Jean Claude Kakou: Profile a star journalist and presenter

Jean Claude Kakou: he is a star journalist and presenter working for the state owned Tele Congo, the national Television station also known as Tele fou-fou.  Congolese refer to their national television as Tele fou-fou, because it spends time broadcasting reports or propaganda on the President, his family and the government and little or no presence of contradictions. Unfortunately, Congolese are not the only ones who give very little consideration to their state broadcaster. In neighbouring Cameroon, its national broadcaster, CRTV is referred to as “good news media”. Jean Claude Kakou along with Joseph Bitala Bitemo is the few Congolese journalists trained in Western Europe precisely in France in the profession of journalism. Hence their professional output, which might be pro-governmental or judged one-sided is very different from a majority of Congolese journalists who trained in Cuba, former USSR or in other former Communist countries wherein they studied press and propaganda. Because of his professionalism has inspired most Congolese to opt for the journalism profession. For his style of presentation according to George Eboue, is similar to that of French TV anchor, Yves Mourousi. Late Mourousi was the midday anchor on TF1 from 1975 to 1988. As for George Eboue, he is a retired journalist who has worked with the sport service of the national broadcaster and who knew Jean Claude Kakou when he first to work for the state broadcaster as an intern. Although Jean Claude Kakou is a professional, the reproach made against him by most Congolese is that, he is no more practicing journalism.

He is instead working as a propagandist of the regime. Even though trained in France, my question that I have always asked is this: if a journalist, can no longer or doesn’t practice, the basic rule of journalism and is one-sided, can he or she be described as a professional? In my opinion, the answer is an emphatic No! However, to the discharge of Jean Claude Kakou, in a violent dictatorship like that of Congo, professional journalists have only two options: conciliate professionalism with survival instinct or practice pure professionalism at your risk and peril. This simply means that, for all the one-sided or imbalance reporting or programmes that, Jean Claude Kakou presents on Tele Congo: it doesn’t take away the fact that, he is a professional. His only problem is that, there is no enabling environment for him to practice his profession.  Jean Claude Kakou was once a considered as pariah by the current regime because of his support of the government of Pascal Lissouba. Now he seems to have been rehabilitated.  Even though he has been accepted  and he is now working at the national television station and producing and presenting only programmes that glorifies President Sassou Nguesso and his government, he is still hated by some members the regime for having supported the regime of Pascal Lissouba. While the government might hate him or look at him with suspicions, he also doesn’t hold the regime with any esteem. He works for them simply because he has no alternative.

General Pierre Oba: Profile of an author and the current minister of Mining and Geology

General Pierre Oba: he is an author and the current minister of Mining and Geology. And he is also one of the strongest supports of President Denis Sassou Nguesso. The 64 year old, is the author of the book: Le Protocole de Brazzaville, une victoire Congolaise meconnue, in French or in English, the Brazzaville Protocol: an unknown Congolese victory. It is rumored that, he knows all the secrets of Denis Sassou Nguesso and even the darkest of them. Hence, he is so attached to Denis Sassou Nguesso, for whom he is also suspected to have committed a lot of political assassinations. General Pierre Oba aka Peter, is also considered as Sassou Nguesso’s man for mission impossible, consequently, it is claimed that, he has a lot of blood in his hands.He was the God father of late Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba and when she was alive, Pierre Oba held the same position currently held by Jean Dominique Okemba on the side of the Sassou Nguesso. Besides that, he is an excellent negotiator. He did play a central role in negotiations between the South African, Angolan, former USSR, Cuban and US governments, which led to the Brazzaville Protocol.  The Brazzaville accord was signed on the 13^th of December 1988 and it is the central piece of his book above mentioned, wherein, he tries to explain the fundamental role played by Congolese diplomacy. 

