Pascal Tsaty Mabiala MP: Secretary General of UPADS

Pascal Tsaty Mabiala MP: he is a former minister under the troubled presidency of Pascal Lissouba and currently, he is an MP for the largest intra parliamentary opposition party, known in French as Union Panafriciane pour la Democractie Sociale or Pan African Union for Social Democracy, abbreviated in French as UPADS. This party was founded by Pascal Lissouba. Pascal Lissouba who is an astute political figure was its pioneer secretary general.  As for Pascal Tsaty Mabiala, he is calm in the way he manages UPADS and more, he is not exuberant in his opposition to President Denis Sassou Nguesso as Mathias Dzon is. But he is staunchly opposed to any extension of the mandate of the President and he has made it known secretly and publicly.  He also has presidential ambitions, but in my opinion, it is an ambition that is going to be difficult to attain. Because, while he is calm and plays the role of an opposition figure, I doubt his sincerity to the course for which the people voted him for. He is too close to President Denis Sassou Nguesso to be fully independent and also to be able to oppose him as others in his position would. Furthermore, personal and financial integrity is doubtful, which also puts in doubt his loyalty to the opposition that he professes to belong. I was told by Arlette Soudan-Nonault that, he sold a parcel of land in Bacongo, which belongs to his party to a Chinese supermarket chain called Asia, for the sum of FCFA 1 billion. Another Congolese told me that, that same parcel of land was sold for FCFA 400 million. While the price for the sale of the land belonging to the UPADS may vary, the only information that doesn’t is that, both sources claim that, Pascal Tsaty Mabiala did not report the sales or financial transactions to his party. Personally, I have not tried to contact other members of his party to support or reject the latter accusations, for in Brazzaville slander or blackmail is a hobby. Pascal Tasty Mabiala has never been available to talk about the sale of the land earmarked to be the place where the headquarters of the former ruling party would have been. 

While Arlette Soudan respects Pascal Tsaty Mabiala as opposed to other politicians of the opposition whom she classifies as extremes, she nonetheless thinks that, he is rancorous. For, she thinks, he has not fully digested the manner by which they lost power in 1997 to Denis Sassou Nguesso. Aime Emmanuel Yoka, who is Congo’s minister of Justice also shares the same thoughts expressed by Arlette Soudan Nonault. He is of the opinion that, Pascal Tsaty Mabiala like most close collaborators of former President Pascal Lissouba. He might be harboring some anger or revenge against the current regime. But why won’t he? When the current regime is doing or even worse things in term of the violation of human rights and press freedoms than, the former one. however in speeches and interviews that, I have conducted with Pascal Tsaty Mabiala, I did not sense any spirit of vengeance against the current regime, even though, it was the current regime that brutally ended their rule. Perhaps the claims of both Arlette Soudan-Nonault and Aime Emmanuel Yoka might be correct, because Pascal Tsaty Mabiala doesn’t like or hates General Jean Marie Michel Mokoko. And his hatred for Mokoko dates back to when the former was the Joint Chief of Staff to Pascal Lissouba, but denied to heed the President’s order to use the army to quell opposition demonstrators, which transformed into militias such as the cobras of Denis Sassou Nguesso. The rancor that Pascal Tsaty Mabiala has against General Mokoko has remained until date.

As for Bienvenu Mabilemono, an opposition party leader based in France, he claims that, if Pascal Tsaty Mabiala has been mollified, it is simply because, he has been bought over by Denis Sassou Nguesso, hence he has decided to weaken the former ruling party. Mr Mabilemono even advances the sum of FCFA 300 million, being the amount paid by the government in order for Tsaty Mabiala to accept to end his exile in Belgium to return home and justify Denis Sassou Nguesso’s claims that, he has pardoned former supporters of Pascal Lissouba. The problem with Mabilemono’s claims are that, he doesn’t have proves. However, Pascal Tsaty Mabiala is a political figure who matters and would play a primordial role in Congo to end the long misrule of President Denis Sassou Nguesso. While I write this, it would also depend on how loyal and opposed to Denis Sassou Nguesso Pascal Tsaty Mabiala will stay. His first test will be where or in which camp he will chose during the presidential elections. And as an excellent strategist, he knows pretty well how to maneuver his way within the political system of Congo that is synonymous to a river invested with crocodiles.