Mayoral mantle of the city of Brazzaville:The origin of the intra ruling Nguesso family feud

Eventually, I decided to suspend the programme after I sensed that, Ninelle Sassou Nguesso, one of the daughters of President Denis Sassou Nguesso and the wife of Hugues Ngouelondele, the Lord Mayor of Greater Brazzaville City Council, had made the phone- in- programme on MN Radio called: “Overture sûr l’info”, one of the main subject of their regular family meetings. Ninelle Sassou Nguesso claimed during their meetings that, it was Jean De Dieu KOURISSA, the husband of Mrs. KOURISSA, who has ordered me to start a smear campaign against her husband (Hugues Ngouelondele). The origin of the intra ruling Nguesso family feud, pitting on one side Lydie Hortense Kourissa, the eldest daughter of Maurice Nguesso and on the other side, Ninelle Sassou Nguesso, the daughter of Denis Sassou Nguesso began in 2007 legislative and Council elections. Why? To cut a long story short, The Kourissas were part of the returnee Nguessos from Libreville, where like the rest of the large contingent of the  ruling Nguessos, they flew in Libreville and stayed there when their sister and cousin, Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba was the wife of President Omar Bongo Ondimba.

However, when Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba fell sick and was flown to France for medical treatment, the Nguessos were no longer welcomed in Libreville at the presidential palace known in French as “Palais du bord de Mer.”  The one amongst the ruling Bongo family in Libreville who regarded the Nguessos as an invasion from Congo, was Ali Bongo Ondimba, the son of late Omar Bongo Ondimba and current president. He had a visceral hatred for Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, the wife of his father. It partly explains the reason why President Denis Sassou Nguesso doesn’t want to see president Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon.  It is because the current Congolese ruling family was no longer welcomed in Gabon, at least within power circles that, they began planning for their home coming. President Denis Sassou Nguesso never wanted Jean De Dieu Kourissa, the husband of his niece (Lydie Hortense Kourissa) to return home and start idling around.  President Denis Sassou Nguesso can be accused of all things negative, but he is a family man. He has strong love for his family and it is also part of the reason why he has failed in the administration of the country. For he always wants to satisfy his family interest first.  

And since their best profession is politics, the uncle in-law of Jean de Dieu Kourissa decided that, Jean De Dieu Kourissa since he was born in Poto-poto, he must be made a member of parliament.  However what the president never knew or expected was the challenge that would be mounted by another native of Poto-poto by name Nicephore Antoine Fylla de Saint Eudes to the Candidacy of Jean De Dieu Kourissa. Between Nicephore Antoine Fylla de Saint Eudes and Jean de Dieu Kourissa both born and bred in Poto-poto, it is the first who is more popular than the second. Furthermore, the other disadvantaged that Jean De Dieu Kourissa has is that, he is married to the niece of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who is not loved in Poto-poto because of two things: he is suspected to have assassinated Marien Ngouabi and also because he wanted to modernize the neighborhood. To the natives of Poto-poto, no matter the good intension of the president, modernization to them was a metaphor for expropriation.

And the man who fought against the expropriation of Poto-poto was Nicephore Antoine Fylla de Saint Eudes. But during the 2007 legislative elections that were fraught with monumental fraud in favour of Jean de Dieu Kourissa, the Nguessos were united to give their brother and son-in-law a job. However, what they, in particular did not know was that, the municipal councilors of Greater Brazzaville, even though belonging to the ruling PCT Party don’t like the Nguessos. Furthermore, Jean De Dieu Kourissa is partly ethnic Mbouchi from his mother and partly ethnic Lari from his father. Although he is more Mbouchi, than Lari, most PCT councilors and MPs from the Greater Brazzaville, being ethnic Laris and Kongos had preferred, that, the post of Lord Mayor of the Greater Brazzaville city council, should go to one of theirs.   It was Jean De Dieu KOURISSA, their choice.  The ruling PCT councilors in Brazzaville voted and wanted him (Jean De Dieu KOURISSA) to become Lord Mayor of the Greater Brazzaville city Council. But the wishes of the PCT councilors as well as those of PCT member of parliaments were not taken into consideration.