In spite his influence, the tall and imposing but now frail man, remains humble and speaks very little. The lengthy stay of this father of several children and a polygamist in the government and his acquaintance with high profile Africans and western diplomats has given him a different view on how to handle sensitive matters. While he is not for total free speech, he is methodic and he won’t brutalise a journalist, the same way as Jean Dominique Okemba or jean François Ndenguet are currently doing. He understands the essence of public relations and he also has respect for people. However, he reacts quickly and firmly whenever there is anything information that has to with the security of the state and also the security of the president of the Republic. Even though he is no longer policing the country as he used to do when he was minister of interior, his prolonged stay within the intelligence services has made him to have a formidable network of informants around the country. Hence, when a commission of inquiry was created by the President to investigate the causes of the March 4^th 2012 explosions at an ammunition depot northeast of Brazzaville, he was the chosen to chair the commission. It demonstrated to the face of the world once again how much confidence that, the president of the Republic has in him. He is such a diehard supporter of the President of the Republic. He even claims that there is no other person capable of governing Congo other than Denis Sassou Nguesso. His greatest adversaries nonetheless in the system especially within the security apparatus are Jean Dominique Okemba and Jean Francois Ndenguet, both of whom he suspects of having a secret agenda against the President of the Republic.

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.

Paul Soni-Benga: Profile of a disappointed supporter of Sassou Nguesso

Paul Soni-Benga: He is the director of the first privately owned Radio and Television station in Congo. However, there is a little story on the creation of DRTV that I will like to share with you. The license of DRTV or Digital Radio and Television was granted only after Maurice Nguesso pressured his younger brother Sassou Nguesso, to allow General Dabira to own a media house. This was what Maurice Nguesso told or convinced his younger to allow Dabira to launch DRTV: “for once that, an ethnic Mbouchi wants to do something good, why on earth do you want to prevent him?” President Sassou Nguesso was afraid that, since Dabira was a soldier, allowing him to own a media house, will be tantamount to granting him more power. So, without the intervention of Maurice Nguesso, DRTV would have remain, just another unrealized projects.  General Norbert Dabira, in spite suspected by Denis Sassou Nguesso as potential coup plotter, is still an ally of the President. General Norbert Dabira is accused by a French court, precisely the high court of the city of Maux, of having taken part in 1999, in the disappearance or the massacre of Congolese refugees who were returning from exile from neighbouring DRC.

It is however, an accusation that is rejected by General Dabira, who has since been issued an international arrest warrant by France. That sad period is generally referred to in Congo as “Les disparu du Beach”. In that massacre, it is reported that, close to 400 Congolese disappeared or could not be accounted for. As for Paul Soni-Benga, it well known that, he is a journalist and politically, he is close to the late Ambroise Noumazalaye, the last charismatic secretary general of the ruling PCT party. His current relationship with the regime is distant. However, like most Congolese, he was a supporter of Denis Sassou in France, when he (Denis Sassou Nguesso) was preparing to overthrow the democratically elected government of Pascal Lissouba. Paul Soni-Benga is among the rare journalists in the country in whose programmes people with different political orientations are invited to take part. He operates at equidistance between self censorship and independence is broadcasting or authorization to cover any events. He is admired by most of his staff because of the way he manages them and also because of his honesty. And in order to remain professionally balance or neutral and also avoid police harassments, he seldom exposes his political orientations or thoughts, especially about the current regime. But it is evident that, he doesn’t support how things or the way the country is being currently managed.

Paul Soni-Benga is certainly a disappointed man, for he supported Sassou Nguesso in 1997, because he had promised a new Congo that will be free from corruption, tribalism. Sassou Nguesso also promised a Congo where freedom of speech and democracy will reign supreme. Sadly for Paul Soni-Benga, Congo under Denis Sassou Nguesso has become a lawless country. While he  ruminates his disappointment, he also spends most of his time between Congo and France, where his family still resides. He is the anchor of “Sans Detour”, the flagship TV programme broadcast on DRTV. Paul Soni-Benga is a man of few words and very observant. Even though he treats all subjects in his programme evenly, it has not shielded him from being subject of verbal abuse and death threats from General Jean Francois Ndenguet. He is an avid supporter of press freedom and real democracy.

