Libreville, Tuesday 30 June 2026 – For years, the debate over Gabon’s water and electricity crisis has focused on the consequences: frequent blackouts, water shortages, load shedding, and public discontent. Rarely has a fundamental question been asked: Have those who truly understand the networks, installations, and technical constraints been heard enough?
The meeting held this week between President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema and SEEG agents at the Jean Violas Vocational Training Centre in Owendo could mark a major turning point in understanding this national crisis. For nearly three hours, the head of state agreed to listen directly to those who have lived the realities on the ground for years.
The assessment delivered by the agents was unequivocal. Beyond the aging infrastructure, one of the deepest problems at SEEG lies in the gradual marginalisation of technical expertise in decision-making processes.
Technicians’ voices at the heart of the diagnosis
One agent’s testimony summed up what many workers have been saying for a long time. Technicians observe failures, identify risks, and propose solutions, but their recommendations are not always taken into account in strategic arbitrations.
Behind this criticism lies a reality observed in many public companies worldwide. When decisions gradually drift away from operational realities, dysfunctions accumulate until they become structural.
Other agents echoed the same sentiment. Electricians, electromechanical engineers, network engineers, water specialists, and maintenance staff described a system where technical expertise does not always occupy the place it should in the decision chain.
The parallel with certain major international companies is striking. The crises faced by Boeing, often cited by industrial management specialists, showed what happens when administrative or financial imperatives gradually override technical requirements. Conversely, groups like Mercedes have long built their success on the decisive influence of engineers in strategic choices.
Water: a design challenge as much as a production one
The exchanges also shed light on several realities often unknown to the general public.
Regarding water supply, the agents explained that difficulties do not stem solely from outages or aging installations. Pressure is a determining factor. When available volumes become insufficient, pressure drops mechanically, preventing water from reaching certain neighbourhoods or upper floors of buildings.
This situation worsens during the dry season. The resource currently exploited from the Ntoum River naturally experiences low flow, a phenomenon that reduces the level and volume of available water.
This reality reignites a strategic question: Why not take advantage of the current restructuring of the sector to consider a larger intake directly connected to the Kango River, whose volumes remain significantly more abundant and stable throughout the year?
Such an approach would obviously require considerable investment. But it fits exactly with the logic of structural infrastructure that must support the needs of a growing country.
Reform will only succeed with expertise
The upcoming creation of the Gabonaise des Eaux and Électricité du Gabon represents a historic opportunity. Rarely has the country had such an important chance to completely rebuild two strategic enterprises.
But the success of this transformation will not depend solely on funding or equipment. It will primarily rely on the ability to place technical skills back at the centre of the system.
The direct exchange between the head of state and the agents demonstrated one essential thing: Answers often already exist within the organisations themselves. They lie with the men and women who design, maintain, and operate the infrastructure daily.
The true lesson of this meeting may be this: The future entities set to replace SEEG must rely more heavily on their engineers, technicians, and specialists. Because in sectors as sensitive as water and electricity, infrastructure can be financed by the state.
But only expertise, listening to the field, and competence can sustainably guarantee public service. That is probably the most important lesson Gabon can learn today from its energy and water crisis.
