Africa has changed during the past few decades. But has Gabon?
Here are some things you need to know about Omar Bongo.
I’ve lived in Africa for five years, and this question still puzzles me: How much influence can one person hold over a state? Look at it another way. If crime is a rebellion against society, what happens when a criminal (or criminals) run that society? 
In more practical terms, people have long wondered how much more developed Africa would be if it weren’t for its iniquitous leadership? Surely, a lot of Africa’s problems have been laid squarely at the feet of the so-called “Big Men of Africa.” But how fair is this claim? Certainly there are good rulers in Africa. Just for fun, though, let’s look at one of the worst.
Here are a few things you need to know about Omar Bongo of Gabon:
- Move over, Castro. Bongo is the world’s longest ruling leader (who is not a monarch). He recently celebrated his fourth decade in power, outlasting everyone from Charles de Gaulle to Jacques Chirac.
- He likes his name. Take for example the Omar Bongo Triumphal Boulevard, the Senate Palace Omar Bongo, the Omar Bongo University.
- He is a political genius, says a political science professor at Omar Bongo University (see, it exists). His timing is genius, too. His rise to power coincided with Gabon’s rise to becoming Africa’s third largest oil exporter.
- Gabon enjoys one of the highest GDPs per capita in sub-Saharan Africa, opines the World Bank, but the country’s social indicators barely register higher than other sub-Saharan African countries.
- For all these riches, nearly two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. Gabon has fewer miles of paved roads than oil pipelines. However, the country does excel at cutting down trees: Since 1957, two-thirds of its forests have been logged. On the bright side, the government is planning to set aside 10 percent of its land mass for national parks.
- In 2005 Bongo was reelected for a seven-year term “in an election marred by irregularities,” says U.S. Dept. of State. “The country's human rights record remained poor, although there were improvements in several areas.”
- “Bongo’s rule has been a masterclass in the use of patronage,” exclaims the Guardian. Even African diplomats are impressed. Petrodollars prop up the bloated civil service. Important opposition leaders, the Guardian says, are either paid off or brought into the government. One opposition party member, the head of the Bongo Must Go Party, says with its relatively small population and bountiful resources, Gabon should be more like Dubai.
- Bongo likes to keep it in the family. His son, and probable heir apparent, is the country’s minister of defense. His daughter remains the head of the cabinet. Her husband is the minister of finance.
- He likes houses. French prosecutors discovered the family owned 33 houses in France alone. His wife, originally the daughter of Congo’s president Denis Sassou-Nguesso, was featured on the U.S.-based reality show Really Rich Real Estate, scouring southern California for a $25 million mansion.
- His family likes cars. According to four non-governmental organizations pushing the French government to continue its probe into alleged misappropriated assets by several African Presidents, President Bongo’s wife, who does not earn a government salary, bought a €300,000 Maybach luxury car in 2004 entirely paid for by the Gabonese Treasury. The Treasury overpaid for the car by €70,000, the groups said, with the excess going to purchase a Mercedes for Bongo’s daughter. The same daughter later bought another Mercedes which was also part-paid for by the Gabonese Treasury.
- Court documents show that Bongo accepted at least $16.7 million in kickbacks from the French oil firm ELF.
- He really wanted to meet George Bush. So much, in fact, Bongo allegedly paid disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff $9 million to meet with the President of the United States.
Photo courtesy of the White House