He may now regret allowing former pillars of his late father Omar Bongo Ondimba's regime to defect and form their own party...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     On 2 September  Ping  once the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba's right-hand man and later  Chairperson of the African Union Commission  declared himself President and demanded a recount...
 The province has long benefited from the Bongo connection – the village where Omar Bongo was born was renamed Bongoville – and it is the dynasty's political heartland...
 This form of vote-fixing  whereby the government tests the prevailing mood in the first eight provinces and then inflates the score in the Bongo fiefdom of Haut-Ogooué  was developed under Omar Bongo...
 Its President is Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo  a long-term associate of the Bongo family who has two children by Omar Bongo (AC Vol 55 No 18  Electioneering begins)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Bongo took over after the death in 2009 of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba  who held the Presidency for 42 uninterrupted years...
 Ping  Nzouba and others were barons of Omar Bongo's regime...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Ndama was one of the closest allies of Ali Bongo's father  the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Chambrier is part of a PDG faction opposed to Bongo's continued rule  albeit within the confines of the 42-year legacy of Bongo's late father  President Omar Bongo Ondimba...
 Chambrier is a son of Marcel Eloi Chambrier Rahandi  a founding member of the PDG  former Justice Minister and close associate of Omar Bongo...
 Like other scions of politicians favoured by Omar Bongo  Rahandi resents their rejection by his son  and his too-easy dynastic succession...
 Mborantsuo is more than just an ally: she is the mother to two of Omar Bongo's estimated 53 children...
 Times have changed since he was Omar Bongo's Foreign Minister and the partner of his daughter Pascaline Mferri Bongo Ondimba  who gave him two children...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The President and his father  the late Omar Bongo  spent an estimated $125 mn...
 When Omar Bongo died Ali continued to hire Travcon but stopped paying their bills...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Most galling to the presidency is Péan's argument  repeated endlessly before 2009's elections  that Ali is not Gabonese at all but a Biafran orphan adopted during Nigeria's civil war by the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba...
 The children of Omar Bongo's predecessor  President Léon Mba  said they were at school in France with Ali Bongo before the Biafran war began...
 Péan also details arguments between Ali Bongo and his half-sister Pascaline Mferri Bongo  who was for long Omar Bongo's Cabinet Director and reputedly managed the Bongo clan's business affairs (AC Vol 41 No 10  The lobbyists' list)...
 His seminal 1983 work  Affaires africaines  laid into Omar Bongo and the often corrupt 'Françafrique' mafia of French and African politicians and business people...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Meanwhile  the oppositionist and former African Union Commission Chairman  Jean Ping  faces criticism that he does not offer a real alternative to the ruling Parti démocratique gabonais (PDG) because he was a top political baron under the four-decade 'big man' rule by the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba (AC Vol 55 No 4  Ping's pop at Ali)...
 Having been a senior official in Omar Bongo's government  he said that he would now reveal all of the embarrassing secrets he had access to...
 Most leaders of the opposition – for example  the ailing André Mba Obame – who declared himself President in 2011 (AC 52 No 4  Rearranging the cabinet)  served as Interior Minister and said Omar Bongo treated him like a son – have said they have plenty of damaging information to reveal but have not done so over the last five years...
 Omar Bongo had children with her while he was married to another woman...
 He is an ally of Omar Bongo's nephew  Idriss Ngari  and managed his cabinet for a period when he was Public Works Minister in 2004-07 (AC Vol 50 No 23  And throw away the key)...
 One cartoon from a local paper showed Omar Bongo and late oppositionist Pierre Mamboundou as angels in heaven giving advice to Ali Bongo: 'Do not worry...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Indeed  Ping has held nearly every Gabonese ministerial post on offer  including the Foreign Affairs portfolio for nine years  and was a pillar of the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba's regime...
 Strangely  for an Omar Bongo loyalist and one of the PDG's most stalwart barons  Ping has declared that he will run for the presidency against Omar's son  the current President  Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba  if the Gabonese people ask him to...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 53 No 15 | 
            - GABON
 - GUINEA
 
        
        
		
        
        
    
        
	
	     Mebiame  42  is the son of Léon Mebiame  the late Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba’s Premier from 1975 to 1990...