Africa
Freemasons/Gabon: US and Canadian lodges show up at Ali Bongo Ondimba’s inauguration
By Jeune Afrique, 18 November 2022
Nov 22, 2022 - 12:52:18 PM

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been reinstalled Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Gabon.

On 12 November, in Libreville, the Gabonese president was reinstalled as Grand Master during an assembly with many African, European and North American Masonic delegations present.

On 12 November, in Libreville, the Gabonese president was reinstalled as Grand Master during an assembly with many African, European and North American Masonic delegations present.

On 11 and 12 November, in Libreville, the general assembly of the Grand Lodge of Gabon was marked by the constant presence of Ali Bongo Ondimba (ABO). In his capacity as Grand Master, the Gabonese president received, on the evening of Friday 11, the heads of numerous foreign delegations, including Andrei Bogdanov, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Russia.

The following day, during the ritual, which took place at the temple between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., ABO was reinstalled as Grand Master, for a five-year term, by Jean-Pierre Rollet, Grand Master of the French National Grand Lodge (GNLF).

Two key appointments

The Gabonese president appointed and installed Lin Mombo pro-Grand Master and Michel Mboussou deputy Grand Master (number two). The former is the husband of Constitutional Council President Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo; the latter is the husband of Senate President Lucie Milebou.

A dozen African Grand Lodges (Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo) had sent a delegation, generally led by their Grand Master: the businessman and ex-minister Alain Roger Coeffé for Burkina Faso, the lawyer Sylvère Koyo for Côte d’Ivoire, and the ex-foreign affairs minister Abdoul Kabèlè Camara for Guinea.

In addition to the French, Russian, Turkish and Brazilian brothers, North Americans from Quebec (Canada) and the United States came.

The latter was represented by the Grand Lodge of the State of Virginia and by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia (Washington DC), in the person of Deputy Grand Master RWB Annas F. Kamara, of Sierra Leonean origin, who will be inaugurated Grand Master in December.

In the evening, the traditional “ladies’ dinner” was held for the participants and their wives at the Nomad Hotel.
Supreme Council

In addition, last July, a Supreme Council was established in Gabon. In charge of directing the “Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite”, it gathers the Brothers belonging to the highest degrees (4 to 33) – the Grand Lodge gathering, for its part, the grades 1 to 3 (apprentices, companions and masters).

Maixent Accrombessi, former chief of staff to the Gabonese president, is sovereign grand commander of this Supreme Council. Jean-Denis Amoussou, a former presidential advisor, is its secretary general.