Jean Dominique Okemba: also known as Satan, the devil

She admits that, he (Denis Sassou Nguesso) commits mistakes in the way he manages the country, but she almost always throws the blames on others. It is a classic response or reaction from all those who are supporting President Denis Sassou Nguesso. They will almost always tell you that, he is good, but his entourage is bad. And this question: who appoints the bad people in his entourage?  In the ruling Nguesso family, the whipping boy or Turkish head is Jean Dominique Okemba also known within and without the clan as Satan the devil. Vice Admiral Jean Dominique Okemba, who is the nephew of President Denis Sassou Nguesso doubles as secretary general of the Congolese National Security Council and special adviser to his uncle of a president. Vice Admiral Jean Dominique Okemba is certainly a very influential figure within the galaxy of power of the ruling family and the country and the hatred that he attracts is proportional to the real and imaginary influences that he commands within the administration. He is attributed all what are heinously done by the regime and never what are good.  Hence his (Jean Dominique Okemba) nickname: Satan, the devil.

Paradoxically, those who hate Jean Dominique Okemba the most are not ordinary Congolese, but a section of the ruling family, which is his own family, in particular, some of the many children of President Denis Sassou Nguesso. They hate him not because he has done anything appalling to them, but simply because, their father (Denis Sassou Nguesso) who is Okemba’s uncle has puts a lot of confidence in Jean Dominique Okemba. Furthermore, Jean Dominique Okemba also has money, but he doesn’t brag as is the case with Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, the son of Denis Sassou Nguesso who is one of the deputy managers of the Congolese hydrocarbon corporation abbreviated in French as SNPC. Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso is in charge of the sales of the country’s crude within SNPC. Besides money and influence, some members of the ruling clan are of the opinion that, Jean Dominique Okemba is secretly nursing plans to succeed his uncle who is their father. This aspect of the ruling Nguesso family feud or why Denis Sassou Nguesso has confidence in Jean Dominique Okemba will be developed.

The conduct or attitude of a section of the ruling clan toward Jean Dominique Okemba shows that, there is a simmering internal family civil war within, that may blowout into a conflagration. Our or should I say, my conversations with Lydie Hortense Kourissa also showed that, Denis Sassou Nguesso for all the noised made on how he surrendered power in 1992 was just a farce. The forces working against him were stronger and since he is a professional dissimulator and manipulator, he transformed his defeat and humiliations into democratic political victory. But time has come to expose him as a man who loves power and who will die like his late father in-law Omar Bongo Ondimba or his elder brother and friend Paul Biya in power. What I also noticed with Mrs. Lydie Hortense Kourissa was that, even though she was a practicing Christian and humbled, she was sensitive to anything that had to do with the regime of her uncle. She has a great love and respect for her uncle, Denis Sassou Nguesso. 

But on our debate on how MNTV/MN Radio should be managed, she gave up the fight not because she was convinced or wanted an independent media as I advocated, but it was more because she loves and respects her father’s opinion. She tilted her father’s way when she discovered that, her father never wanted to have a propaganda tool but a truly independent media outfit. This is where Maurice Nguesso is different from most members of his ruling clan. He is a strategist and a patriot doubled with a sense of business. He knows better than most that, his younger brother and also their clan is not loved by ordinary Congolese. Hence he does everything he can to solicit the love of ordinary Congolese.  Maurice Nguesso told her daughter: even though I have created my Radio and Television station to defend my younger brother, he has not given me a cent to set up this structure. It will help him if he allows it to prosper. But that, I doubt because he is under the influence of Jean Dominique Okemba and my daughter Claudia.

And then he turned toward to me and said: My son Elie Smith, you go ahead and work as you were doing at Telesud. Allow Congolese from all shades of opinions to express themselves freely on my Radio and Television station and newspaper. But, they must not defame or incite tribal, ethnic or regional hatred. I also don’t want to hear anything nationalistic on my media. We are all Africans and you are from Cameroon and the CEMAC sub region. CEMAC is the French abbreviation of a six member state sub regional political and economic body that fully stands for Economic and Monetary Union of Central African States. He added: those around my younger brother such as Jean Dominique Okemba our extended nephew and my daughter Claudia Leboumba Sassou Nguesso are deceiving my younger brother. Maurice Nguesso went on:  I have told my younger brother on several occasions that, he must allow Congolese to express themselves freely.

Maurice Nguesso continued: My brother seems to have forgotten all what he used to tell me when he had lost power in 1992.  This was what my brother Denis Sassou Nguesso used to tell me when he was no longer in power:  he would like to have a strong opposition and a strong independent press, which will force him to improve and deliver the best services to the Congolese. But today, I can’t recognize my brother anymore. All his declarations to me were just wishful thinking and thoughts. They are today promises in the wind because of Jean Dominique Okemba.  Maurice Nguesso seems to throw the blame on the failures of his younger brother on the doorsteps of their nephew Jean Dominique Okemba. While it is true that, Jean Dominique Okemba who is known differently as vice president or the very special one has influence on Denis Sassou Nguesso his uncle, I would want to stick with the opinion of Colonel Marcel Nstourou. He once told me that, President Denis Sassou Nguesso always likes to hide behind others to act in order to appear as the good one or the victim. He adds that: Denis Sassou Nguesso has the attitude of a feline. He appears kind and sometimes weak, but in reality his is very violent, especially when it comes to his desire to stay in power.

Therefore, Jean Dominique Okemba who doesn’t like contradictions himself and by extension free speech, is not the one influencing Denis Sassou Nguesso to dislike press freedom, the president likes a press that showers praises on him and all what he does and nothing.  Denis Sassou Nguesso is a dictator, who thinks that, he was created by God to rule Congo. And as long as he is alive, he wants to be president of Congo and also have influence within the sub region and beyond. Armed with the support of Maurice Nguesso, I went ahead and established the editorial line, which was liberal and pro-democracy oriented. Personally, noted the heavy influence of Communism on Congolese and I hell bent at contributing in destroying it at my small level.  I consider Communism as a policy that was vile.  Communism in my humble opinion encourages personality cult culture, absence of a culture of merit and worst of all dictatorship. I felt it was an opportunity for me to encourage Congolese to be more liberal, pro-democratic and business oriented.