Everything about Abel Goumba totally explained
Abel Nguéndé Goumba (born
September 18 1926) is a Centroafrican political figure. During the late 1950s, he headed the government in the period prior to independence from
France, and following independence he was an unsuccessful candidate for President of the
Central African Republic four times (1981, 1993, 1999, and 2005). Goumba, who was President of the
Patriotic Front for Progress (FPP) political party, served under President
François Bozizé as Prime Minister from March 2003 to December 2003 and then as Vice-President from December 2003 to March 2005. Subsequently, he was appointed as Mediator of the Republic.
He was born in Grimari,
Ouaka Prefecture Even after his return to the Central African Republic, he was occasionally arrested for political activity. He feuded with all of Central African Republic's presidents until 2003 and was declared by them to be a national traitor.
Goumba has a reputation for honesty and integrity, unusual for a Central African politician. He has stressed the importance of governing without corruption. In the 1981 presidential election, which was won by Dacko (who was nevertheless ousted only a few months later), Goumba took less than 2% of the vote, but in the 1993 presidential election he achieved his best result, coming in second place but being defeated by
Ange-Felix Patassé in a run-off, in which Goumba took about 46% of the vote. In 1999 he did poorly by comparison, taking only about 6% of the vote and placing fourth, behind Patassé,
André Kolingba, and Dacko.
After Bozizé seized power on
March 15 2003, ousting Patassé, he appointed Goumba as Prime Minister on
March 23. On
December 11,
2003, he was dismissed as Prime Minister, and on the next day
Célestin Gaombalet was named to replace him; Goumba was appointed Vice-President instead.
He was a presidential candidate for the fourth time in the
election held on
March 13,
2005. Goumba wasn't expected to win; he received sixth place and 2.51% of the vote. He was one of the five candidates initially approved by the transitional constitutional court on
December 30,
2004; seven other candidates were excluded, although six of them were later allowed to run.
On
March 14 2005, the day after the election, members of the
Collective of Political Parties of the Opposition (CPPO), including Goumba, signed a petition in which they alleged that fraud had occurred. On
March 15, before the election results became available, Bozizé dismissed Goumba from the Vice-Presidency and the position was abolished. According to presidential spokesman Alain-George Ngatoua, this was because the constitution adopted in December 2004 didn't provide for a Vice-President, and the dismissal was unrelated to the quality of Goumba's work; Ngatoua said that Bozizé thanked Goumba for facilitating the transitional process through his "wisdom and courage". Goumba expressed disgust at the manner of his dismissal; he said that he'd received no notification of the dismissal and found out about it when it was reported on state radio. Goumba's view was that transitional institutions, including the Vice-Presidency, were supposed to be maintained until the installation of an elected government. his wife Anne-Marie won a seat, however.
Goumba's son
Alexandre was elected to succeed him as President of his party, Patriotic Front for Progress (FPP), on
March 5 2006, after the elder Goumba was appointed as Mediator of the Republic. As mediator, he called for the government to negotiate with a rebel group after it captured
Birao on
October 30 2006.
He presented the first volume of his memoirs, covering the period from 1956 to 1959, on
January 14 2007.
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