Guy Milex Mbondzi: Profile of an insatiable investigative journalist

Guy Milex Mbondzi:  He is a journalist and publisher of La Voix du Peuple.  And La Voix du Peuple, in my opinion is perhaps along with other newspapers such as: Sel Piment, Nouvelle Observateur and La Griffe, the last truly independent newspapers left in Congo. But as at the time, that I was typing or writing this book, La Voix du Peuple had also suffered the same fate of Talassa newspaper. That is, banned indefinitely by the government of Denis Sassou Nguesso. However, he now runs or publishes, La Trompet, a sister newspaper. Unfortunately for him and the Congolese readers, La Trompet newspaper has also been banned by the government. Until the indefinite ban of La Voix du Peuple, took place, it was perhaps the only newspaper in Congo, which held the record in term of suspensions from the government. It immediate competitor was Talassa. It was thanks to La Voix du Peuple and also Talassa that, the scandal of the sale of Congolese diplomatic passports to Lebanese, suspected of belonging to Hezbollah was exposed. La Voix du Peuple was the first to reveal the secret love child of Jean Dominique Okemba. The mismanagement at LCB Bank by its former manager, Younes El Masloumi was exposed or revealed by La Voix du Peuple and when Jean-Jacques Bouya appointed his younger brother, Serge Bouya as the deputy Director of the Pointe Noire Autonomous Port, the paper that broke the news was La Voix du Peuple. The head of the Congolese National Communications Commission, Mr Philippe Mvouo calls Mbondzi a “terrorist journalist” while Clement Mierassa, chair of an opposition party calls him a freedom fighter.  

Mbonzi’s insatiable love for investigative journalism has created him several enemies within the circles of power and also within the journalism profession. Within the profession, some of his colleagues are jealous of him because, he is young and also because of the notoriety that he has created for himself and newspaper, within a very short time.  Until I was expelled from Congo by General Jean Francois Ndenguet, because I dare protest after he ordered thugs to attack my home and also gang rape my younger sister, I have been observing Guy Milex Mbonzi with admiration. I was impressed and I always said to myself that, if Congo had five courageous and honest journalists such as Mbonzi, the days of the dictatorship of Denis Sassou Nguesso would have been numbered. Sadly, most Congolese journalists are professionally lazy, corrupt and dishonest. They are mostly animated by foolish pride, sterile nationalism, jealousy and envy. Most often some observers do accuse the opposition and civil society organisations in the country for not only being weak, but corrupt. And they claim that, it is because of the weak, corrupt and divided oppositions and civil society organisations, which have made Denis Sassou Nguesso to stay longer than needed in power. It is partly correct, but they also forget to mention the aspect of violence employed by the government on the population, as being another factor in the long reign of Denis Sassou Nguesso. 

The other perhaps crucial aspect seldom mentioned in to the reason why Denis Sassou Nguesso can extend his rule or misrule, without and organized resistance or prolonged protest, is the dubious role played by most Congolese journalists and their press. Most Congolese journalists are not only corrupt; some even go the extra mile of betraying their colleagues and members of the opposition to the Police, for a monthly stipend.  Most Colleagues journalists work as spies for the regime, especially for the Police. However, Guy Milex Mbonzi and some few others are the exceptions to the rule in a country whose press is rotten. Throughout my stay in Congo, I knew that, La Voix du Peuple has been published and is in circulation, whenever I saw Guy Milex Mbonzi, dressed in a black Mao Zedong style coat and holding his black briefcase and walking around the business and administrative district of Brazzaville. Instead of him hiding in his BasCongo neighbourhood, whenever he published La Voix du Peuple, he was in town. And more, he was aware that, each edition of La Voix du Peuple on the newsstand was synonymous to a bomb explosion of revelations on the lives of the rich and powerful. And in spite the risk, he still had the effrontery to come and defy those on whom he had published articles.

