Ifrikia Kengue: Profile of a hard working female journalist from Congo

Ifrikia Kengue:  she is perhaps the best online journalist in Congo. Calm, intelligent and above all, independent minded. She is the antithesis of Sadio Kante-Morel in term of character. However, professionally, she is to print media and online or social media, what Sadio Kante is to TV journalism in Congo. Another difference with Sadio and her is that, she is purely a journalist and keeps her political opinions to herself or expresses them only to friends that, she has confidence in them. However, this has not shielded her from being subject of attacks from the government and their thugs. Ifrikia Kengue is in my humble opinion, the embodiment of what a journalist should be. That is: hard working, not accepting the dictates of the employer, especially if they are against the respect of human right and press freedom. In my opinion also, a journalist must moreover be ready to defend and promote free speech and free market, as well as, all liberal orientations. 

Ifrikia Kengue is also the antithesis of most Congolese girls, in particular female journalists, whose only ambition is to be showy and always desiring to get married to a rich old baron of the ruling party. Rather than count on men, she is hard working. She does not only defy the macho world of the Congolese press, she has even gone the extra mile to create her own media company. It is a testimony not only to her professionalism but more of her independent and bold spirit. And in a country where the press is weak and also where most journalists are not digitally savvy, she is a pioneer in digital or online journalism in Congo. Her only rival or competitor is Sadio Kante-Morel. Ifrikia Kengue is a graduate of the school of Mass Communication of the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville. She has worked for several newspapers in Brazzaville and abroad either as a permanent staff or as a stringer. Some of them are: Jeune Afrique, La Semaine Africaine and Terrafrica. She is also known well as a prodemocracy activist and also women’s right activists.