Owando’s Rally and a Presidential Pledge
On 11 March 2026, the day the world observed International Women’s Rights Day, the department of Cuvette in central Congo-Brazzaville became the stage for a campaign event that drew thousands of residents from across its seven districts.
Denis Sassou N’Guesso, the presidential candidate of the majority coalition, attended a rally in the town of Owando where he made a commitment that quickly became the headline of the meeting: if re-elected, he would build a public university in the Cuvette department.
A Region Without a University of Its Own
The Cuvette is one of the larger departments of Congo-Brazzaville by territory, and for many of its young residents, access to higher education has meant leaving for Brazzaville or Pointe-Noire. The promise of a local public university responds to a longstanding aspiration in a region that has seen limited investment in tertiary education infrastructure.
Sassou N’Guesso framed the commitment as part of his broader vision document, which he presented to attendees under the title “Let us accelerate the march toward development.” The university pledge was one of several specific commitments he made for the Cuvette.
Agricultural Revival and a New Road
Beyond the university, the candidate laid out plans to revive the cultivation of cacao, maize and soya in the department — crops that hold both local food security value and export potential in a sub-region where agricultural diversification is a recurring development goal.
He also promised to launch the palmeraie project — a palm cultivation scheme — alongside the paving of the Owando-Ngoko road, a route whose state of deterioration has been a source of frustration for residents and a brake on commercial movement in the area.
Women at the Centre of the Event
The choice of International Women’s Rights Day for the rally was not incidental. Thousands of women from Cuvette’s seven districts attended, and the candidate made a point of meeting with female delegates from various social groups.
Inès Nefer Bertille Voumbou Yalo, Minister for the Promotion of Women, was present and delivered the social pact of Congolese women to the candidate — a document in which women’s groups had codified their expectations and demands for the upcoming presidential mandate.
The women of Owando, for their part, announced that they were pledging to deliver a “resounding” victory for Sassou N’Guesso in the first round.
A Visit to a Childhood Classroom
In a moment that combined personal history with campaign symbolism, Sassou N’Guesso visited the rehabilitated school known as “Des trois présidents” — a reference tied to former occupants — where he attended primary school decades ago.
The visit served as both a statement about infrastructure rehabilitation and a personal connection to a place formative in his own biography, offering voters a humanising image alongside the policy commitments.
The Road to 12 March
The rally was held the day before voting began on 12 March 2026, the first of two polling days in the presidential election. The commitments made in Owando — the university, the agricultural projects, the road — entered the public record as promises attached to a specific mandate.
Following the election, Sassou N’Guesso was credited with 94.82 percent of votes expressed and inaugurated for a new term on 16 April 2026. The Cuvette pledges now form part of the agenda against which his new government will be measured.