The content of La Voix du Peuple was so valued and appreciated by the population to a point where, it survived economically without adverts until it was banned. His secret was simple. He did investigative journalism and focused not only on political subjects, but more on financial subjects and also on the political, economical and salacious lives of those governing the country. He is bold and enjoys risking taking. He is also a militant in the defense and protection of free speech and democracy. Furthermore, he is honest and knows how to keep secrets. Those are qualities, besides professionalism, that most Congolese journalists do lack. Guy Milex Mbonzi has created a name for himself because he doesn’t take bribe or is not at the mercy of any political affiliation. He has refused to used be by the government, especially by the Police of General Jean Francois Ndenguet to spy on opposition party leaders and other prodemocracy activists, as most of his colleagues are doing. However, he seems to have an idealistic view of the world and of Congo in particular.

Furthermore, he sometimes doesn’t make distinction between his profession and his hatred of the misrule of the country by Denis Sassou Nguesso and his cohort. He is a person who believes in Congolese and African traditions. He says he is an African Christian and a nationalist; hence he is a member or follower of Andre Grenard Matsoua. Followers of Andre Grenard Matsoua, a Congolese nationalist and pan Africanist are called the Matsouanists. Matsouanism is an indigenous Congolese Christian movement. He also leads a very secretive live, for it is not known whether he is married or whether he has a partner or children. To confront the current dictatorship in Congo, there is need for such bold press men and women like Guy Milex Mbondzi, who are not corruptible and who also believe in true multiparty democracy and freedom of speech. He is the only Congolese journalist , during my close to four years stay in that country, whom I have seen refuse money and also a proposition of trip to France to stay and continue his education. Those offers were made to him by Bienvenu Okiemi, former minister of Communications. The former minister wanted him not only stop investigating how he ran the ministry of Communications, but the minister also wanted him to give him his source of information within the ministry or elsewhere. Guy Milex rejected all those demands. All those transactions took place in my presence and the venue was the restaurant of Mikhael Hotel in Brazzaville. He stands out as an honest diehard advocate for press freedom and democracy, in a country where most journalists because of limited or no resources, have become informants of the police.

Ifrikia Kengue: Profile of a hard working female journalist from Congo

Ifrikia Kengue:  she is perhaps the best online journalist in Congo. Calm, intelligent and above all, independent minded. She is the antithesis of Sadio Kante-Morel in term of character. However, professionally, she is to print media and online or social media, what Sadio Kante is to TV journalism in Congo. Another difference with Sadio and her is that, she is purely a journalist and keeps her political opinions to herself or expresses them only to friends that, she has confidence in them. However, this has not shielded her from being subject of attacks from the government and their thugs. Ifrikia Kengue is in my humble opinion, the embodiment of what a journalist should be. That is: hard working, not accepting the dictates of the employer, especially if they are against the respect of human right and press freedom. In my opinion also, a journalist must moreover be ready to defend and promote free speech and free market, as well as, all liberal orientations. 

Ifrikia Kengue is also the antithesis of most Congolese girls, in particular female journalists, whose only ambition is to be showy and always desiring to get married to a rich old baron of the ruling party. Rather than count on men, she is hard working. She does not only defy the macho world of the Congolese press, she has even gone the extra mile to create her own media company. It is a testimony not only to her professionalism but more of her independent and bold spirit. And in a country where the press is weak and also where most journalists are not digitally savvy, she is a pioneer in digital or online journalism in Congo. Her only rival or competitor is Sadio Kante-Morel. Ifrikia Kengue is a graduate of the school of Mass Communication of the Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville. She has worked for several newspapers in Brazzaville and abroad either as a permanent staff or as a stringer. Some of them are: Jeune Afrique, La Semaine Africaine and Terrafrica. She is also known well as a prodemocracy activist and also women’s right activists.