Regarding why the wishes of the PCT councilors of Brazzaville was not taken into consideration or ignored, Isidore MVOUBA, former Prime Minister, and currently Minister of Commerce, told me that, Ninelle Sassou Nguesso was the one who was vehemently opposed. In other words, if Jean De Dieu Kourissa is not Mayor of the Greater Brazzaville city council and could only console himself with his position of MP, it is because of one woman: Ninelle Sassou Nguesso. However, while not underestimating the influence of Ninelle Sassou Nguesso within the Sassou Nguesso power galaxy, the true game changer was Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, the late beloved daughter of President Denis Sassou Nguesso.  According to Isidore MVOUBA,  it was  an alleged intervention from  Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, the late wife of late Omar Bongo Ondimba on her father (Denis Sassou Nguesso) that forced or tilted the table in the favour of the husband of Ninelle Sassou Nguesso. The President of the Republic convinced by her late elder daughter to appoint his son-in-law as Lord Mayor of the Greater Brazzaville City Council, instructed Isidore MVOUBA, to ask the ruling PCT councilors in the Greater Brazzaville City Council to drop Jean De Dieu KOURISSA for the proposed post of lord mayor in favour of for Hugues Ngouelondele.

Mr Ngouelondele is the son-in-law of the President Denis Sassou Nguesso while Jean de Dieu Kourissa is the son-in-law of Maurice Nguesso.  Jean De Dieu Kourissa could at least console himself that, he was elected in controversial manner as a ruling PCT MP for Poto-poto, a populous neighborhood of Brazzaville at the expense of Nicephore Antoine Fylla de Saint Eudes. The pressure of Ninelle Sassou Nguesso did not only succeed to maneuver and to put her husband as mayor of the Greater Brazzaville city council and  as you will read later on, she succeeded years later on, precisely in 2012, to make her husband to be elected  as member of parliament for the Gamboma 1 legislative constituency. This time around, the second victim of Ninelle Sassou Nguesso after Jean De Dieu Kourissa was Mathias Dzon.

The husband of Ninelle who was an MP for Brazzaville who was at the end of his mandate, but he succeeded an electoral feat some 300km away from his Brazzaville base, at the expense of the very popular and charismatic Mathias Dzon. Mr Dzon is the main rival of President Denis Sassou Nguesso and there was no way Hugues Ngouelondele could have defeated Mr Dzon in his fief of Gamboma. Hugues Ngouelondele was elected in Gamboma 1 not because he was popular but out of the military bullying the people and brutal electoral fraud.  Ninelle Sassou Nguesso is a very influential member of the ruling family. Although she is cantankerous and most often bullies her half brothers and sisters, especially those born out of wedlock and recently recognized, she doesn’t brag or she is not the show and tell kind of the newly minted Nguessos.  At MNCOM or to be précised MNTV/ MN Radio, she also succeeded to put off air another very popular Radio call-in- Programme called “Good Morning Congo”. It was presented by Willy MESAMOU aka Mr Jekyll. Within the ruling Nguesso family, the Ninelle Sassou Nguesso wing was the most hawkish.

They are also the ones who think that, their father, Denis Sassou Nguesso was born to rule Congo everlastingly. This wing doesn’t like freedom of speech nor democracy. They were the ones who considered that, I had a mission to destroy their divine rule with my independent reporting and management of MNTV/MN Radio. They were also the ones who not only began attacking me and MNTV/MN Radio, but were bent at destroy the media group of their uncle. Their attacks was not only directed on MN Radio, they also attacked the print media that was publishing the newspaper called Le Fanion. That was suspended for a long while just to satisfy the whims and caprices of Ninelle Sassou Nguesso, who was the wife of the Lord Mayor of the Brazzaville Greater City Council. But where they used all weapons available in their distructive armory was on Television. It is true that, most of what Maurice Nguesso does as investments don’t seem to succeed simply because his ambition is simply to create or offer jobs to Congolese. And as already mentioned, on several occasions, most coming to work for Maurice Nguesso or in any of his companies think, that, they don’t need to invest much time to work. 

