Denis Sassou Nguesso and Jeune Afrique & Les Depeches de Brazzaville

While there is no doubt that, local media houses mentioned earlier have proven links to the Nguesso family albeit surreptitiously, but the media houses that have direct or glaring connections with Denis Sassou Nguesso are: Jeune Afrique and Les Depeches de Brazzaville. According to Apollinaire Aya, a staff at the Paris, France office of the department of Communications of the presidency of the Republic, headed by Claudia Sassou Nguesso, a lump sum of FCFA 2 billion is earmark annually for: Jeune Afrique and Les Depeches de Brazzaville. Remember, Les Depeches de Brazzaville is the only daily in the country and it is published by ADIAC media group. As if it were not enough to invest in Jeune Afrique, whose editor-in-chief is Francois Soudan, they ( the Nguessos) now control of Forbes Afrique, after the franchise for French-speaking Africa was bought by Lucien Ebata ( read previous article). In short, Forbes Afrique has become another tool in the Nguesso’s propaganda arsenal. While the ADIAC media group has the latest printing press and publishes Les Depeches de Brazzaville, the national printing press has not only been deliberately ruined, its staff are not paid regularly. More, the national daily La Nouvelle Republique publishes occasionally because it doesn’t have a running budget. Even the Congolese News Agency abbreviated ACP, has also been run aground, because the Nguessos wants ADIAC to substitute ACP as Les Depeches de Brazzaville has done with La Nouvelle Republique. The voracious love of the regime and the Nguessos for image makeover doesn’t stop at sponsoring print and electronic media at home or abroad.  As already mentioned, the ruling Nguesso family has destroyed the entire local press: print and electronic. Another example of how the Nguesso have orchestrated the decay of the press can be seen in how they treat or manage the national radio and television: CNRTV. The paradox is that, the national radio and television which is the pivot of propaganda of the system, sometime lack recording tapes, video cameras, microphones or its vans doesn’t have fuel to carry reporters around to cover stories or events. 

Nguesso owned Media Houses in Congo

To crown the Nguesso family capture and control of local media, each member of the Nguesso family has a TV or Radio station or is planning to create or launch one. Maurice Nguesso, the elder brother of President Sassou Nguesso as you already know, owns MNTV, which is a subsidiary of the media group, MNCOM. Claudia Sassou Nguesso, daughter of President Sassou Nguesso and his communications adviser, owns Top TV, while his nephew, Jean Jacques Bouya, owns Equateur Service TV through a proxy called Jean Didier Elongo. Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso owns VOX TV and Vox Magazine, General Norbert Dabira owns DRTV, Elvis Digne Okombi Tsalisant is the owner of TPT Pointe Noire, General Jean François Ndenguet owns Le Troubadour newspaper. And more, in their respective villages and localities, government ministers own radio and TV stations such as Radio Paris Abala, in Abala owned by Henri Ossebi (see profile) or Raymond Zephyrine Mboulou(see profile), who owns a radio in his village of Ngo in the Plateau region. The fact that, they are controlling the nation’s print and electronic media is not satisfactory   as far as they are concern. And as already mentioned they have also gone into frenetic investments into foreign media by buying advertorial spaces in pan African media such as Africa 24, Vox Africa, France 24 and TV 5. The advertorial binge of the Nguessos and their government increases during pre-presidential and post presidential election periods. For these media are needed to cover the way the presidential election is conducted in order to please and improve their image in the international community. 

Congo Brazzaville: Politics and Prostitution

Politics & Prostitution: the only industries

Perhaps there are other countries on the continent with similar traits, but in the meantime, this is the only country that I have visited and stayed wherein youths: male and female consider politics as a profession. It is especially pronounced among males, who have no jobs and consider politics as the only way-out of unemployment and also out of poverty. As far as most Congolese women, in particular those within the age bracket above mentioned are concern, they have two aspirations:  get married, not to a young man, but to an old rich baron of the ruling PCT or get into prostitution. Comparatively, youths: male and female in neighbouring DRC, might like politics and all what I am decrying, they nonetheless want to be successful musicians or businessmen or excel in any liberal profession. While in Cameroon, youths want to become successful footballers or successful businessmen and women.

Why they prefer politics & prostitution

However, there is a reason why in both Cameroon and DRC, youths have different benchmarks of success as opposed to Congolese youths. It should not sound as though, there are no ambitious youths: Male and Female in Congo, but the reasons why they seem to love politics and prostitution lies in the in r role models produced in the countries latter mentioned.

Congo Brazzaville

In Congo, political cronyism is the only path to success since the communist took power in 1968. This trend has been exacerbated under Sassou Nguesso. It has been consolidated after the recent 2016 March 20th controversial presidential election, which has given ministerial posts to people such as: Leon Juste Imbombo (see profile), Leonidas Motomb and Elvis Digne Okombi Tsalisant to name just these few. The first was a propagandist and supporter of a political movement created by Edgard Nguesso, nephew of the President, while the second was a jobless man in France and got promoted because of his support for the ruling Nguesso family. As for the third, he was the head of a pro-Sassou Nguesso militia known as a “Pona Ecolo”.  They are currently the role models to most jobless youths in Congo.