Janis Otsiémi's "Brice 1er" reimagines Gabon's Fifth Republic as a monarchy

The book, described as fierce and often humorous, transforms the early days of the new regime into a court chronicle, where ministers become valets, media are "gazetteers," and politics is an imperial spectacle. Otsiémi's work questions whether the Fifth Republic has truly changed the nature of power or merely its outward appearance. He renames events, with the presidential election becoming an "election to the Throne" and the inauguration a "coronation."

The narrative covers events from the April 12, 2025 election of Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema to the first anniversary of the new regime, including government formation, the Mbanié dispute, the Bongo family's departure, demolitions in Libreville, the founding of the Democratic Union of Builders UDB, legislative elections, legal cases, social tensions, and the arrest of Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze. Otsiémi argues that the Gabonese Fifth Republic has primarily updated the decor rather than the underlying mechanisms of power, describing a president with such concentrated institutional power that he coins the term "elective empire." The book suggests that old habits persist under new names, and power reorganizes without necessarily loosening its grip.

The satire highlights the concentration of authority, we