Denis Nguesso Of Congo And His Constitutional Coup.

As tensions continue to mount in Southern districts of Brazzaville (Congo) of Makelekele and Mayana, after last month's election which returned President Nguesso Sassou for a third term in a democratic process which
was reported to have been massively rigged and characterised by irregularities, it is important to understand that this isn't the first time this is happening in the Central African country .

The present violence is as a result of the heavy fighting between opposition militia and government. The government are accusing the same militia "Ninja" who supported Pascal Lissouba during the 1997 Congo war which lasted for four months .

The main problem is the reluctance of president Denis Nguesso to step down from power after ruling for 32 years. While this might be weird to some, it is a common practice in Africa as most president's have turned to dictators amazing wealth and riches and at the same time believing they are the best candidate's for their country's  while the citizens continue to struggle and grapple in abject proverty.

Nguesso was the president of Congo from 1979-1992 and again returned to power in 1997 after the civil war which ousted Pascal Lissouba. After returning in 1997, he contested and won two elections in 2002 and 2009 with massive rigging involved as reported by independent observers. It was not until October that it became clear, Nguesso wanted to rule for life after he organised a sham constitutional referendum that ended the two term limit in presidential mandates which allowed him to run for a third term. This was vehemently rejected by the opposition who called it a "Constitutional Coup". Like a script which he wrote, he won 60 per cent of the total votes cast in the last election.

Congo is the fourth largest oil producer in Gulf of Guinea. It also has natural gas, diamonds, gold, iron, phosphate and is also known to have the World's highest untapped metal base . The irony of all these is that even with the abundance of all these resources , it's Nominal GDP still lies in a low $9.7 billion and per capita $2, 190 , a poor Human Development Index of 0.591 (medium) and a Gini ratio of 40.2 (medium), despite a small population of 4.6 million people .

This is despite the fact that in September 2006, Nguesso and his family occupied more than 44 rooms which cost more than £140,000 during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. To make matters worse, the Sunday Times reported that the British had given £106,000 as humanitarian aid to a Congo in 2006, meaning his expenses in a four day event exceeded the aid he received for his country.

While the reports have it that the violence has been brought under control , it remains to be seen how long Nguesso will last in the hot seat rather than if, as his days in the presidency maybe numbered, judging by the look of this at present .