Introduction : My experience working as a journalist in Congo-Brazzaville

This is book is written not as a score settling piece , but it is meant  to explain amongst other things my experience working as an independent journalist in a country that I have come to love. My wish is that, it helps many who will have the privilege to read it to understand some cultural realities that I suspect is unique to Congo especially amongst its elite: male and female.  It is also expected, I believe that, after reading this book readers would understand how difficult it is to work as an independent journalist in a country whose leaders pretend to love freedom of speech whereas in reality, their only love is a culture of praise with little or no room for contradictions. The Republic of Congo, I must point out is where I seem to have done my best journalistic work. It is also where to my chagrin; I discovered the importance to balance professional and family life. In other words, it is also where I lost my family and also found a new girl that I came to love and defend against all odds. However, what I don’t know as I write this whether my love and loyalty to her is reciprocal. As mentioned in the beginning of this introduction, this book is not meant to settle scores with my former friends. It is not also meant to serve as a kind of psychotherapy for me.

It is nevertheless aimed at helping me to forget all the violence that I suffered from people that I knew and thought that, they were my friends.  Finally this book sets into perspective Congo presently and also after President Denis Sassou Nguesso via the brief profiles of people that I have met while working in Congo. Denis Sassou Nguesso who is in his second and last mandate at the head of Congo and he is the one who has laid the foundation of a country with great potentials and he also shoulders the blame and responsibilities of all that has worked as well as all that has failed such as the falling standard of education and a lot more. What must be said is that, while as leader he will assume the responsibility of all that has gone wrong, President Denis Sassou Nguesso did or is not governing alone. Therefore, the responsibility of the positive as well as of the negative will be shared by all who have governed with him and have never had the courage to speak out. What is shocking is that, I wanted to give a credible face to a system that doesn’t want change. Truly, a leopard can’t change it spots.

Douala, April 15^th 2015