Saturday, June 10, 2017

Congo Brazzaville:Pretentious and unpatriotic elite

Triple identities of its elite

In Congo, its elite have triple identities. You have to be careful when speaking with anyone of them. Whenever one smiles with you, you can’t really tell whether it is genuine or he is making a mockery of you. Most elite will always come closer to you whenever he/she is in danger politically or wants to use you to destroy his/her real or imaginary rival. Their friendships are never genuine. It is most often than not, a matter of interest. But in all, there are nonetheless some honest ones. The worse is that: they will say one thing, thinks differently and acts differently.

Inferiority complex

The other thing which has always marveled me with Congolese elite is not only their effort to speak French with a Parisian accent. It is also their inferiority complex toward white French people. They have a love and respect for France that I have never seen before. To some of them, the most superior White is French and from Paris. The simple facts that, today, most of them because of their ill gotten wealth, they are forced to keep their pillage in China, Morocco, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates, is really painful to them. They spend their ill gotten wealth in those countries mentioned, but to the Congolese elite of the corrupt class it doesn’t have the same taste had they spent their ill gotten wealth in France, especially in Paris. The seizing of properties and ill gotten from Congolese dignitaries in France or preventing them from traveling to France is most painful than jailing them. It is perhaps the best thing that civil society organisations such a Sherpa and Transparency International have done. However, the success will be complete when western governments, especially France starts expelling their children, wives, mistresses or denying them healthcare.

Another Personal experience: Congolese inferiority complex

When I was still working for Telesud in Paris, France, Maurice Nguesso once visited our newsroom. During his visit, he met with Bernard Volker, the director of Telesud, who is of course a white French man. At that time, I was working concomitantly for Telesud and MNCOM. And when Mr Volker told him that, I was an excellent journalist, Maurice Nguesso was impressed. When his visit was over, I went to accompany to his car, which was stationed in the parking lot. However, before entering into his car, we shock hands and he looked at me straight into my eyes and said: “so you are so good, to a point that, white French people are appreciating your professionalism?”  Then he added: “we are going to dominate the Congolese media landscape that is full with communist oriented journalists who prefer to sing the praises of your friend”. The morality of this experience is that, had I not been appreciated by a white French man, he would not have given any consideration to my very little talent. To the discharge of Maurice Nguesso and also to some Congolese elite, they are not the only ones who have a sickening inferiority complex, on the continent, when it comes to their relationship with whites. I am convinced that, even some white people are taken aback at how they are respected, whenever they visit the continent, especially in French-speaking Africa: Congo Brazzaville.

Pretentious & unpatriotic elite
 

During my stay in Brazzaville, I can’t count the number of times some government ministers have told me proudly how they can’t watch their dresses or clothes in Brazzaville or how they can’t consume meat sold in the country’s butcher’s shops. They were proud to tell me that, their dresses were cleansed in Paris and their meat and even yogurts came from Paris, France. Even their cars, most often SUVs, when broken down, they are loaded into cargo planes and taken for repairs in France. In fact most Congolese elite are a proud, pretentious, unpatriotic, shallow minded, primitive, incompetent and mendacious lot, with little or no love for their country. They are worst than mercenaries, hence they are swift to embezzle the country’s wealth to secure it abroad.

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