Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: My actions are the constitutional rights of a member of parliament

In the interview that follows, with Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, MP, says unequivocally that, he has no plans to succeed his father but instead working for the re-election of his father in 2021.

Elie SMITH: Since the publication of your book, there are rumors circulating in the Congo and beyond that, your book is actually your political manifesto for the 2021 presidential race. Can you confirm or deny here your 2021 presidential ambitions?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: No, I am not a candidate in the presidential election of 2021. I wish the President of the Republic, Denis Sassou Nguesso, should and I have been working with others for a few months now, to actualise our goal of helping him to be reelected. To say that my book: “What I believe” is a political manifesto is wrong.  Readers will find in it that, there are no promises, no electoral statement, but a vision of what Congo could be in areas where, the Fondation Perspective D’Avenir that I created can boast of a solid record with less favored citizens of our country.

Elie SMITH: What do you do make of  accusations from some Congolese, who think that your father is encouraging to run for the 2021 presidential election, even though you have refuted the claims,   simply because he wants political power to stay within the Nguesso family?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: These are allegations from Congolese who don’t know who the President of the Republic truly is. These repeated rumours; most often offends him because they are untrue. He has a different idea of ​​his function. The facts still contradict the rumor. If he had encouraged me to run for the 2021 presidential election as the rumour mill claims, why then I have I taken this solemn commitment that, I won’t run for the 2021 presidential election, but support him?

Elie SMITH: You are a member of parliament for Oyo, why carry out humanitarian actions in other places like Kouilou or Niari, which are way out of your constituency? Don’t you think that, it will be difficult to convince people that all you are doing is not because you want to run in the 2021 presidential election?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: This last question is like an obsession. I answered it. For the rest, I did not create this fondation, Fondation Perspective D’Avenir, in order to make a career, but because my natural empathy has always led me to turn toward others. I enjoy helping or coming to the aid of the less privileged.  When I was elected MP in 2012, the after, that is  2013 I did something similar, so there is no link between my mandate and these humanitarian actions, which could or is being be interpreted as laying the ground work for my presidential ambitions.  Granted that, I am a member of Oyo, but I am an elected representative of the nation, therefore, of all Congo. My actions are the constitutional rights of a member of parliament, which is a national representation and not sectional. Let me use this opportunity to recall what our actions and our record are, we have carried out: large-scale vaccinations, community health campaigns, qualified professional training projects and offered scholarships to young people and those from less privileged backgrounds. I have always had as guideline that, the Foundation will intervene wherever there are needs and these simply means all over the national territory. In doing so, I or May I say, we are refusing acts of ethnocentrism or regionalism. Why will I focus everything in Oyo under the guise that I am an MP for Oyo, whereas I could help nationally? Is it bad what Fondation Perspective D’Avenir   is doing nationally? Please I will glad to know.

Elie SMITH: Thanks to your foundation, you have awarded scholarships, paid hospital bills and carried out many other generous actions in the country. Where did you get the money when the country cannot pay medical staff or pensions?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: I thank you for qualifying the Foundation's actions as generous. But I must restore a number of truths. We are autonomous, independent of the State, even if we act complimentarily. It is wrong to say, for example, as you have just done, that we pay hospital bills. We have a mobile hospital, with all the latest technologies. These equipments are gift from our partners in Brazil and Morocco. When we vaccinated 130,000 girls against cervical cancer, the vaccines were offered to us by partners. As President of this foundation, I am constantly looking for sponsors and new partners.

Elie SMITH: As a Congolese, what is your view on the country's economic situation?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: We are having difficulty diversifying our economy and we are too dependent on the oil and oil revenues. I am also aware that, we can’t overnight change an economy that has relied for decades on Oil. But also I think humbly that, we did not go far enough in what we undertook to develop an alternative economy in order to get out of the oil business. Diversification paths are possible. I mention them in my book. The government is committed to the development of certain sectors such as:  transformation   agriculture, forestry, livestock breeding, developing tourism or creating industrial zones, all of which contribute to job creation. It is necessary for the government to be resolute in its plans to diversify the economy, without which we won’t be able fight unemployment and maintained sustained economic growth. My role as MP, like that of the majority that supports the President of the Republic is precisely to help improve the situation even if much has been done under his leadership. It is also to provide solutions to help solve the problems facing Congolese, correct what does not give us complete satisfaction, because do not forget, this is the work of a politician and nothing else.