Profile of Maurice Nguesso aka “Le Grand frère national” (part 1)

As he likes to say himself, he doesn’t know exactly when he was born. But he quickly adds that: what is certain is that, I am the elder brother to Denis Sassou Nguesso. He goes on: if he is the President of the Republic, I am his elder brother and in our village of Edou and I am the chief, although our local tradition made  him (Denis Sassou Nguesso) the Mwene or head, after he was initiated into our mythical world of the Mbouchis at a very young age. Maurice Nguesso concludes: I also don’t know how old my younger brother was, when he was initiated. The owner of MNCOM and several other companies in Congo is a patriot. He is also creative and imaginative. Maurice Nguesso is the most popular figure the ruling family after late Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba and he is fondly called “Ya Maumo” or “Le Grand frère national”. But like most northerners of his epoch, he doesn’t know his exact age. He relies like most northerners of his generation on age the Roman Catholic birth certificates established for them by the Roman Catholic missionaries. It is therefore believed that, he was born between 1938 and 1940. Maurice Nguesso, besides calling himself or identifying himself most often as the elder brother to the President of the Republic, likes to categorize himself as a bourgeois.

To support the fact that, he is an elite and thus refined and different from most people of his Mbouchi tribe of Edou village, he has named his large white colored building in Edou as “Villa Bourbon”.  According to the online dictionary Wikipedia, the Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs. Maurice Nguesso has not only named his villa after the Bourbon, he also loves and admires white people especially those from France. He also says he is not a communist like his younger brother but a capitalist. Before his younger brother came to power in 1979 and also changed in real life not only mythical, the balance of power within the clan and family, his senior daughter, Mrs. Lydie Hortense Kourissa once told me that, her father(Maurice Nguesso) was the first in their family to make money. In other words, Maurice Nguesso did not wait for his younger brother to become president before starting to test the thirst that comes with riches or wealth. This contradicts the claims widely circulated that, he is what he is today because of his younger. While Maurice Nguesso is a self made man who has to a certain degree benefited from his younger brother, it is not the same with other members of the ruling family whose status in the society did change because of President Denis Sassou Nguesso. 

Paris-Brazzaville: Danyele Palazzo Gauthier, advocate and money-woman of Pascaline Bongo Ondimba

President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s morale was affected heavily because; Edith was not only his official first born, but also the most intelligent amongst his 29 children. Furthermore, she was the only one besides his elder brother Maurice Nguesso who was loved by ordinary Congolese. Her lost was synonymous to the lost of clutches to a cripple.  If Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba were still alive today, some monumental strategic errors being committed by President Denis Sassou Nguesso and which might cause him his prestige and even presidency won’t have been committed. It explains why her death also sparked in President Denis Sassou Nguesso the desire to leave the political scene. Denis Sassou Nguesso was convinced to continue by the likes of Isidore Mvouba and Jean Jacques Bouya coupled with the medical assistance from Professor Claude Maylin.  So I was told by Ouamba Sassou Nguesso, one of the 29 children of the Congolese leader. As for Omar Bongo Ondimba, formerly Albert Bernard Bongo, he was the second president of Gabon after the death of Leon Mba.

President Bongo Ondimba had his names changed from Albert Bernard Bongo to Omar Bongo, when he became a Muslim, but the mother of Pascaline Bongo Ondimba told me that, he reconverted back to Christianity in his last days. As Omar Bongo Ondimba bowed out of stage, his daughter Pascaline Bongo Ondimba gave the administration of some of her father’s wealth and investments in France to her friend by name Danielle Palazzo Gauthier. 

