Profile of Bridget Akoli Nguesso:the wife of the ruling family

On the 10^th of April 2014, at about 9pm, I received a phone call from Bridget Nguesso, the wife of Maurice Nguesso. She asked me to come immediately to their house located at Marche Plateau Ville in Brazzaville. The street leading to their house ran some metres adrift to the building housing the Economic and Social Council and it was also not very far from the Palais du Peuple or the People’s Palace, which is the official resident and office of the president of the Republic. I left my home which was located at 302 Case Batignolles, not far from the Maya-Maya international Airport and drove straight to the home of Maurice Nguesso in order to meet with his wife. Bridget Akoli Nguesso, the young wife of Maurice Nguesso is a beautiful girl whose only two qualities were that, she does not use bleaching cream to whiten her body as is the tradition in Congo and sadly, in most of black Africa, these days. The second is that, she was the winner of a local beauty pageant, held in Oyo, located some 318 km from Brazzaville, the capital. And it was after her victory in the village or should I say the town of Oyo that, Maurice Nguesso who is widower and who is at least twice divorce, fell in love with her. The person who carried out the negotiations was late Simon Zibe. But since she got married to the Nguessos, this undereducated woman, who was given an employment at the National Hydrocarbon Corporation of Congo known in French as Societe Nationale du Petrole du Congo abbreviated SNPC, is a changed person. She has become arrogant and doesn’t even want to meet or speak with Simon Zibe. Until, Simon Zibe, considered by Maurice Nguesso as his son died of typhoid fever in 2015; he was no longer in speaking terms with the “bush girl”, as he often described Bridget Nguesso. According to people close to them, the cause of their dispute is based on Bridget Nguesso suspecting Zibe of giving or serving as bridge between Maurice Nguesso and many girls. It is an accusation rejected by late Simon Zibe, who claims instead that, Bridget instead has the reaction of an insecure girl.    However, the truth is that, anyway, from my observations Mrs. Bridget Akoli Nguesso has the reaction of most people who came out of poverty and by default, became wealthy.

These types of people, especially those without any educational background are insecure and also have inferiority complex. Bridget Akoli Nguesso is also extremely jealous and doesn’t want to see any girl near her husband. Perhaps, she thinks that, the ease with which she got married to Maurice Nguesso might also be the same way he could drop her. The first thing that, I noticed when I arrived in their house  was that, Maurice Nguesso her husband was not aware that, I was coming and was therefore, he was surprised. Showing that, she had domination on Maurice Nguesso and also that, the old man was resisting in an apparent marital cold war, Bridget Nguesso defied him once again. She took me upstairs into their second dining room. And again, Maurice Nguesso was not happy. But what could the old man do when his wife was younger and from rumour had an affair with the younger brother of Maurice? In their dining room upstairs, she told me the following: “the president is not happy with you”. And she also added: the president has asked to inform you stop granting interviews to personalities of the opposition and the civil society, in particular, to all those who are opposed to the change of the constitution”. She went forward: “the president has also asked me to inform you that, you must stop authorizing your journalists of MNTV/MN Radio to cover activities of the opposition”.

This message smacked the same one that I had been delivered to me in January 31^st 2014, by Lydie Hortense Kourissa. The president could no longer send me messages through Lydie Hortense Kourissa, because she had resigned her post as the head of the media group called MNCOM and was replaced by Mr René Michel Mboukou Etoney. He could not also send me any such messages through his elder brother, because Maurice Nguesso had already told him that, he should allow me to do my job freely. Maurice Nguesso also told the president of the Republic, Denis Sassou Nguesso, who is his younger brother that, he should stop listening blindly to all what Jean Dominique Okemba was telling him and he concluded: “Jean Dominique Okemba is our son and if you continue listening to him, he will be the architect of your fall”.  Hence the only person who was available to the president to play the errant between I and him was Bridget Nguesso. I suspect, Bridget Nguesso did love her new role, for it permitted her to meet with the present regularly on a pseudo professional reason or to plot. 

