Congo Brazzaville, land of Flattery and French courtesy

Unauthentic

What I have also observed with some Congolese elite that I have visited and befriended is that, they are very unauthentic. On the advice of one of my Congolese friend, I did at some points, began limiting the expression of what I honestly thought on Television and on Radio or even on social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Viber. Clearly speaking, I started self censorship. In other words, I became a hypocrite, just like most Congolese politicians and elite are. I became like them: shallow in my thoughts and utterances, because I wanted to please. Paradoxically, it did not prevent them from expelling me.

 

Rules in Congo: Flattery and French courtesy

One golden rule in Congo is that, it is proscribe to tell the truth, in particular to the governing elite. It explains why the country is full of professional liars. To survive in Congo, you must lie or shower the elite with excessive praise, in behaving that way, you are assured to win their favour.  I have personally tried the experience and it has succeeded. Whenever I visited a friend who belonged to what I generally referred to as the “happy few” or “its governing elite”, I played “the Congolese ways”. That is, tell my host what he wanted to hear. However, there were occasions and people to whom I could honestly speak what I thought. But it was reserved only to elite that I had known for a very long while and whom, I must have tested and discovered that, he/she can take praise as well as criticisms. Alain Akouala, Clement Mierassa, Raymond Zephirin Mboulou and Bienvenu Okiemy are the only close Congolese elite that I know who accepted honest appraisals: positive and negative. And the second rule in Congo is, always to rain praises or flattery on your interlocutor, in particular, if he/she is a minor or major actor within the governing elite. Objectivity is alien to those currently governing the country. Another observation that supports the fact that, most Congolese elite, in particular males, loves praise and little critics is this: whenever a Congolese  government minister grants an interview to the Press, especially to Radio France international, he/she will call all his/her collaborators around and ask them to give their impressions. The responses expected must all be positive, for any contrary comments attract the rage of the minister and also the risk of loss of employment. That is why; Congolese authorities and government officers always make strategic mistakes, because there are no rooms for those hired as advisers to express sincerely what they really think. As a consequence, most keep their opinions to themselves for fear of losing their jobs and privileges.

Experience (1)

I once visited a government minister who was living in the heart of the city of Brazzaville and in keeping with the advice of my Congolese friend, when I arrived at the minister’s house and was given a seat, I sat down. When I was comfortably seated, I sensed that, the minister was preparing to go out. Where was he going to? That I can’t tell, but I told him: “Sir, you are well dressed”. Immediately, he smiled from ear to ear. And, strangely, a man who looked as though he was in hurry to leave when I came in suddenly went into slow motion, and he replied: “I have spent most of my life in Paris, the global capital of fashion. That explains why I make sure am always well dressed and in a trendy manner.” And he went on: “I am not like the other minister who is a railway trade unionist and a communist, who studied in the former Soviet Union”. Then, after our conversation, I don’t know whether, he really wanted to go out or he simply wanted to show me his latest suit from Paris, he went into his room, changed and don a new suit. He behaved as if he was in a dress rehearsal for a male fashion parade.

Show and tell

The way the latter mentioned government minister reacted is a well known attribute of Congolese elite: show and tell. Most of them are also very pretentious.  Congolese elite like to dress well and take good care of their physic by buying expensive perfumes and also sadly, use bleaching creams to whiten up. Remember this rule, which must not be neglected in Congo: you must constantly compliment Congolese elite and never criticize him/her, if you want to have any favors. The other brand of Congolese elite is that, his dresses won’t be given any consideration, if they are not bought in France. That is, his suits, tie, shirt and shoes. This concerns not only the top alpha male but also women belonging to the “happy few circles”. 

