Tycoon Mahamadou Bonkoungou’s Gabon deals come under fire

A Gabonese opposition leader has criticized the government’s growing reliance on Ebomaf, the construction group founded by Burkinabe tycoon Mahamadou Bonkoungou, and called for every contract the company holds in the country to be made public.

Michel Ongoundou Loundah, president of the REAGIR party and a former senator in Gabon’s transitional parliament, said in an opinion piece published on Nov. 2 that Ebomaf’s reach now stretches across roads, air transport, fishing and infrastructure. “It is no longer a construction group, it is a toll placed on the existence of an entire people,” he wrote.

Ongoundou Loundah aimed most of his criticism at the state rather than at Bonkoungou, whom he described as doing his job “with undeniable talent.” His complaint is that Gabonese officials have stopped comparing offers and negotiating, and that contracts awarded without competitive tender have become routine. “The law sets the exception. Those in power have made it the rule,” he wrote.

He argued that each contract makes the next one more likely because it leaves the state with projects to finish, debts to service and equipment to maintain, until the government no longer chooses its partner. He called this “state capture” and said it sat badly with a government that has built its legitimacy on restoring national sovereignty. He asked for the contracts to be published, for the public guarantees attached to them to be disclosed, and for Parliament and the Court of Audit to review them.

The article named no specific contract or amount.

Ebomaf’s Gabon portfolio

Ebomaf has won a string of public works contracts in Gabon since the August 2023 coup that brought Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema to power. In August 2024 the company said it had more than 700 billion CFA francs ($1.2 billion) of works to carry out in the country.

The projects include the 83-kilometer road from Ntoum to Cocobeach, financed through a 100 billion CFA franc ($171 million) agreement between the state, Ebomaf and BGFIBank, as well as the Lébamba-Mbigou-Malinga-Molo corridor in Ngounié province and two sections totaling 244 kilometers linking Ngounié to Ogooué-Maritime. Ebomaf is also building the new Andem International Airport outside Libreville, a project valued at about 220 billion CFA francs ($375 million), and is involved in Libreville 2, a planned administrative city.

Its 2024 agreements with Gabon also covered aircraft for state airline Fly Gabon. In 2022, the group proposed a tuna-processing investment at the Owendo fishing port.

Not every venture has lasted. In September 2024, Ebomaf signed a 20-year agreement to run the Compagnie Nationale de Navigation Intérieure et Internationale, the state shipping company, and delivered a 500-seat ferry for coastal routes. The government ended that partnership in August 2025, citing unmet commitments.

Some of the road work has also drawn official concern. In June 2026, Gabon’s Ministry of Public Works described progress on the Yombi-Mandji-Carrefour Rabi section as worrying, with 2.2% of the work done after 15% of the contract period had passed. In May 2025, the Council of Ministers said 93.25% of public contracts by value since the start of that fiscal year had been awarded by direct agreement, well above the 15% ceiling in Gabon’s procurement code.

From gold trader to contractor

Bonkoungou left Dédougou in western Burkina Faso in 1988 and traded gold and cassettes across West Africa before founding Ebomaf, which now works across West and Central Africa. His interests also include Liz Aviation, Liza Transport International and the Togolese lender Banque Togolaise pour le Commerce et l’Industrie.

Ongoundou Loundah sought to run in Gabon’s April 2025 presidential election, but the electoral commission rejected his candidacy.