Aime Emmanuel Yoka, MP. He is Congo’s minister of justice and keeper
of the seals and also an uncle to President Denis Sassou Nguesso. Prior to his
current post, he was the Director of Cabinet or chief of staff to President
Denis Sassou Nguesso. It is reported that, he was dismissed from the post
because he had transformed it into a reception office for all traditional heads
of their region, who wanted to meet the president, but that, the president
never wanted to meet at regular intervals.
Aime Emmanuel Yoka is a very proud man, who tells everyone who cares to
listen that, he is the most educated and most civilized within the ruling
Nguesso family. And it is not exactly wrong, for if the academic success of your
children were a benchmark to measure personal success, then Aime Emmanuel Yoka
can boast that, he is the most educated and the most civilized and also, the
most successful man within the ruling family. For all his children studied
abroad and mostly in English-speaking private Universities and more, they are
almost all working for multinationals and also for international organizations.
One of his sons is the Congo country manager of the Australian mining giant
Sundance, while another one works in Ethiopia with the French Agency for
International Development abbreviated in French as AFD. And there is another
one, this time around, a female, who is a successful promoter of Congolese culture
and in particular, Congolese movies. She
is a Harvard graduate and also the first in the family to attain the prestigious
Ivy League institution in the USA.
The African movie
industry is currently dominated by the Nigerian movie industry, generally known
as Nollywood. While other children with influential parents within the galaxy
of power in Brazzaville, especially members of the ruling Nguesso family would
study or claim to have studied abroad and come back with doubtful academic and
professional profiles only to work in the civil service and this, at top
functions, it is not the case with children of Aime Emmanuel Yoka. The children of Aime Emmanuel Yoka are hard
working and above all else, they are independent minded. They are mostly humble
and not the show and tell types of their ruling cousins. According to the rumor
mills in Brazzaville, Aime Emmanuel Yoka is not only too proud. He is also
reported to be a maniac. There is an anecdote that claims that, Aime Emmanuel
Yoka is so clean to the point of paranoia and to a point where, when he was appointed as
minister of justice, he did refuse to
use his office because, he claimed that, it was not only too small, but very
dirty. And he worked from home and only
accepted to start going to his ministry, when an imposing modern ministry of
justice building constructed by the Chinese was built. The new imposing building
located along the Denis Sassou Nguesso Motorway and adjacent to the Brazzaville
central Police station, some say, was specially built for him. Legend I gathered
in Brazzaville has it that, there are three capricious men in Congo who are so
closed to the president and will have whatever they want.
Kouyous massacre
They are: Aime
Emmanuel Yoka, Oba Aponou and General Benoit Mondele Ngollo. I must point out
that, it has never been proven. It is once again, the Brazzaville or Congolese
reality and legends. In spite having strictly raised up his children and also having
an idealistic view of the world, Aime Emmanuel Yoka remains a controversial figure
in the eyes of ordinary Congolese, for he is considered a central piece of the
regime. And as such, he has no future or
he will play no role in Congolese politics after Denis Sassou Nguesso is gone
from power. He is accused by some people
albeit without proves again, that, he was the one that, President Denis Sassou
Nguesso mandated to treat secretly with Jacques Chirac a deal to hunt and kill
Captain Anga. At that time, Jacques Rene Chirac was French prime minister. The
secret deal negotiated on behalf of Congo by Aime Emmanuel Yoka, it is claimed,
was for France to send French forces in Owando to search and arrest Captain
Anga. Captain Anga was a friend in arm to President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who
had entered into an open rebellion against the state. In the presumed secret French
military operation, it is reported that, thousands of innocent ethnic Kouyous
were massacred.
Bond of contention
The said massacre it
is claimed did continue long after captain Anga was arrested and killed. The massacre
of the Kouyous is another genocide that took place this time, in the north of
Congo and which has been silenced or never reported. It is also claimed to be
another bond of contention between the ethnic Kouyous of Owando and the minority
but ruling Mbouchi ethnic group of Oyo on the background of the unsolved assassination
of Marien Ngouabi. Marien Ngouabi was the leader of the 1968 coup d’état that
brought the northerners, in particular those of the Cuvette region in power. He
was an ethnic Kouyou from Ombelle, located some 17km from Owando, the regional capital.
He is suspected to have been assassinated by Mbouchi officers. The bad feelings
of the Kouyous against the Mbouchis were revived again, after another massacre that
took place in Owando in 1997.
Another accusation
Although a loyal
supporter of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Aime Emmanuel Yoka has another
accusation leveled against him. He is being accused by some of his foes within
and without the ruling family that, he was the one who oversaw the writing of
the January 20th 2002 constitution. A constitution that instituted presidential
term limits, which has become a torn in the flesh of the regime that wants to
elongate the presidential mandate of President Denis Sassou Nguesso. His principal accuser, it is reported, to be
Jean Dominique Okemba. Mr Okemba is the nephew of the President. It is reported
that, Jean Dominique Okemba claims that, Aime Emmanuel Yoka has misled Denis
Sassou Nguesso to accept term limitations. What Jean Dominique Okemba fails to
mentioned to people that he confides to is that, he himself wants to succeed
President Denis Sassou either in 2016 or by 2023. Toward his presidential
ambition, he has created an association headed by a Journalist called Asie
Dominique de Marseille. He is sponsoring by proxy, the Troubadour newspaper headed
by a brilliant journalist by name Francois Bikindou. He controls the state
security services and intelligent services.
