Lambert-Noeel Matha keeps tight rein on state security amid Covid-19 pandemic

摘要

While the presidential couple leads the public information campaign on the coronavirus crisis, the all-powerful interior minister Lambert-Noël Matha is keeping a tight grip on the levers of the security apparatus, ready to crack down on any social unrest sparked by the epidemic. Amid swirling rumours in Libreville over the last fortnight of a possible government reshuffle, President Ali Bongo and his wife Sylvia Bongo are leading the public health information campaign while the minister of the interior, Lambert-Noël Matha, is holding the fort. The minister consolidated his power on 2 April by engineering the appointment of several allies to the police force and security services. His manoeuvrings have been facilitated by his ties with the president of Gabon's constitutional court Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, who has been a pillar of the judiciary since 1991. Like the president, Matha and Mborantsuo both hail from the south-eastern province of Haut-Ogooué, which ever since the Omar Bongo era has supplied the majority of the country's senior security and intelligence officers.