Léon M'ba
Léon M'ba was chosen as the first president of Gabon, while Omar Bongo Ondimba served as his vice president. Gabriel Léon M’ba was born into a relatively privileged village family in Libreville, Gabon, French Equatorial Africa on February 9, 1902, and was a member of the dominant Fang ethnic group. Both of his parents had some western education. His father was a small business manager and village chief. His mother was a seamstress. M’ba received a basic education from Catholic missionaries at a school in Libreville.
As a young man, M’ba worked a variety of jobs: store manager, lumberjack, and trader. Around 1920 he was hired as a customs agent for the French colonial administration. In 1924 he was appointed head of a canton (county) in Estuary Province. M’ba was an authoritarian administrator and would have colonial subjects whipped if they did not show him proper respect. He was also suspected of embezzlement. He developed connections with a local traditional secret society the Bwiti sect which was blamed for a woman’s murder and M’ba was charged with complicity in the crime. He was not convicted but he was later charged and found guilty of embezzlement and abusive treatment of laborers.
Considered a troublemaker by the French colonial administration, he spent some time in prison and from 1933 to 1946, he was in exile in the neighboring French Colony of Oubangui-Chari (now the Central African Republic).
In 1946 French officials allowed M’ba to return to Gabon where he became involved in nationalist politics. Leon M’Ba founded the United Gabonese Movement (MGM) as a local affiliate of the African Democratic Assembly (RDA). It later became the Gabonese Democratic bloc (BDG) in 1957 which won the elections that year. Meanwhile, Jean-Hilaire Aubame formed the Gabonese Democratic and Social Union (UDSG).
In 1952 he was elected to the Territorial Assembly. In 1957 he was elected major of Libreville, the capital and major city of Gabon. In preparation for independence, the French established an Executive Council that was given administrative responsibility over Gabon. M’ba became Vice-President of the council and soon after, President.
At the time of Gabon's independence in 1960, two principal political parties existed: the Bloc Democratique Gabonais (BDG), led by Leon M'Ba, and the Union Democratique et Sociale Gabonaise (UDSG), led by J.H. Aubame. In the first post-independence election, held under a parliamentary system, neither party was able to win a majority. The BDG obtained support from three of the four independent legislative deputies, and M'Ba was named Prime Minister. On August 17, 1960, Gabon became independent with M’ba as head of state. Soon after concluding that Gabon had an insufficient number of people for a two-party system, the two party leaders agreed on a single list of candidates. In the February 1961 election, held under the new presidential system, M'Ba became President of Gabon and Aubame became Foreign Minister.
The new constitution created a “hyper-presidency” giving M’ba power over all branches of the government. He was a paternalistic and authoritarian leader and soon a cult of personality was promoted around M’ba. This one-party system appeared to work until February 1963, when the larger BDG element forced the UDSG members to choose between a merger of the parties or resignation. The UDSG cabinet ministers resigned, and M'Ba called an election for February 1964 and a reduced number of National Assembly deputies (from 67 to 47). The UDSG failed to muster a list of candidates able to meet the requirements of the electoral decrees.
When the BDG appeared likely to win the election by default, the army revolted and seized power, a broadcast over the national radio at the capital of Libreville said. The Gabonese military toppled M'Ba in a bloodless coup on February 18, 1964 and wanted to make Aubame the leader. President Leon M’Ba, one of Africa's “strongman” leaders, had been forced to resign, the broadcast added. The coup in which the military seized power was the fourth in a series of mutinies and revolts against African “strongman” leadership in less than a month.
Although this popularly supported military intervention had been quickly and bloodlessly successful, it was immediately reversed, without even an official Gabonese request for assistance, by French troops flown in from Dakar and Brazzaville. Once back in power, M'Ba was more repressive than ever. Months of student and labour demonstrations followed, though to no avail, and Gabon had been 'tranquil' since.
The clearest example of French domination was the aftermath of the 1964 coup d'état against M'Ba. The French could not afford to lose the francophile M'Ba. French troops re-established his government the next day.
The French paratroopers were a way for General de Gaulle and his faithful Jacques Foccart, a great honcho of France's African policy, to reassure the other leaders of the French backyard. Threatened with being deposed by their opponents, they could always count on the armed hand of France. And that's how it was discovered that France and some of its former colonies were linked by secret agreements, agreements that allowed this kind of military intervention. Neocolonialism, and defense of economic and strategic interests threatened by foreign rivals.
Elections were held in April 1964 with many opposition participants. BDG-supported candidates won 31 seats and the opposition 16. Opponents criticized him for being too pro-French, too conservative, and too powerful.
Late in 1966, the constitution was revised to provide for automatic succession of the vice president should the president die in office. In March 1967, Leon M'Ba and Omar Bongo (then Albert Bongo) were elected President and Vice President. On November 28, 1967, however, M’ba died in Paris while undergoing cancer treatment at the age of 65. Bongo was a creature of the French.
Forty years after his death, the Leon M'ba Memorial was built in Libreville to honor his memory. President Bongo laid the cornerstone for the Memorial on 9 February 2007, and it was inaugurated by Bongo on 27 November 2007. In February 2008, it was opened to the public. This place is in remembrance of their leader who achieved independence for the country. The most admired leader. The Leon Mba memorial is a nice addition to where stood the statue of the first president on its own.
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