Over 600 delegates attending Gabon’s national dialogue have proposed some recommendations to rebuild the political, economic, and social organisation of the Central African nation for good governance.  

This is coming after over 60 years’ rule by former President Omar Bongo and his family, followed by months of military rule.

The spokesman for the ongoing dialogue holding at the capital, Libreville, Jean Bernard Asseko Mve, spoke on Wednesday. 

Mr Mve said the participants were preoccupied with why Gabon remained poor and underdeveloped despite the central African state’s abundance of natural and mineral wealth, fertile soils, forests, and petroleum resources.

He explained that the first success of the dialogue was that Gabon’s citizens appeared to have put their differences behind them and focused on the well-being of their country and its close to 2.5 million inhabitants.

Also speaking, the chairperson of Gabon’s Inclusive National Dialogue Sub Commission on Employment, Emmanuel Mve Mb, discussed what he described as galloping youth unemployment. 

Mr Mve explained that youth unemployment was one-factor government officials believed to be linked to mounting insecurity and highway robbery in the central African state.

He said the subcommission recommended that the more than 180,000 youths who applied for jobs since the military seized power on August 30, 2023, be recruited into public offices strictly on merit and not as a political favour.

According to him, Gabon needs 7,000 teachers, 6,000 health workers, and 20,000 police and soldiers to maintain peace in the central African nation.

Dialogue officials say strong recommendations have been made for Gabon to be a true democratic state, where civilians are not persecuted for holding contrary opinions from that of the ruling governments. 

They say an independent elections management body should be created to guarantee free, fair, and transparent polls.

Other recommendations include establishing presidential limits in office to two five-year terms and reducing the influence of the central government in Libreville through decentralisation — particularly by giving more power to local officials in Gabon’s nine administrative units, known as provinces, with the possibility of electing governors.