Sadio Kante-Morel: profile of a journalist fighting against the 33 years misrule of Denis Sassou Nguesso

Sadio Kante-Morel: Until she became the flagship rabble-rouser on the streets and halls of France, rallying the Congolese and French-speaking black African Diaspora against the 33 years misrule of Denis Sassou Nguesso and other dictators, Sadio Kante-Morel was a seasoned reporter. She was a stringer with Thompson Reuters and the BBC Afrique in West Africa. It was an occasion that took her to several hotspots on the continent, in particular in the north of Ivory Coast, when it was under the control of the rebels, who are currently governing in Abidjan. And while in Congo, she was concomitantly stringing for Reuters and also collaborating or taking part at regular intervals in TV programmes on MNTV. The programme where she most participated was Point de Press. This programme was anchored by Emery Patrice Orbargui. Sadio Kante-Morel, who is a widow with only one child, is dedicated to her job and also a fearless militant against corruption and against dictatorship. Because of her dedication to her job, she most often neglects herself and doesn’t care about her looks. The dreadlock, eyeglass wearing and chaining smoke lady, is the only high profile female journalist of Congo presently.  Even though, she is now fully dedicated militant in France to see the back of Denis Sassou Nguesso, she remains professionally a journalist. This can be seen through her posts on her Facebook page where she interviews politicians and civil society activists of Congo from both sides of the divide.

Congo is a pathetic country for female journalists and professional women in general. It is a country where the system has destroyed any entrepreneurial spirits in women.  However this aspect will be developed on the chapter on Congolese culture.  The sad thing with the journalism profession in Congo is that, since female journalists such as Solange Samba Touyou, Arlette Soudan-Nonault and Marie Jeanne Colombo, left the profession, Congo no longer has high calibre female journalists capable of handling major economic or political programmes on TV, Radio and also in the print media. Today, most female Congolese journalists, especially those who are on TV and to a certain level radio, are not professionally ambitious.  Their presence on TV or Radio is a stepping stone to getting married or to be seen by powerful old and corrupt politicians or superficial businessmen. Hence in most newsrooms in Congo, whenever there are squabbles amongst female journalists, it is not for professional reasons. But their disputes occur because they want to accompany a minister or a member of the ruling party on mission to the interior of the country. For they are of the opinion that,  luck might smile to one of them and she will be selected as the mistress or second or even fourth wife of the minister or high ranking politician who came to solicit the service of their media house to send them as reporters to cover his activity.

It is a pitiable observation that I have made while in Congo. By contrast, in other Africans countries such as the DRC, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin and Senegal, female journalists are competing with their male colleagues professionally. In Congo, female journalists are instead competing with each to sleep with the most influential politicians, in order to have a RAV4 SUV or a trip to Paris or Dubai. However, Sadio Kante-Morel and perhaps two other journalists, whose profile you will soon read, were the exceptions to rule. Because of Sadio’s devotion to her job, she was expelled from her native country Congo to Mali. Sadio Kante-Morel is a pure Congolese born in the populous neighbourhood of Poto-poto, from Senegalo-Malian immigrant parents. She speaks fluent lingala.

Even though her parents are Muslims, she is not a practicing Muslim and has the liberal behavior of any women born in Christian and animist equatorial Africa. It is refreshing to find an independent and also bold female journalist working professionally, the way Sadio did until her expulsion and this, in a country where women are not professionally ambitious. It is not as though there are no female journalists in Congo. There are a good number of them. However none has been able to singularize herself professionally as Sadio has done within the electronic media. However, the only problem with Sadio, if it is really one, is that, she likes smoking and she also talks a lot. On the positive side, she is not rancorous and professionally, she likes investigative journalism with an insatiable desire for risk taking. She adores being the first on a story or making the breaking news. She was even the one who first broke the news of my spectacular armed robbery and the gang rape of my younger sister on the night of the 9^th breaking September 10^th 2014. The fact that through social media she informed the world about my gruesome attack, it was never appreciated by the hierarchy of the Police and in chief, Jean Francois Ndenguet. She is also digital savvy, in a country where journalists: men and women are on the same level in their ignorance of new media. Sadio Kante-Morel gets angry very fast, but as mentioned earlier, she keeps very little or no grudges. She is perhaps the only journalist in Congo male and female who have received record aggressions and attacks from the Police.