Veteran journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has voiced his lack of surprise over the recent military takeover in Gabon.
The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper stated that clear indications were present regarding the ousted President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, tightly clinging to power.
Expressing his views on Accra-based Metro TV, Kwesi went on to suggest that the coup in Gabon garnered considerable local support due to the citizens’ fatigue with prolonged rule by a single family.
“Who was not expecting a coup d’etat in Gabon? I don’t know of one person who was not expecting a coup d’etat in Gabon. As a matter of fact, if you look at the measures which were instituted by the government of Ali Bongo in the run-up to the election and after the elections, they all point to panic, severe panic,” he said.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, he added that “everybody was expecting this coup d’etat in Gabon for many reasons.”
“One family has been in power for 53 long years. And that family has not been in power for 53 long years because it was loved by the people of Gabon; it has been in power because it imposed itself on the people, rigid elections, harassed opposition leaders, banned political parties, arrested trade union leaders, and so on.”
Furthermore, he projected his expectation of four additional coups across various African nations, emphasising the recurring nature of such political upheavals on the continent.
He further predicted the occurrence of four additional coups within Africa, foreseeing that at least two of them could transpire before the conclusion of 2023.
“I was expecting the coup creel in Gabon. I’m still expecting coup d’etats in 4 more countries. I think that four more are going to fall very, very soon, possibly before the end of the year. We should expect about 2 or 3 countries to fall, and four more countries are likely to fall.”
Meanwhile, Gabon’s president has called on “friends all over the world” to “make noise” over the coup in the country, in a clip that’s been circulating on social media.
Sitting in what he says is his residence – in a grand room complete with wood-paneled walls, ornate carpets and leather-bound books – Ali Bongo says: “My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place.
“Nothing is happening. I don’t know what is going on.”
He again urges his “friends” to speak up, before thanking them.
A communications company that was working for the presidency during the election has been in contact with the BBC to confirm the authenticity of the footage. It has been asked by Bongo’s office to circulate the video.