EVEN by the standards of the absurd, the scandal that recently took place in Equatorial Guinea is astonishing. While public officials being enmeshed in scandals has become almost routine, the story in the Central African country is so decidedly rotten and befuddling that it is hard to even think of. Baltasar Engonga, the director-general of the country’s National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF) was recently arrested for allegedly recording more than 400 sex tapes featuring the spouses of prominent personalities in the country. Investigating the 54-year-old economist for fraud, investigators had reportedly discovered the videos stored on the suspect’s electronic devices. The details are dastardly, and the women who participated in the encounters included high-profile individuals in the country’s political circles. The ANIF officials discovered multiple CDs that documented Baltasar Engonga’s romps with the sister of the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo, the wife of the Director General of Police, and the spouses of over 20 ministers!

The encounters also reportedly involved close relations of the suspect, including his brother’s wife and another pregnant relation, and sparked public outrage. One scene purportedly showed him having intercourse next to the flag of the country, and reports suggest that his partners willingly subjected themselves to being captured on camera, with some of them even adjusting the camera to capture themselves enjoying the dark episodes. Said the local medium, Ahora EG: “Baltasar Ebang Engonga is said to have filmed these scenes with the consent of the women themselves, which exonerates him from a possible crime of violation of integrity. In the videos, he is seen having unprotected sex with several women, including those married to powerful and well-known people in the country, but also with the most ‘diva and influential’ single women in Equatorial Guinea. Some scenes took place in hotel rooms, houses, and even in the protagonist’s office at the Ministry of Finance.”

Following the incident, the government suspended the officials involved in sexual activities within government ministry offices. Vice President Teodoro Nguema said the government would implement severe measures to address behaviours seen as violations of the nation’s Code of Conduct and Public Ethics Law, adding that the government was committed to a policy of zero tolerance towards actions undermining public service integrity. He said: “Responsibility and professionalism must be the pillars of our work as state servants. With these new measures, the government hopes to establish a clear precedent on the expected conduct of public officials in order to create a more respectful work environment in the public and private administration of Equatorial Guinea.” On his part, the Attorney General of the country, Nzang Nguema, stressed that the law did not consider consensual sexual relations to be a crime unless coercion or violence was proven. He did not fail to note that the risk was not only for the women involved but also for their partners and the wider community, adding that “the possibility of a contagious disease being spread through these sexual interactions makes the situation even more critical.”

While, naturally, this salacious story seems to have captured the imaginations of many people on the African continent and around the world simply for what is perceived, rather unfortunately, as its entertainment value, there is no reason to gloss over its tragic purport. It is distressing that in a country bedeviled with so many challenges on all fronts, key people in government chose to place the pursuit of demonic pleasures over service to the long-suffering populace. While this scandal exposes the extremely rotten underbelly of the Equatoguinean society, it also reveals the utter disregard of the political establishment for the people over whom they preside. If those occupying sensitive governmental positions are so flippant as to make multiple sex tapes, then there is no reason to suppose that they have been doing great things for the people. Given the dimensions of this scandal that is, in our view, also a monumental tragedy, it is clear that Engonga’s story, dark as it is, is only a small slice of the perversions that govern governmental affairs in Equitorial Guinea. We believe, firmly, that what has gone on in Equitorial Guinea is not just about women throwing the idea of marital fidelity to the dogs; it is also of a society in the throes of decay.

If the primary suspect occupier a sensitive public position but apparently had all the time in the world to pursue perversions, he was only taking his example from the atmosphere around him where officialdom apparently placed its mundane pleasures above the people. To flay him while ignoring the lax atmosphere that enabled his conduct is to play to the gallery. It is difficult to argue that a serious government would have created an environment that enabled such lechery and moral licentiousness. And this is distressing, not least because of the terrible toll on the image and integrity of the Equatoguinean state. And rather unfortunately, even the official reactions to the scandal seemed to have come short. For instance, reacting to the incident, First Lady Constancia Mangue Obiang expressed outrage over the scandal during a meeting with Prime Minister Manuel Osa Nsue, who oversees administrative coordination. Mrs Obiang called for immediate government intervention to uphold the dignity of Equatoguinean women and protect their privacy in the digital age, but she needed to have condemned the short shrift the women involved gave to the marital bed, their nuclear and extended families, and their place in the society and history.

On the face of it, her assertion that “while the government has advanced gender equality, proactive measures are essential—not only to respond to incidents like these but also to prevent them—to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all women” seems to be fair and reasonable. Mrs Obiang’s reaction seems to be strictly about the tapes, and not the actions that spawned them. The First Lady fails to acknowledge the fact that there would have been no sex tapes if the women involved had not chosen to treat themselves like animals. However, we do believe that the investigators who released the videos to the public have a case to answer. Knowing the impact of sexual deviance on the society, they should not have released their videos to the public.

The Equatoguinean state requires radical shifts. We hope that discussions will go in this direction and not just be exclusively about Engonga and his tapes. Apparently, there are so many of such tapes in the homes of the country’s elite. (Nigerian Tribune Editorial)

•Ebang Engonga is a married father and the son of Baltasar Engonga Edjo, the current Chairman of the Commission of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community.