I was at war ( part 4)

I was at war, but I think, they (the Nguessos and the government) never knew nor understood the level of my love and determination for what I was doing. I love my job and I think that, the only person in the ruling Nguesso family who knew that best, is/was Lydie Hortense Kourissa.  And in the ideological battle that was I wedging against the forces of evil that the Congolese government and a section of the ruling Nguesso family are, I am of the opinion that, even though I was expelled, we have won or should I say, I won. It was a collective battle fought by many but led by me. It was also invisible, hence, many could not fathom.  For my expulsion from Congo on the 26^th day of September 2014, did expose to the world, the true face of one of the most brutal regimes on the continent. In the end, even though they gang raped my younger sister and opted to humiliate me, the way they did, the most important thing, in my opinion is that, my experimentation proved successful. I am now convinced that, a battle for a successful regime change or democratic improvement in countries such as Cameroon, Congo, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda and Burundi, can be fought and won, only by people who are within the system.  

In order for change or democratic improvement to happen in central African states, it requires courage and the acceptance by those who have opted to champion such a path, to accept to pay the ultimate price.  However, I am equally aware that, it is easier said than done, for the challenges to prodemocracy activists and their families are enormous, because, governments of those aforementioned countries know no bounds, when it comes to human rights violations. And they do target all those who are against their strangled corrupt hold on power.  For a majority of central African regimes are not will willing to surrender power without a bloody fight.  I was aware of all those risk, but I was ready to pay that ultimate price. And as far as MNCOM is concern, the truth is that, not all was negative about the structure. Yes the management style were ambiguous, salaries were either paid at piecemeal or not paid at all.  However, one good thing and which also made MNCOM unique is that, it was a multinational place. If there was a bit of seriousness on the part of Maurice Nguesso and his children or his trusted advisers, MNCOM had what it needed to make her a national and even sub regional champion. And the multinational nature of MNCOM is not only a testimony to the original plan of  Maurice Nguesso, but also one more prove that, he had a vision. Maurice Nguesso might be labeled as poor manager, but one of the reasons behind his failures in management had already been explained. Nonetheless, he is creative, generous and above all, he is not tribal, regional or driven by any nationalistic spirit.

Maurice Nguesso is an internationalist who understands best the social engineering of Congo, perhaps better than his younger brother and his administration. Furthermore, most foreigners who opted to stay or work, at MNCOM, it was not because of money.  I think what made most of the foreigners to stay was because of two things: they had developed an attachment to the unique ambience within the media group and finally, they were attached to Maurice Nguesso. Yes, like his younger brother, Maurice Nguesso is attaching and charming. Jacques Roos was from France Florent Koumba from Gabon and Sam Nick Owosso from Ghana. These are examples of foreigners who opted to stay because they are loyal to Maurice Nguesso and not because of money. For as already stated above, the absence of regular payment was part of the DNA of MNCOM and also of the Nguessos.  At MNCOM, sometimes, workers stayed for between three and six months without being paid.  And how did they sustain themselves? It now depends of the department where you are attached. Those who were worst off were the management staff and fix or in house technicians. As far as journalists were concern, they got monies because they went out to cover events and they were given brown envelopes.

Jean Marie Tassoua: Denis Sassou Nguesso has allowed himself to be taken hostage by negative elements of his family.

She is also meek and extremely religious. While the second, that is Edgard Nguesso, he is perhaps barred from showing what he truly is or the military laws prevents him to show a side of him seldom known of the Nguessos. Edgard Nguesso is humble and honest. He (Edgard Nguesso) also likes intelligent people. He also enjoys contradictory debates and admires professional journalists and responsible strong civil society organizations and its members. And paradoxically, Edgard Nguesso also likes pro-democracy activists and strong opposition activities. Edgard Nguesso is a generous person and also humane. But I doubt whether he is religious. However, one thing is clear, Edgard Nguesso is supportive of young Congolese and he seems very patriotic. He is also conscious that the current political class especially those of the ruling party, has contributed in ruining the country and have held his father or his uncle hostage.

