Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Gabon actu
Published on 2024-03-21 13:14:44
Today: the inclusive national dialogue!
Barring any false notes, the inclusive dialogue will take place this April. Convened on April 1st, we would have thought of April Fool’s Day… The organizers were inspired to choose April 2nd as the opening date for the big Gabonese palaver. However, voices are already rising to demand its postponement.
Which is not a bad thing unless one is acting in bad faith. Let’s not forget that it’s a whole container (40 feet) of files that need to be carefully examined with lucidity and in a cool-headed manner in front of a crowd of individuals with diverse profiles and inflated egos.
53 years of dirigiste crap require a monumental amount of preparation, information gathering, and sorting; in order not to fall into a kind of rush job, improvisation, risking coming out with empty resolutions.
From my hideout where the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) coup has confined me, I am wondering: are we going to adopt the South African model (truth, repentance, justice, reparation, and reconciliation) where all the bastards with blood on their hands will come forward so that finally, we can understand what role each played in the various crimes committed in this country, or will we simply be content with listening to foolish homilies about the realities of our lives for over half a century?
A few clowns, as if afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorders, are turning heaven and earth to participate, claiming they have bright ideas to offer. Without them, this dialogue will be a failure.
It is as if they are nostalgic for the ‘Omari’ era when political charlatans, like doctors, infused poor Omar with sleep-inducing substances, so that they were perceived as luminaries and that without them, the country was heading straight for disaster.
In fact, if they insist on participating, it’s for the attendance fees, convinced that this grand mass will be an opportunity to distribute, as in the good old days, large sums of money that will be used to marry a third wife and finance the construction of a hut for the in-laws in the village.
Many are eager to go, to show off and appear as rock stars on Gabon Television and social media, or for personal positioning in the hope that they will be recognized and appointed as ministers of something when they come out of it.
Some hope to enhance their resumes, ‘I took part in the inclusive dialogue of April 2024’, will they boast of feeling like they are among the elite, the very important people that cannot be done without.
If the CTRI solemnly announces, through its spokesperson, that there will be no money to distribute, no one will rush to attend this political meeting.
Dear compatriots, in your opinion, should we attend the dialogue for Knowledge, Possessions, or Power?
NB: This column does not reflect the editorial point of view
Timothée Mémey, journalist, independent columnist
Read the original article(French) on Gabon Actu
