Gabon: hugues ongoundou demands end to verbal attacks in public discourse

A sharp response has emerged from Hugues Ongoundou following the egregious insults directed at President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, his mother, and his wife. In a particularly resolute statement, Ongoundou clarified that his stance is not an endorsement of the current administration or its policies. Rather, he asserts that targeting a mother and grandmother, who are distant from political affairs, or the spouse and parents of a public official, represents a fundamental red line that transcends the individuals involved. Decrying what he terms “verbal insalubrity” and the increasing normalization of obscenity within Gabon’s public discourse, Hugues Ongoundou advocates for a clear distinction between legitimate criticism and outright vulgarity. He also indicated his intention to explore legal avenues to address these unacceptable behaviors.

The vitriolic remarks aimed at the Head of State’s mother—a discreet woman with no political history, a mother and grandmother—along with those targeting his wife and the President himself, are profoundly serious. I must confess, these comments left me utterly stunned.

My concern here is not politics. I am not defending a track record, an ideology, or any affiliation with the government. I am addressing something far more fundamental: the dignity, core values, and very essence of our Gabonese people.

It is no longer just three people who are being insulted.

When a mother and grandmother, entirely removed from political contests, is dragged through the mud by vile statements simply because she is the Head of State’s mother, a critical boundary has been crossed.

When a woman, a spouse and First Lady, is in turn subjected to obscene remarks, it is our collective moral compass that is under attack.

It is no longer solely the Head of State, his mother, and his wife who face these insults.

Symbolically, it is all our grandmothers, all our mothers, all our women, all our sisters, and all our daughters who are being demeaned.

It is the very image of our nation that is tarnished.

It is our values that are eroding.

Ultimately, it represents a spiritual desertion of a people’s true essence.

And I choose my words carefully.

The symbol is greater than the individuals.

Within any nation, certain symbols transcend individuals. The mother embodies transmission. The grandmother represents memory.

The woman constitutes an essential part of family and society. The father likewise represents this chain of transmission connecting generations.

When these foundational figures are publicly humiliated and turned into targets of political insults, a part of our moral heritage is trampled upon.

It is the symbolic potency of our nation that is diminished.

Not in its trivial sense, but in what it signifies: power, uprightness, symbolic authority, and a people’s capacity to stand tall.

These excesses signal a nation in distress.

What has just occurred should not be dismissed as a mere slip on social media.

These excesses are, in my view, symptoms of a national body that is ailing, suffering, and adrift. They reveal a gradual weakening of fundamental societal benchmarks.

There was a time when patriotism, respect for elders, consideration for parents, and a sense of honor were integral to civic education and cultural transmission.

Today, a portion of that crucial teaching appears to have vanished.

This signifies the misfortune of virtue and the prosperity of vice.

We are witnessing a disturbing reversal: the one who hurls insults sometimes becomes a celebrity, the one who humiliates gains popularity, and the provocateur captures more attention than the builder.

And when insult becomes entertainment, when it transforms into a distraction, when it becomes a media commodity, virtue itself is ultimately relegated to the background.

Every laugh, every trivialization makes us collectively responsible.

I go further.

Every Gabonese citizen who finds amusement in such abhorrent remarks, shares them for entertainment, or contributes to their dissemination, participates—knowingly or not—in their normalization.

Every citizen who accepts that political debate devolves into an insult contest contributes to the erosion of our societal standards. And each time we elevate insult to celebrity status, canonize the instigator, or promote them simply for making noise, we participate in the slow destruction of what should unite us.

We are all responsible when insult becomes diversion. We are all responsible when it becomes a dictated trend.

We are all responsible when those who insult become the most listened to voices. I am not seeking favor.

I want to be unequivocally clear.

I am not currying favor with the government.

I am not seeking recognition.

I am not defending the Head of State against his political adversaries.

I am here to say STOP.

There is an urgent necessity to act against this verbal insalubrity that is steadily pervading our public sphere.

And conversely, I wish to commend those Gabonese individuals who challenge the President and his policies without crossing these fundamental lines.

Responsible opposition exists.

Men and women who know how to acknowledge what is done well and denounce what is not.

Citizens capable of challenging a policy with arguments, without resorting to insulting the mothers, fathers, spouses, or children of those they oppose.

This is the essence of true democratic debate. Activism is not an excuse for vulgarity.

Another misconception must also be dispelled. Being an activist does not grant carte blanche.

Being an opponent does not mean one can say anything. Being free does not equate to being irresponsible.

Activism is a form of civic engagement. As such, it implies civic responsibility.

One can denounce.

One can investigate.

One can challenge.

One can demonstrate.

One can question.

One can even be extremely harsh in criticism.

However, an obscene insult targeting a mother or a woman is neither an argument, nor a sign of courage, nor a demonstration of patriotism.

I have a father. I have a mother. And I am their son.

This sentence is perhaps the simplest in this entire statement.

I have a father. I have a mother.

And being their son connects me to an upbringing, a history, a responsibility.

I understand the respect owed to those who gave us life.

I understand what a mother represents.

I understand what a father represents.

It is precisely this upbringing that compels me today to reject the normalization of this media monstrosity.

I cannot ask my children to respect their parents tomorrow if, today, I accept that the public humiliation of parents becomes a spectacle.

I will take my share of responsibility.

Faced with this situation, I will therefore assume my responsibility.

I will consult legal counsel to examine existing legal avenues and potential judicial actions that could be taken against such remarks.

This initiative will be strictly personal.

I do not claim to speak on behalf of the Head of State, his family, his associates, or any institution.

I speak in my own name.

As a Gabonese citizen. As a son.

I want things to be clear: my objective is not to silence political criticism.

Quite the contrary.

I wish for us to rediscover a political debate where intelligence, constructive disagreement, and responsibility progressively replace insult, obscenity, and humiliation.

We must choose between virtue and the normalization of vice.

Gabon cannot sustainably settle into this destructive pattern.

A nation is not solely destroyed by economic or political crises.

It can also be destroyed by the gradual collapse of its moral foundations.

When insult becomes normal, verbal violence becomes acceptable.

When verbal violence becomes acceptable, humiliation becomes a spectacle.

When humiliation becomes a spectacle, those who produce it become celebrities.

And when those who dismantle values become society’s role models, state decline begins with moral decay.

I refuse this inevitability.

I refuse for our mothers to become targets.

I refuse for our women to be used as instruments of political humiliation.

I refuse for our fathers to be insulted because their children hold positions of responsibility.

I refuse for our children to grow up in a society where vulgarity is rewarded more than virtue.

Enough is enough.

I do not ask anyone to love the President of the Republic.

I do not ask anyone to approve of his policies.

I simply ask that we remain capable of respecting ourselves.

Because ultimately, when we insult the mother of another, we also insult the idea we hold of our own mother.

And when a people no longer protects its own values, it begins to lose its soul.

It is now up to each individual to take responsibility.

As for me, I have chosen to take mine.

Hugues Ongoundou