Elie SMITH: You left the SNPC, was it because of the pressure of the IMF, as some Congolese claim or as a result of a family quarrel?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: When our leaders negotiates with the IMF, I can assure you that the issues and questions are not at the level of the people. So there was no pressure for my appointment in 2011 and parallelism of forms making, there was none so, when I left.  I move to another professional opportunity. It is as simple as that.  As for the other questions, they do not even deserve me to answer them.

Elie SMITH: What doing you make of the recent accusations by Pascal Tsaty Mabiala in parliament, where he claimed Prime Minister Clément Mouamba is afraid of leading a global fight against corruption? And also that, your name protect you from investigations?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: Mr. Tsaty Mabiala is forgetting even the internal rules in parliament, he must in my opinion have a selective indignation or a variable geometry, which in Congo is often, dictated either by “belly politics” or when we are remote controlled by a major player of the presidential majority who wants to mess someone up. But let me reassure Tsaty Mabiala that I am doing very well, and that, the actions that, I am taking with my international partners with my foundation in favor of our fellow citizens from difficult backgrounds will continue because what we are doing is just right.

Elie SMITH: What do you make of accusations by a former trader with the Swiss based company that, between 2010 and 2011 you were paid through a certain Maxime Gandzion the sum of $ 15million for the sale of 13 million tons of crude oil?

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: It is an affabulation. I don't know why my name or that of my family must always appears in such cases. The SNPC has specific and responsible managers handling dealings with external companies or traders. And on the specific case of Gunvor, I think Thierry Mongalla has already responded to it in the newspaper La Tribune D’afrique and I support his declaration and may I repeat what he said: “there was no case of corruption at the SNPC in connection with that company. If anyone has proves, let the person produce them”.

Elie SMITH: Thank you very much

Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso: It is my pleasure

Jean Bruno Richard Itoua MP: the born again Christian Minister of Denis Sassou Nguesso

Jean Bruno Richard Itoua MP: He is the minister of Scientific Research and Member of Parliament for the Ollombo electoral constituency. Ollombo is a village located 19km from Oyo. He is an ethnic Mbouchi like the President of the Republic, but from the Plateau Region whereas the president is from the Cuvette region. Both regions are geographically located in the north of Congo. He is the example of modern Congolese elite. The difference between him and any typical Congolese elite, in particular those created by Denis Sassou Nguesso is that, he is honest and speaks up his mind. Whereas the other typical Denis Sassou Nguesso made Congolese elite are professional liars or a people who make promise that they seldom keep. He too is a creation of Denis Sassou Nguesso. But the fact that he is a Christian and made a formal education in France and worked with civilized people and people who are hard working and honest, has made him a different creature. Jean Bruno Richard Itoua is soft spoken and always well dressed and well mannered. He is also a born again Christian in a country where revivalist missions are making inroad and are gaining power within circles of decision making.  

He is also one of the rare Congolese ministers who don’t have legions of mistresses. In Congo, the number of girl friends that any political elite has, is an indication of his political power and fortune. Multiple wives and mistresses in the Congo of Denis Sassou Nguesso is one of the trademarks of wealth. Hence corruption is high in Congo among the political elite of the ruling Congolese Workers Party abbreviated PCT. Jean Bruno Richard Itoua is different. A French journalist by name Jean Francois Jacquier describes him as one of the most unique Congolese government officers who wants things to be done professionally and without any complications.  He was a former staff of the French oil exploration and Exploitation Company called ELF that was bought over or integrated into what is today called Total. He was also a former managing Director of the state owned oil exploration and marketing company called La Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo abbreviated SNPC.

