Death Penalty in Gabon: Bilie-By-Nze Slams Current Administration’s "Admission of Security Failure"
Ali Bongo’s Former Prime Minister denounces populist exploitation in the face of skyrocketing insecurity, advocating instead for prevention and a strong justice system.
" According to him, widespread impunity stems from a weak State, incapable of hunting down those truly responsible for the recent killings shaking the country."
Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, a major figure in the Gabonese opposition, categorically rejects any return to capital punishment, which has been abolished since 2010. Posting on social media, the leader of the Ensemble pour le Gabon party views this proposal as an admission of powerlessness in the face of rising violence. While President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema mandates public consultations on the matter, the former Head of Government sees a maneuver to appease an anxious public, masking a lack of concrete results in daily law enforcement.
Criticizing what he calls a purely performative response, Bilie-By-Nze insists that ultimate punishments have never eradicated crime, citing the historical failure of such measures. He accuses the regime of gambling on emotion rather than rigorous investigations and systematic convictions. In his view, the general sense of impunity is the result of a failing State that is unable to track down the real perpetrators of the recent killings plaguing the nation.
The opposition leader is calling for a national awakening: equipping the police and army with modern resources and liberating the judiciary from political oversight. This pragmatic vision contrasts with the current escalations, revealing deep fractures in the Gabonese security debate. He maintains that only a comprehensive strategy will curb the prevailing insecurity.
Bilie-By-Nze outlines a credible alternative: increased resources for the State, and no "barbaric" steps backward. Gabon deserves efficiency, not demagoguery.