However, Edgard Nguesso can’t express his feelings or opinion openly, because he is a soldier and also for fear that, he might be at best be a victim of calumny and blackmail or at worst, be poisoned, as it is the norm used to eliminate opponents within the clan. For above and beyond the façade of unity portrayed by the ruling Nguesso family, beneath hides a bitter intra family feud. In short, Lydie Hortense Kourissa and Edgard Nguesso are not the show and tell types or sections of the sprawling ruling Nguesso family. The showy or haughty attitude of most of the ruling Nguesso family is exactly what makes them to be abhorred by Congolese. The paradox is that, their living fathers or ancestors that are Maurice Nguesso and Denis Sassou Nguesso are a people who are humble, affable and kind. Although it must be pointed out clearly that, while Denis Sassou Nguesso may be charming and affable at first sight, he has an insatiable love for power. And his love for power is also what makes him very dangerous because he acts both like a serpent and feline, whenever he thinks his power is on the line or threatened.  Besides Lydie Hortense Kourissa, Edgard Nguesso, Rodrigue Nguesso, Marina Nguesso, Annie Rachael Nguesso, and Jennifer Nguesso, the bulk of the Nguesso children are really a pain on the back of several Congolese.

However, the most admired of the Nguessos is the patriarch Maurice Nguesso. Maurice Nguesso is loved by most Congolese because, he is open-minded and he is not tribal, regionalist or is not haughty. However, intra family feud, calumny and his advancing age is preventing Maurice Nguesso from playing the grand positive role, which he would have played on the side of his younger brother. But that role is now being played either by his nephew Jean Dominique Okemba or by his niece, Claudia Sassou Nguesso, albeit not always in a positive or in the manner that, the humble and bright old Maurice Nguesso would have done. President Denis Sassou Nguesso is like any other human being. He is not an evil man. But his lust for power makes him a dangerous man, but not an evil man. However, what I have noticed and he has written in his books is that, he loves Congo and  he also thinks that, as long as he is alive, he must be at the head of the country.  And regarding President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Jean Marie Tassoua once told me that: Denis Sassou Nguesso is a good man. But he quickly added: President Denis Sassou Nguesso has allowed himself to be taken hostage by negative or vile elements of his close knit family.

And Jean Marie Tassoua concluded: this attitude might be the cause of President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s political and even physical demise, as it happened with Marien Ngouabi in 1977.  Jean Marie Tassoua aka General Diap is the head of the Economic and Social Council of Congo. He was one of the leaders of President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s Cobra militia that fought and drove away from power, Pascal Lissouba, the first post independent democratically elected president of Congo. As for Pascal Lissouba he was driven away from power by Denis Sassou Nguesso in 1997. Jean Marie Tassoua also told me that, Denis Sassou Nguesso might be rancorous, but he seldom kills. To prove or convinced me that, Denis Sassou Nguesso is not an assassin as it is being propagated, Jean Marie Tassoua gave me a 1997 civil war anecdote.  

Jean Marie Tassoua told me that, during the final onslaught on President Pascal Lissouba, president called and told him along with Richard Mondjo, the current minister delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense that: I don’t want to see the head of Pascal Lissouba brought back here on a stick. Jean Marie Tassoua went on: the president told us clearly that: All I (Denis Sassou  Nguesso)want is that, Pascal Lissouba should be driven, but his life and those of his family and those left around him should be spared. Jean Marie Tassoua is a close collaborator of Denis Sassou Nguesso and his house located in the north of Brazzaville was the headquarters of the Cobra militia and also hideout for President Denis Sassou Nguesso. I am therefore not surprised that he is full of praise of his leader. However, one thing is clear, everyone who has spent time with President Denis Sassou Nguesso including me, is impressed by the simplicity of Congo’s leader, but there is very little or no kind words for most his family, especially some of his children. The only exceptions being those earlier mentioned. Even Professor Claude Maylin, friend and private medical doctor to President Denis Sassou Nguesso told me this on the 3^rd of January 2014: the family of the president has made him to commit a lot of mistakes that could cause him his power and also his reputation.  

