Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba said late Monday he would give “all his share of the inheritance” from his long-ruling father Omar Bongo Ondimba to “the Gabonese youth” in a speech marking the 55th anniversary of independence. AFP reported.
“I’ve decided with the full agreement of my wife Sylvia Bongo Ondimba and my children that my share of the inheritance will be shared with all Gabonese youth because in my eyes we are all heirs of Omar Bongo Ondimba,” he said, after saying “no Gabonese must be left by the side of the road”.
Bongo stated that all income from his inheritance will be donated to a foundation for the youth and education.
He announced that the property in Libreville near Camp de Gaulle would be transferred to the state for establishment of a university.
Bongo’s children would also give two properties in Paris that had belonged to the late President of the state for ” a symbolic franc.”
Bongo said that the properties were to become part of the heritage of the Gabonese state and would be assigned for diplomatic and cultural use.
The assets identified according to AFP are worth several hundred million dollars.
Two French judges have been probing the source of money spent in France on luxury homes and mansions by Omar Bongo, Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema and Congo-Brazzaville’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso.
The charges were brought by Transparency International, an anti-corruption campaign group, which alleges several African leaders and their relatives spent state funds from their countries on lavish purchases in France.
Ali Bongo became President of Gabon following the death of his father in 2009. His father, Omar Bongo had been President of the country since 1967.
Bongo was the longest-serving head of state in Africa and the longest-serving head of government in the world.
