   |
|
afrol.com, 15 December - The President of the Equatorial Guinean Parliament, Salomón Nguema Owono, this week claimed to have received "death threats" and "personal insults" from Government ministers after the Parliament had asked for the resignation of three ministers on corruption accusations. Owono's statement about the threats was published by the Spanish news agency EFE, quoting an interview the President of Parliament had given to the Equatorial Guinean newspaper "El Correo". Owono made it clear that the threats had come from the Guinean ministers in person. Not naming names, he however referred to the three ministers recently asked to resign. Nguema Owono declared that, after having met with some ministers, "I have received insults and threats ... and they have said publicly that they will kill me because I had questioned them in Parliament." Owono also emphasized that the current Parliamentarian campaign is "not directed against persons, but against the misacting of some legal persons and, in some cases only, against physical persons". The President of Parliament assured that he did not know what measures the Head of State, President Teodoro Obiang, might adopt against the ministers that have been accused of corruption by Parliament. He also distanced himself from the accusations from the political opposition that the the Parliament had acted "like a theatre", and claimed that "we have acted such as the Constitution demands. ... We have however seen that the acts of certain members of Government has been outside the established legal norms of this country." According to recent information from Government media, Parliament, under Nguema Owono's leadership, has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Seriche Dougan; Minister of Agriculture, Miguel Oyono Ndong; Minister of Economy and Finances, Miguel Abia Biteo; and Minister of Administrative Reform, Fernando Mabale Mba. Parliament's demand of resignation came after the firstborn son of the cancer sick Head of State, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, called for the resign of Prime Minister Àngel Serafín Seriche Dougan and his entire Cabinet in an "open letter" accusing the Government of corruption. The President's son in concrete also questioned the transactions of the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Education and Energy in what has been understood as an ongoing power struggle for the succession of President Obiang. Eighty MPs form the Equatorial Guinean Parliament, and 75 of these belong to the governing Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), which was established by President Obiang only in 1986. Also Fabián Nsue, Secretary-General of the oppositional party Popular Union (UP) finds the resignation of the corruption-accused ministers reasonable. He told EFE that both the Equatorial Guineans and the international society "have taken notice of the irregularities committed by the Government, according to the PDGE's own Members of Parliament." Other leading Equatorial Guinean oppositional politicians claim that President Obiang is preparing the way for his first-born son "Teodorín" (himself part of Government, holding the office of Minister of Water and Forests), which is becoming a clear candidate for the succession of the cancer
sick President. The sudden campaign against corruption is understood as a campaign against persons which might endanger Teodorín's bid for power. Earlier, the President reportedly has undertaken a purge in the military forces, getting rid of opponents to his controversial son there. Sources: Based on EFE, REE, El Correo and afrol archives
|