Professor Claude Maylin: They have forced or convinced President Denis Sassou Nguesso to construct a 6 hundred bed modern hospital in Oyo, his home town at the expense of upgrading and maintaining the Brazzaville University Teaching Hospital abbreviated in French as CHU.  And Professor Claude Maylin added:  some members of the Nguesso ruling family are even forcing Denis Sassou Nguesso to move the capital from Brazzaville to Oyo because of the alleged hostility of people of the capital toward them and more in a bid to keep power forever. Then Mrs. Benedict Bourgneuf, the former wife of Pierre Haim, a French businessman and friend of the President Denis Sassou Nguesso also told me that, her former husband gave President Denis Sassou Nguesso this advice: please keep your children and cumbersome elements of your family away from you and power. Allocate to them a monthly salary and you will rule or govern well and most importantly, you will be remembered by Congolese and Africans as great leader.  According to Mrs. Benedict Bourgneuf, Pierre Haim her former husband also told President Denis Sassou Nguesso this: Don’t also let or forget the friends and other people who helped you to come back to power.

And Benedict concluded: il n’ecoute pas or he (President Denis Sassou Nguesso) doesn’t listen.  Some members of the Sassou Nguesso family want to force or convince their father and uncle to move the capital from Brazzaville to Oyo, because they claim, that, the former is hostile to them. What they do not know is that, even in the latter town of Oyo, they (Sassou Nguesso family) are not loved either. And if the 2012 legislative elections are a benchmark or any guide, then the more extreme elements of the ruling Nguesso family will have to rethink their pet project of relocating Congo’s capital from Brazzaville to Oyo. 

Paris-Brazzaville : My journey to Congo

The question that, I have always asked is this:  should the aforementioned leaders be forcefully overthrown or assassinated in order to give democracy a chance within the sub region?  It is a difficult question to answer. Furthermore, while I condemn leaders of the sub region, it is also honest to say that, without the help of western nations, these governments won’t have been in power for the length of time that they have. As far as I am concerned, it was during the period that, I do refer to as the turbulent phase of Telesud that Rynelle Kourissa, came to me again and insisted that, I should go and help her grandfather, Maurice Nguesso to set up his media house in Brazzaville.  While I accepted Rynelle’s proposals, what really made me to leave Paris for Brazzaville was a meeting that I had with Mrs. Lydie Hortense Kourissa at the Champ Elysees, located at 133 avenue des Champs-Elysees.  Our meeting was or took place in the restaurant section of the shopping mall. I can’t recall the day exactly, but all what I know is that, she called me and we booked an appointment for 4 pm. Mrs. Kourissa nee Lydie Hortense Nguesso is the eldest daughter of Maurice Nguesso.

And between the two Nguessos, that is Maurice and Denis, they have 48 children and countless grand children and great grand children. Lydie Kourissa is the oldest of them all. She therefore wields enough influence within the clan. But since she is a born again Christian, she is very meek and thrown aback. Christianity has whittled down any ounce of pride that, she might have had. Lydie Kourissa is light years away from the superciliousness demonstrated by her brothers, sisters and by her cousins of the ruling Nguesso family. She prefers to be called or identified only by the name of her husband, Mr. Jean de Dieu Kourissa MP. It is another feature that marks her out differently from her sisters who are married, but seldom carry the names of their husbands. It was with this soft spoken and respectful lady that I made an appointment, but strangely, I forgot to honor it. I could only remember that, we had an appointment, when she rang me again at around 6:30pm.

When she rang me, she told me this: “I have been waiting here since 3:30 pm and our appointment was at 4pm and now it is 6:30pm. If you don’t want to meet me, please tell me, for I am going back to Brazzaville tomorrow”. I just told her this: “Please I am sorry and I am on my way. I took a taxi from Conacq Jay to the Drugstore and met with her. I was so worried to have kept her waiting for too long, to a point that, I never argued much with her. Whatever she told me, I accepted. That was how my Paris work and stay ended and my Brazzaville adventure began. That was toward the end of 2010. But I began working officially for MNCOM in August 2011 and I held several functions within the media house before finally settling as the Director of MNTV and also Director of Studies and Planning of MNCOM, the parent company and name of the media group. But prior  to that meeting with Mrs. Lydie Hortense Kourissa and also the propositions and encouragement from Rynelle Kourissa as already mentioned, I had been coming to Congo since 2009 to cover some events, in particular, the pre-Presidential elections campaigns of 2009.  The person who facilitated everything was Colonel Chryst Bonaventure Engobo. Colonel Engobo is a highly secretive man who was one of the aide de camps of Commandant Marien Ngouabi.