However, rumor has it that, he lost the lucrative post as Director of SNPC and was appointed to the ministry of Hydraulics and Energy because; he refused to get marry to Claudia Leboumba Sassou Nguesso. Mrs. Claudia Leboumba Sassou Nguesso is the daughter of the President Denis Sassou Nguesso. But I once asked him to give me his version on the rumor on the alleged affair between him and Claudia Sassou Nguesso. His reply was short and simple: it is a Congolese invention. He added: this is the only country where people are paid or hired to lie or blackmail opponents.  Another thing with Mr. Itoua is that, unlike some of his colleagues, he at least, has the courage to speak out his mind when necessary and this, honestly. Perhaps it is because he is a practicing born again Christian. Hence he has the courage to say things that sometimes ruffles feathers within the ruling party and government. But the grand question is this: will he be able to play any role in Congo after Denis Sassou Nguesso is no more President of the Republic?

This is so because, he has never faced any true political challenge, for even where he has been elected as MP, he is almost always the lone candidate. This simply means that, he has not yet tested real competition. Perhaps the fact that, he is a born again Christian, which is becoming very influential in the country, he might use it or it might help him to play an important role in Congo after Denis Sassou Nguesso is gone. His only political asset, which is not to be neglected, is that, he is honest, but the wrong side of it is that, he is working in a system that is full of vile men and women who do not like the truth.  The system he is working for has not been able to fight against corruption and unemployment. It has instead bread corruption, incompetence and nepotism to a level never seen before. Were he to gather the courage to distant himself from the current government, he will be loved and admired not only by the people, but most importantly, by God that he claims to be his loyal servant. For the current system governing Congo, is evil.

The self made man called Maurice Nguesso

Besides claiming not to be a Communist like his younger brother, Maurice Nguesso also enjoys proclaiming that, he is a bona fide capitalist.  Maurice Nguesso likes to remind all those around him that, his education was achieved through the help or that he was educated by white French people, during the period of colonialism. Hence, he has a kind of inferiority complex toward White people, especially French whites. He is a black African and proudly Congolese with a lining of a panafricanist, but of the soft version. Not the kind of panafricanist who will want to throughout of the continent people who are not of negro-African ancestry. Because of the high dose colonial influence, he thinks France and French whites are the most superior beings on earth. Sadly, he is not the only one who has a sickening inferiority complex toward White people in Congo and around the African continent. Even his younger brother who is president of the Republic acts the same. Maurice Nguesso once told me that, when he finished schooling in Owando or Fort Rousset, as it was formerly called, he(Maurice Nguesso) got a  job with a French company called Orostom and worked with them or assisted their geographers.

Owando is the headquarters of the Cuvette region and the second populated town in the north after Gamboma. Maurice Nguesso is hard working and certainly not a Communist, if one were to consider his words. But Maurice Nguesso acts like a socialist in the way he manages his companies. The way he manages his businesses has attracted a lot of criticisms from his admirers as well as his detractors. In reaction to those criticizing him that, in all his companies, he employs many workers or has bloated work force, with little or no business plans, his response is that, Congolese do not have jobs, hence he acts they way he does. He also says: his objective is not to make money, for he has sufficient wealth that will outlive his existence.  He simply wants to offer jobs to Congolese. He also adds that, if all wealthy Congolese like him invested in the country instead of investing abroad, the unemployment rate in the country would have fallen and the poverty rate would have also reduced. While it is true that Maurice Nguesso is a self made man, but there is no denying that, the accession of his younger brother to power in 1979 has also helped him. With the training that he received from the French geographers at Orostom coupled with trainings that he received in France and Algeria in the area or field of Hydrocarbon, he was propelled to the post of Director of the state owned Hydro Congo, the ancestor of the current SNPC or Societe Nationale du Petrole du Congo.

But his management of the state owned Hydro Carbon Corporation according to people close to the only post independent democratically elected government that was led by Professor Pascal Lissouba, Maurice Nguesso was not only a poor manager, but  also corrupt. That explains the reason why, Maurice Nguesso was arrested and sent to jail along with his friend Nimi Mandigou. It is an accusation that is roundly and soundly rejected by Maurice Nguesso.  According to Maurice Nguesso, he was a victim of political differences pitting his younger brother Denis Sassou Nguesso against President Pascal Lissouba.