Gabon: the commitments of Clotaire Oligui Nguema before the people

Clotaire Oligui Nguema was formally taken oath on Saturday May 3, during an inauguration ceremony at the Stade d’Angondjé, outside of Libreville.

The former leader of the transition, elected with an overwhelming majority on April 12, swore before the Constitutional Court as well as before an areopling of African leaders, loyalty to the Republic. He is now the first president of the Fifth Republic of the country.

The ceremony was punctuated by powerful symbols: the allocation of the presidential necklace, traditional insignia of authority, and a torch, which symbolized “light, hope and common responsibility”, which he elegantly passed to his Guinean vis-à-vis Mamadi Doumbouya, indirectly evoking the need to organize elections in Guinea.

In his inaugural speech as elected president, Oligui Nguema has drawn the main lines of his mandate: economic diversification, fight against young people and local valuation of natural resources.

The freshly elected president also discussed the fight against “impunity, corruption, greed, laxity and laziness”. According to local sources, an electricity failure which occurred during the event also highlighted, in a fortuitous manner, the urgent need to renovate national infrastructure.

Installation of new institutions

The president also detailed the calendar for the establishment of new institutions: the elections for the legislature and the local government will take place on September 27 and October 11, followed by the senatorial elections. December 23 will mark the end of the transition with the official installation of the new Constitutional Court.

Although many Gabonese have celebrated the ceremony as a historic moment, it mainly represents the beginning of a mandate observed carefully, both national and international.