Thread by @eobilo

WASTEFUL LEADERSHIP

Africa is replete with wasteful leaders. The late Omar Bongo (1935-2009) of Gabon was one of them. As of 2008, Gabon, a country with an estimated population of 2 million had a debt of 2.4 billion dollars courtesy Bongo. He lived an ostentatious life.

In the midst of grueling poverty, he had 66 bank accounts, 183 cars, and 39 luxury properties in France. In 1999 it was discovered that he starched more than 130 million dollars in the private banking unit of New York Citibank.

Bongo in concert with his friends in the West borrowed 4 billion dollars for a failed railway project in Gabon. A large chunk of this amount found its way back to European banks.
Gabon remains one of the poorest countries in the world due to the character of its leadership.

With its abundance petroleum resources the country should be an emerging power, but like Nigeria, its elites have plunged it into hardship and pain.
Omar Bongo Ondimba was the President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009.

That his son, Ali Bongo took over the reign of leadership and power after his death in 2009, tells the story of politics and death in Gabon.
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