Mrs. Gauthier is a lawyer. She is also the niece of Roland Dumas who was not only France’s foreign minister under late President Francois Mitterrand from 1984-1986 and from 1988-1993, he was also the head of France’s constitutional Court from 1995-1999. Besides those posts that Roland Dumas held, he was also a friend to late President Omar Bongo Ondimba. France’s political elite have always held special relationship with elite of French-speaking African countries in chief, those who are governing. It also partly explains the reason why France has lost its credibility in most of her former colonies in Africa. Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier has her own chambers located at the prestigious Champ Elysee.  And according to an online Gabonese newspaper known as Dworaczek-Bendome, Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier also spelled as Danyele Palazzo Gauthier was born on the 27^th of January 1952. She is a graduate of the Universite des Sciences Sociale de Toulouse and the Institute d’Etude Judiciaire de Toulouse and she is also honorary Consul of Gabon in Bordeaux.  Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier who runs a controversial Gabonese or should I say, Bongo Ondimba funded company called Delta Synegie , headquartered in Luxemburg, which is  the parent company of most of their investments in Europe, is also the vice chair of the Albertine Amissa Bongo Ondimba Foundation.  Albertine Amissa Bongo Ondimba was one of the daughters of late President Omar Bongo Ondimba. She was born in 1964 and died in 1993. It is in her memory, a foundation was created and also an annual cycling race code named: Tour du Gabon Amissa Bongo Ondimba. 

Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier is a specialist in Urban, Construction, trade, succession and international laws. It is also reported that, she went or attended the Paris-Dauphine University along with Pascaline Bongo Ondimba. It is also reported that, it was while they were students that, they knew and befriended each other. And it was Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier who brought in a group of whites, namely: Charles Villeneuve and Bernard Volker to run 3 A Telesud. It was a clear takeover and also a fundamental change from how Jean Philippe Kabore and Louis Magloire Keumayou were running 3 A Telesud. Bernard Volker is a former or retired journalist with the privately owned French TV called TF1. Mr Volker is also known to have presented the news in 1968 in full military fatigue. May 1968 was a volatile period in France and it was punctuated by demonstrations and massive general strikes as well as occupation of universities and factories across France. And according to the online dictionary Wikipedia, at the height of the civil unrest, there was fear of a revolution, in particular when General Charles De Gaulle, for a moment left Paris. It was during this period that, Bernard Volker was ordered to present the news in full military gears. What is not known is whether he was forced to or whether it was simply that, he was a Gaullist zealot.  It is something or a period that, the truth will never been known because I think Bernard Volker will not like to talk about.

Bernard Volker is also known to have worked in both the United States and in Germany as correspondent for TF1. He is fluent in both English and German. But the coming of Bernard Volker at the head of a television station that was made up in majority of Africans from north and sub Saharan Africa and the Caribbean was not well received by the staff. It staff said that, the inferiority complex of the Gabonese have forced them to hand over the management of the first pan African television station to French whites whose only interest  was to make money. In fact the coming of Bernard Volker at the helms of 3 A Telesud that became known only as Telesud, also marked the end of its ambitions and originality. Bernard Volker made a lot of promises. He promised to transform or change everything. He promised regular and timely payment of salaries. The payment of salaries regularly and on time was the only piece of good news that came along with the takeover of Telesud by white men. For before they came, staff stayed for between two-three months without pay. 

Paris- Brazzaville: for Sassou Nguesso the lost of Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba was synonymous to the lost of clutches to a cripple.

The son or daughter of your brother or your sister is simply yours. Or put it simply, your son or your daughter. That said, what is certain is that, the proposition or suggestion that was made to me by Rynelle was not taken seriously, but, it did not also fall on deaf ears.  And, when the working situation at 3 A Telesud began to worsen, the idea of going to Congo started resurfacing.   It became all the sudden, very important more than ever, when Omar Bongo Ondimba’s health was deteriorating and the long illness of his wife Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba also began seriously falling apart.  As the health of both the President of Gabon and his wife became wobbly, it also affected 3 A Telesud and more the daily administration of Gabon. Salaries of staff at 3 A Telesud became irregular and I began weighing all options and the suggestions from Rynelle took all its importance. I began thinking of going back to Africa. Honestly speaking, had it not been that, all was not going on well, professionally, for me in France and particularly at 3 A Telesud, I won’t have ever gone back to work in Africa, for having stayed in France for a while, I had developed a negative feeling toward Africa and some of its elite which is not entirely wrong or a mere western influenced prejudice, as it is generally claimed by those intellectuals or elite who are the focus of my wrath and distraught.

