corrupt and authoritarian regime.
VII-The fight against
the ill-gotten gains
Mr President, the fight against corruption including
international financial crime is at the forefront of your concerns; we want to
see France, under your authority, act with vigor and rigor against the Evil
Goods Purchased by African Heads of State at the expense of the development of
basic infrastructures in their country with the complicity of certain French
banks. France must give no protection to criminals and African financial
members of their families holding assets stolen from French banks. As such,
futures and judicial proceedings in progress must go to completion
independently.
As we pointed out in the transition from the former French
Prime Minister Francois Fillon in Gabon, at the end of last year, Gabon is in generalized
despair regarding its primary infrastructures (roads, schools, hospitals,
housing). The state administration is riddled with corruption. The government
contracts are given to members of the presidential family, supporters of the
regime and contractors of dubious morality.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, France should no longer
hesitate and compromise with a corrupt regime, therefore, the choice of France
must be unequivocal.
If so, intelligence is still a character that allows humans
to prevent violence in advance of other solutions, then we can save this
episode in Gabonese people.
That is, Mr. President, the urgency to deal with in Gabon,
and not the digging notion of «co-development» often used for setting the tone
of "political correctness" by your predecessor after taking office in
2007. It should be rather strong institutions in Gabon that cynical defense
agreements with France.
We believe that our two countries will have more to gain if
the minds of both sides are emancipated from fantasies of neo-colonialism and
the syndrome of victimization or African referring any liability to France.
Hopefully this call finally found an ear, we wish you with
all our heart, Mr. President, a good five-year term that will see France regain
its dignity as a country of noble values, human rights, and consistent with its
conception of democracy and the rule of law beyond its borders.
Good luck Mr. President and long live France in its new
projections of the Franco-Gabonese relations!
Libreville, June 4, 2012
For Gabonese Civil
Society:
Mpaga George, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Network of Free Civil Society for Good Governance in Gabon (ROLBG), the first
spokesman of the Movement «Enough is Enough», Phone: (241) 07 51 993 2: gmpaga@yahoo.fr
Marc Ona Essangui, President of Brainforest;
Coordinator National, International Coalition Publish What You Pay Phone: (241)
07 29 41 40: ona_essangui@yahoo.com
Dieudonne MINLAMA
MINTOGO, President
of the National Observatory of Democracy, second spokesman of the Movement «Enough
is Enough», Phone: (241) 07948719 minlamadd@yahoo.fr