Boastful Okemba
It is also reported that,
in one traditional meeting held in Edou, he boasted that, he is not General
Pierre Oba and other close aides to the President, whom in his words; he
accused to have betrayed the president in 1992, by to allowing Pascal Lissouba
to come to power.
During that same
meeting, he is also claimed to have vowed that, under him, President Denis
Sassou Nguesso won’t leave power. He speaks as though he was the only real
protector or bulwark of the President. But beneath the public display of
loyalty toward the President, hides a desperate power hungry man, who is ready
to be given the head of his uncle on Plata of gold, like the head of John in the
bible. He wants power and he is ready to take it whenever he wants. His only
fear is the reaction of a section of the top commanders of the Congolese army that
he doesn’t control. He is also reported
to have verbally attacked Mr Laurent Tengo, who is a researcher and law lecturer
at the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville. Mr Tengo, mindful of the
negative reputation that Jean Dominique Okemba has, he (Laurent Tengo) was too
terrified and did not only beef up his personal security, he decided to confide
to a trusted friend. The reason being simple, that, in case he dies or is
attacked, they should know the source and cause of his attack. Why? It was
reported to me by a person whose name I can’t expose here on because his
security is not assured in Brazzaville that, Laurent Tengo, being amongst those
who drafted the new Congolese Constitution, which has abrogated that of January
20th 2002, was attacked by Okemba for taking part in the drafting
committee.
Ambitious
Jean Dominique Okemba
and his group had already told the president that, the people won’t appreciate
constitutional change. He therefore wanted people such as Laurent Tengo not to
help his uncle in his plans. The truth is that, Jean Dominique Okemba was
correct, for the people never wanted the constitution to be changed. The people
are tired of Denis Sassou Nguesso. The only problem with Jean Dominique Okemba’s
plans is that, it was not for the people or for the respect of state institutions.
For Okemba was crossed when he learnt that, his uncle won’t respect the
constitution and felt that people such as Laurent Tengo were the ones who
wanted his uncle to elongate his stay in power and in doing so, reduce his
chances of ever governing Congo. It is not surprising, Jean Dominique Okemba is
very influential and it is normal that he aspires to succeed his uncle.
Absolves completely or partially
But Professor Charles
Zacherie Bowao has another look at the accusations against Aime Emmanuel
Yoka. Professor Charles Zacherie Bowao,
who was former minister delegate at the Presidency of the Republic, in charge
of defense and who was also a member of the 2002 constitutional drafting
committee, said that, when him and others protested against the introduction of
presidential terms limits, it was not Aime Emmanuel Yoka who introduced it, but
it was President Denis Sassou Nguesso himself who insisted that, the 2002 constitution must
have presidential term limits in it. This statement from Professor Charles
Zacherie Bowao absolves completely or partially, Aime Emmanuel Yoka from the insinuations
of Jean Dominique Okemba.
Why did the president
want to have term limitations in the constitution just to change it 13 years
after, according to Charles Zacharie
Bowao, the President at that time, said ,Congo must have a contemporary modern
constitution. While Charles Zacherie
Bowao partially absolves Aime Emmanuel Yoka and heaps all the current
difficulties encountered by the regime in their desire to change the
constitution squarely on President Denis Sassou Nguesso, it is not, the same
position shared by Jean Martin Bemba, former minister of Justice and also
member of the constitutional drafting committee. Notwithstanding some slide
variations, the former minister of justice claims that, it was the president
who wanted to have term limits in the 2002 constitution. This corroborates the
statements of Charles Zacherie Bowao. Jean Martin Bemba goes further: it might
explain the reason, why he (president) decided at some point, to put all the
responsibility of the drafting committee in the hands of his uncle, Aime
Emmanuel Yoka. Jean Martin Bemba went
on: Perhaps it is because Aime Emmanuel Yoka was part of the inner core, who wanted
presidential term limits. Hence he seldom speaks on the necessity of changing
the constitution as championed by the likes of Thierry Moungalla and Pierre
Mabiala.
An idealist
Then he
concludes: Aime Emmanuel Yoka might be
modern, honest, well educated, but he loves power, which may have meant that,
he may or may not have wanted term limits but was too afraid to say or express
any point of view. He likes standing or sitting on the fence. Emmanuel Yoka is
an idealist, hence he decided in 2012 to run as Member of Parliament for
Vindza. It is an electoral constituency and region located in the south of the
country and reputed for being hostile to the ruling family and their tribe. The
paradox is that, he won, even if there were suspicions of vote rigging. But what
gave legitimacy to his controversial victory was that, he had the support of a
former warlord by name Pastor Ntumi. Asked why he went down south to stand or
run for a post of MP? He responded: to fight against tribalism, bigotry and
above all, build a real nation that doesn’t currently exist. Aime Emmanuel Yoka
says he doesn’t read local newspapers, because the content is not only poor but
also badly written. He also adds that, Congo lacks professional journalists and
that is also why, he doesn’t watch Congo’s national television station: Tele
Congo. He is also reported to have once
told Maria Maylin, who is his friend and also a close friend to President Denis
Sassou Nguesso that, his only regret is that, as brilliant as he is and also
being the most educated person in the ruling Nguesso family , he is a black
man. He would have wanted to be a French
White. Whether this is correct or not, it
is left for Mrs. Maria Maylin to justify it. But if it is true, it won’t be a
surprise, because even the patriarch of their clan, Maurice Nguesso and also
the President of the Republic Denis Sassou Nguesso, are people who still have
inferiority complex, when they are in contact with white people , especially French whites.
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