For some African elite in particular, those governing have in my view point, no respect for human beings or they are not very different from animals in the way they react or do things. While I have been criticized for always wanting to compare Africa with western society, which might appear, it is true, pretentious, nonetheless, don’t some African intellectuals think that, there are some instances or situations where comparisons can be made? For example in the area of management, why is it that, some so-called African elite, can’t mange well?  Why is it that, some of them are so corrupt? Why can’t they respect basic human right values? Do those African intellectuals or elite need to be a westerner in order to give value to life?  Asking these questions is not tantamount to being biased toward African governing elite.  I know that my present position on some African elite, is hard or will not be appreciated by most Africans, but can anyone tell me how a government official will support the killing or rape of  his or her political adversary and that attracts no criticism?  Can anyone tell me why some African elite will steal funds donated or earmarked for development and instead invest it in wealthy countries?  The way which some African elite and their governments behave is heart breaking.

Some African elite are most of the time inhumane in their way of doing things. All what or all the ills that I use to think about some African elite and political leaders, especially those governing have been proven correct when I was in Congo and also my stay within power circle. It was an explained disgusting experience .My disappointment with most African political elite and even some so-called intellectuals who are unable to speak out or voice their opposition to the atrocious way that some African countries are governed is complete.  I have little or no respect for them and whenever I see or meet with them, I feel like vomiting. They are simply nauseating. Nonetheless, there are some honest and courageous ones who are drowned in the ocean of those who are dishonest. These ones can’t express themselves, for they are marginalized by those who are dishonest, inhumane and corrupt.

The death of Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, the wife of Gabon’s President and followed by the death of her husband President Omar Ondimba Bongo signaled the coup de grace for 3 A Telesud.  

Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba was the official first child or daughter of President Denis Sassou Nguesso and her death in March 2009 was a great blow to the morale of her father who almost for the first time in his political life considered willingly abandoning the throne of President of the Republic of Congo. President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s morale was affected heavily because; Edith was not only his official first born, but also the most intelligent amongst his 29 children. Furthermore, she was the only one besides his elder brother Maurice Nguesso who was loved by ordinary Congolese. Her lost was synonymous to the lost of clutches to a cripple.  If Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba were still alive today, some monumental strategic errors being committed by President Denis Sassou Nguesso and which might cause him his prestige and even presidency won’t have been committed. 

It explains why her death also sparked in President Denis Sassou Nguesso the desire to leave the political scene. Denis Sassou Nguesso was convinced to continue by the likes of Isidore Mvouba and Jean Jacques Bouya coupled with the medical assistance from Professor Claude Maylin.  As for Omar Bongo Ondimba, formerly Albert Bernard Bongo, he was the second president of Gabon after the death of Leon Mba. President had his names changed when he became a Muslim, but the mother of Pascaline Bongo Ondimba told me that, he reconverted by to Christianity in his last days. As Omar Bongo Ondimba bowed out of stage, his daughter Pascaline Bongo Ondimba gave the administration of some of her father’s wealth and investments in France to her friend by name Danielle Palazzo Gauthier. Mrs. Gauthier is a lawyer. She is also the niece of Roland Dumas who was not only France’s foreign minister under late President Francois Mitterrand from 1984-1986 and from 1988-1993, he was also the head of France’s constitutional Court from 1995-1999. Besides those posts that Roland Dumas held, he was also a friend to late President Omar Bongo Ondimba.

France’s political elite have always held special relationship with elite of French-speaking African in chief those who are governing. It also partly explains the reason why France has lost its credibility in most of her former colonies in Africa. Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier has her own chambers located at the prestigious Champ Elysee. It is also reported that, she went or attended the Dauphine University along with Pascaline Bongo Ondimba and that. It is also reported that, it was while they were students that, they knew and befriended each other.  And it was Mrs. Danielle Palazzo Gauthier who brought in a group of whites namely: Charles Villeneuve and Bernard Volker to run 3 A Telesud. It was clear takeover and also a fundamental change from how Jean Philippe Kabore and Louis Magloire Keumayou were running 3 A Telesud. Bernard Volker is a former or retired journalist with the privately owned French TV called TF1. Mr Volker is known to have presented the news in 1968 in full military fatigue. May 1968 was a volatile period in France and it was punctuated by demonstrations and massive general strikes as well as occupation of universities and factory across France.