Since 2021, the NGO Sifos has launched, in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, Keeper of the Seals, responsible for Human Rights and Gender Equality, a program aimed at promoting the reintegration of prisoners, particularly those whose sorrows draw towards their ends. An initiative supported and financed by the French Embassy in Gabon and São Tomé and Principe through the funds of the Innovative Projects of Civil Societies and Coalitions of Actors (PISCCA).

After that of Libreville, it is the prison of Port-Gentil which welcomed, Friday, July 7, the caravan led by Chantal Sagbo Sasse, president of the NGO Sifos. She explained that if the project, in the short term, will train prisoners with a view to their reintegration, it will also make it possible to train trainers inside the nine prisons of Gabon, so as to perpetuate, for the long term, an action that will help create income-generating activities for prisons. This is why the technical platforms delivered, she indicated, will remain the property of the prisons. A perspective strongly welcomed by Commander Jean-Jacques Ona Mbengha, director of the Port-Gentil prison, who testified to seeing returning to the jails "people who have spent 13, 14 and even 15 years, after only having served two or three free months. And for the same reasons. He therefore cherishes the hope of seeing this project contribute to the fight against cases of recidivism because, he laments, "There are those who have taken up residence here, and it is not at all normal".

For the governor of the province of Ogooué-Maritime, Paul Ngome Ayong, the action of the NGO Sifos "is part of the political philosophy of the Head of State". For him, “This is a key moment in the promotion of gender equality”.

In Port-Gentil, the training will focus on the fields of automotive air conditioning mechanics or aesthetics and hairdressing, thanks to a contract signed with the Port-Gentil Professional Training Institute.

For this first phase, which will end next October, thirty prisoners, young people and women, will be trained.

Photo: the various actors posing for posterity

Fidèle AFANOU EDEMBE

Port-Gentil/Gabon