The High Crimes and Misdemeanors of Andre Mba Obame

I think there is one in every family; that relative who despite his obnoxious behavior, insolent disrespect for his neighbors, and pigheaded stupidity has found a way to achieve success far beyond his meager abilities. The mention of such an individual amongst society’s more decent elements is more a source of shame, than pride. Now imagine that he is the head of some of the government’s most powerful ministries.

That is exactly what I face everyday, and the unfortunate individual of whom I speak is my uncle: Andre Mba Obame, Gabon’s minister of Interior and Immigration.

 

      It should be a source of pride to have a relative has ascended to such a place of prestige within the Gabonese government, however when confronted with the facts of his tenure, it becomes readily apparent that the nation would be better off without him. This is not merely some rhetoric; the record Mba Obame has compiled in two decades of so-called “service” is so atrocious as to demand his immediate resignation and investigation by authorities.

      Why then, do I advertise the fact that I am related to a man of such substantial ill-gotten wealth and vast incompetence? It is my love of Gabon, the land and people that make me so proud, who in the face of a despotic government have remained a strong and noble nation. It is my duty to use my intimate knowledge of this man, both as a public figure and an individual; I am in a unique position expose his fraudulent incompetence to the world.

      Before I launch into a formal dissection of his abuse of office, I would pose you the following question: When you hear the name Andre Mba Obame, what successes do you associate with it? I suspect, that you, like me cannot think of a single instance where his position within the state has done our nation good. Perhaps the first decade as one of Bongo’s lackeys was not sufficient, but one would presume that sometime between the tenth and twentieth year in office, some good would come from his drawing a gargantuan public paycheck. No doubt there are some that rightfully find his ongoing “service” to the country confusing, allow me to elaborate.

      The formula for Mr. Mba Obame’s success within the Bongo regime is simple and easily understood, he has wholeheartedly dedicated himself to preserving and strengthening the reign of Omar Bongo, and his exploitation of Gabon as a personal fiefdom. He has spearheaded attempts to curtail freedom of speech and press within Gabon, arresting leaders and closing media outlets that sought to expose the pernicious exploitation of the Gabonese people. Mba Obame sought to be the trumpet of “victory” for Bongo in elections that can scarcely be called legitimate, announcing Bongo’s “triumph.”

Mba Obame, ignorant kleptocrat

      What you hear on the radio, or read in the newspapers about Mba Obame indicated that he is a perpetually ineffective and ceaselessly corrupt individual, however what the media does not tell you is how personally stupid the man is. My personal experience has revealed the minister to be a man lacking even basic education; he has no skill per se, other than a desire to skim off of the top of Omar Bongo’s profiteering. It is entirely possible that Mr. Mba Obame, has grander plans for himself, as the dictator grows older everyday, and perhaps the erstwhile loyal servant may seek to set himself upon the thrown. It became clear to me many years ago that my uncle was a man who lacking any intelligence, skill, or desire to work hard, achieved his success because he had no moral code.

      I realize his inability to effectively perform as a government minister is sufficient grounds to demand his immediate dismissal, his personal dealings are no less shady than his public tomfoolery. As a minister within the government of Omar Bongo, Mba Obame commands a salary that is hundreds of times what average Gabonese citizens make in a year, and uses the nations airline as a personal charter service. Furthermore, when traveling as a foreign dignity, instead of dedicating trips to foreign lands as opportunities to advance Gabon’s standing within the international community, he prefers to exploit such journeys as personal holidays where public funds are wasted on whatever gewgaws may strike his fancy. While you or I might expect a trip to the United Nations to concentrate upon the salient issues that confront our nation on a daily basis like education and infrastructure, Mr. Mba Obame instead preferred infuse the U.S. economy with Gabonese funds that apparently were better spent on luxury goods than medicine for children.

      Although his sins against the nation, and people of Gabon are innumerable, and his parasitic greed limitless, perhaps the greatest blot against his name remains the attempt to sell Mbiané, a great source of potential wealth, to Equatorial Guinea. Mbiané an oil rich islet has been the source of ongoing conflict with our neighbor Equitorial Guinea, each nation claiming it as their own. Mba Obame seeking to resolve the conflict, in the manner most personally profitable, attempted to sell the islet in direct violation of the constitution. In a true democracy, such an action would have brought immediate scrutiny from all branches of government; however what we have seen in the two years following the embarrassing incident has been an even more embarrassing silence.

      If Andre Mba Obame is to be remembered for one thing, it will be not the boobery that he has imposed on the various ministries throughout these last two decades, rather his treason against the nation. Stupidity and corruption are terrible, and I do not seek to diminish the impact they have had on our nation, but when Mba Obame sought to divide our nation, and sell sections piecemeal, there can be no forgiveness. He has violated the fabric of our national existence, and having done so continues to smile for the cameras mocking the toiling of our nation’s men and women who everyday, fight for survival.

      Andre Mba Obame is a criminal, pure and simple, and though at times we cannot see his crimes, they are no less insidious. It is easy to smile for the cameras, when your victims die whimpering in a village so remote that it cannot be found on any map and collect your check. It is easy to live in palatial luxury, when you steal a few dollars from everyone it seems like nothing until you realize that the money you wasted could have been spent on roads. It is easy to take in the culture of New York or Paris, when you serve a regime that has no regard for the freedom of speech, and whose policy of silencing critics robs us of writers and artists that no one will ever know because they are rotting within a jail. When you are willing to such things as Andre Mba Obame has done, and continues to do, you have sold your soul to the devil himself.

 

Leon Obame

President of the MGD

 

 

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