Alain Shungu: profile of a trainer of Congolese reporters

Alain Shungu: one can’t talk about contemporary Congolese journalism without mentioning the name of Alain Shungu. He stands on the same pedestal with veteran journalists such as Mfumu Fylla, Joseph Bitala Bitemo and Jean Claude Kakou. Alain Shungu has worked as a stringer or local correspondent for several African and western media outfits. He has also offered several Congolese, on the job training, to become reporters. Besides that, he launched the news services of three radio and television stations in Congo: DRTV, MNTV and ESTV. At DRTV, he is credited to transformed, the pan European TV concept: No Comment, into a Congolese concept of long commercial breaks of 15 minutes, paid for by advertisers. In short, the Congolese “NO Comment” is not about news but about long promotional advert. The soft spoken journalist is amongst those who have influence the Congolese media landscape. In doing so, he has contributed in the promotion of democracy and freedom of speech in Congo. Even though, freedom of speech and democracy are still a luxury or a mirage in Congo. Unlike militant journalists such as Ghys Fortune Dombe Bemba of Talassa or Guy Milex Mbondzi of La Voix du Peuple or even Francois Bikindou of Le Troubadour, he is not known for taking sides on any controversial political, economic or social issues. Alain Shungu is an enigma person to many Congolese. Some claim that, because of his proximity to some influential members of government, in particular Pierre Oba, hence he is silent on major abuses carried out by the state. However, I have also noted that, while he doesn’t criticize the government, he doesn’t also criticize the opposition, as do some of his colleagues, especially, Francois Bikindou.

He is on the fence to some, while others claim that, he is a professional, hence his neutrality. In spite his professional experience, he is humble and always ready to learn. He is also humane, hence ready to offer assistance to others, especially his colleagues. If there was a medal decoration awarded to journalists for their mastery of the socio-political and economic reality of any given country, Alain Shungu would have qualified for one. For he  knows a lot about Congolese politics and also the country’s terrible human rights record, especially immediately after the 1997 civil war. His mastery of Congolese social and political engineering is akin to those of Alphonse Ndongo and Joachim Mbanza, two brilliant journalists. Furthermore, he also knows all those who partook in war crimes or atrocities during and after the 1997 civil war and the two wars that preceded it. Unfortunately, the only  obstacle on the way of Alain Shungu, obtaining an award for his mastery of Congo’s socio political and economic realities is that, he has never sat down to write his experiences: professionally, socially, politically  and economic. As concerns the beach massacre, he is also very conversant with what happened and how. For the so-called beach massacre took place in 1999, when 352 Congolese refuges, returning from the DRC went missing at the Brazzaville’s, Congo River port, generally referred to as beach. Hence the name: Beach massacre or in French, le massacre du beach.  Alain Akouala, former minister of Communications, describes Alain Shungu as a hardworking journalist.

While Maurice Nguesso, the chairman of the board of directors of the media group MNCOM, parent company of MNTV/MN Radio says: without the help of Alain Shungu, he won’t have been able to launch his Radio and Television station in 2009.But not everyone has kind words for Alain Shungu, in spite having spent most of his life in Brazzaville and married to a Congolese woman with children, some still consider him as a “Zairois”, which is a derogatory term to describe Congolese from the DRC.  Although he knows most Congolese authorities, it has not shielded him from attacks, especially whenever he allows the opposition to speak or covers stories that, the government doesn’t want Congolese and the world to know about. Alain Shungu was born on the 27th of December 1960 in Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but grew up in Brazzaville, where he began his journalism career. He first started working as reporter for the following weekly newspapers papers: Le Patriote and Aujourd’hui, respectively in 1991 and 1992. While working for the latter newspapers, he also served as correspondent in Brazzaville, for Forum des AS, a biweekly newspaper, based in Kinshasa in the DRC. He later on, worked successively as correspondent for Radio France International, Voice of America, and Deutsch Welle, respectively from 1993-1988, 1993-2007 and 1995-2010.

He has also worked for French and pan African newspapers such as Ouest France from 1994-1999, Africa International from 1993-2012. And from 1999 to 2005, he was the trainer and pioneer news Director of Congo’s first privately owned Radio and Television called Digital Radio and Television abbreviated DRTV. He held similar function from July 2009 to October 2011 at MNTVTV/MN Radio. And since November 2011, he is the Managing Director of Equateur Service Radio and Television. It is a privately owned media. Alain Shungu is the cofounder of an NGO called African Journalists in Danger, known in French as Journaliste Africain en Danger abbreviated JED and this since 1993. Since February 2014, he is the correspondent of TV 5 Monde in Congo with possibility to cover the DRC. Alain Shungu has until 2005, also served as representative for Reporters without Borders abbreviated RSF.  I can’t still understand the reason why he has not written or published a book on all what he knows on all the atrocities carried out by the government since 1997, in particular, the beach massacre.