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“Make some noise” President Ali Bongo cries out for help! – Nana Kofi Ofori, London

Mr Ali Bongo, the deposed Gabonese President, has haplessly called out for domestic and external support to be reinstated in office, stating that – “make some noise.” The phrase “make some noise” is usually heard at social gatherings where masters of ceremony (MCs) would often tease the public/crowd to applaud to welcome a guest speaker or an eminent person to a function. Beyond socio-cultural and political events, the act of making noise conjures instances of merry-making, moments of despair or distress, as amply demonstrated by Mr Bongo under house arrest.

The background to Mr Bongo’s call for help stemmed from his brazen determination to hold onto political power against the will and wishes of the citizens of Gabon. To override the people’s cry and noise for a change in government, Mr Bongo callously cut off internet connections in the cities of the country and colluded with corrupt electoral officials to skew the 2023 presidential election results in his favour. Coincidentally, a similar but parallel event unfolded in Nigeria, with the Nigerian Supreme Court delivering one of the clumsiest judgments in an election petition of Africa’s case-law history. Although this blog focuses on Bongo’s call for help, suffice to make two quick digressions. Firstly, some Supreme Courts in Africa- especially Ghana’s Supreme Court- has earned itself an insipid accolade as the “Unanimous FC” for rendering an outrageous judgment in the nation’s 2020 presidential election petition, brought against the reigning New Patriotic Party (NPP) by the opposition – the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Secondly the Nigerian and Ghanaian Supreme Courts are fast metamorphosing as proxies in shielding the governments whilst neglecting their core mandate to promote the dignity and civil liberties of the citizenry. A development, very inimical to the sustenance of democratic governance in both states and the African region as a whole.

Returning to Mr Bongo, his plea invokes an image of posturing hypocrisy. This is because, despite the Bongos’ dynastic and despotic reign in Gabon for over sixty-six (66) years, the people’s cry for solace in the provision of decent living conditions such as good hospitals, schools, water-supply facilities and effective access to a fair and distributive economy has not been adequately addressed. For forty-two years, Omar Bongo (born Albert Bernard Bongo) ruled Gabon as the second president till his death in 2009 when his son, Ali Bongo succeeded him in 2009 until he was deposed in 2023 by the chief military officers of his administration. While it is understatement that the Bongo family has enriched itself through corruption and bribery-related activities in office, the noise of the suffering Gabonese was ignored and relegated to the gallery. Perhaps the question Ali Bongo must be asked is – when did he realised the importance of noise-making when thousands of Gabonese’s cry for an equitable share in the nation’s resources and are not headed; but ordered for the internet infrastructural set-up to be disconnected?

The response to the above question is in the form of an advice to Mr Ali Bongo; and that is: he has no moral or political right to elicit the world to make noise on his or family’s behalf. This is because hundreds of thousands of Gabonese living in squalor, abject poverty, depravity and misery have been making the loudest of noise without the faintest of response to their plea, over the entire sixty-six years of his late father’s reign and his own administration. Thus, Ali Bongo should re-orient his thoughts and conscience to address the needs of the Gabonese people by investing some of the ill-gotten wealth to advance the social, economic, cultural and political wellbeing of the country and people. That is the surest strategy to motivate the citizenry to make the loudest and positive noise for him.  Furthermore, Ali Bongo should make some noise into the ears of African politicians, especially his colleagues occupying presidential positions, to see themselves as chief servants, committed to addressing the dire social, economic and political needs of their peoples. So, Mr Ali Bongo, we will make some noise but this time- the noise will be about your self-seeking, corrupt and insensitivity towards the poor and suffering Gabonese to the outside world.

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