The Republic of Congo formally mourned the passing of Firmin Ayessa, Minister of State responsible for Public Service, Labour, and Social Security, in a solemn ceremony held in Brazzaville on February 23, 2026. President Denis Sassou N’Guesso and his wife were present, as was a gathering of senior officials who came to pay final respects to one of the country’s longest-serving political figures. The following day, February 24, Ayessa was laid to rest in his native village of Ondza, near Makoua, in the presence of the presidential couple.
A Life That Began at Ondza
Firmin Ayessa was born on November 2, 1951, in the village of Ondza. His early education took him through the local Catholic Mission school in Makoua, where he was selected to sit the entrance exam for the Saint-Pie seminary, reflecting an initial ambition to enter the priesthood. He eventually chose a different path, completing his secondary schooling at several establishments before earning his baccalaureate in the humanities series at the Savorgnan de Brazzaville lycée.
A scholarship then took him to the University of Bordeaux in France, where he studied communications. That academic formation would prove decisive in shaping the first phase of his professional career.
From Journalist to Director-General
Ayessa entered professional life in 1977 as a journalist at Radiodiffusion-Télévision Congolaise, where his editorials, published under the pen name Max Loma, earned him a following among listeners and readers. Within a year he had been promoted to director of programming, demonstrating a capacity for institutional leadership that would define the decades to follow.
By 1984, he had moved into government, serving as chief of staff to Minister Christian Gilbert Mbembe. He then rose to director-general of the national radio and television broadcaster, a position he held until 1989, before leading the Congolese Information Agency from 1989 to 1991.
Following the national conference of 1991 that opened the country to multiparty politics, Ayessa entered the private press sector as editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Aujourd’hui, a period that gave him experience on the other side of the information ecosystem he had managed as a state broadcaster.
Political Ascent Within the PCT
His political engagement ran in parallel with his professional career. Ayessa was elected to the Central Committee of the ruling Congolese Labour Party, known by its French acronym PCT, at its fourth extraordinary congress in 1990, and remained a member of that body until his death. He rose progressively within the party hierarchy, reaching the Political Bureau and the Permanent Secretariat in 2006, and was entrusted with the role of PCT political commissioner for the Pointe-Noire department.
He also chaired the preparatory political commission for the PCT’s sixth ordinary congress, which ran from December 27, 2025, to January 1, 2026, one of his last major institutional responsibilities before his death.
Senior Government Roles
In government, Ayessa’s most significant positions came later in his career. After organizing the national forum for reconciliation in 2007, he joined the presidential cabinet. Between 2017 and 2021 he served as Deputy Prime Minister with responsibility for the public service, state reform, labour, and social security, before being elevated to the rank of Minister of State in 2021, a title he held until his death.
A Nation’s Tribute
The funeral oration was delivered by Gilbert Ondongo, personal representative of the President of the Republic on the task force for economic and social policy. His remarks traced Ayessa’s biography while conveying the depth of his connection to those who had known and worked alongside him across five decades of public life.
Ondongo described having been present at Ayessa’s bedside in Istanbul a month before his death on February 17, a personal account that illustrated the closeness of relationships formed across years of shared political and institutional endeavor. His passing marked the end of a career that stretched across journalism, broadcasting, party politics, and the senior ranks of the Congolese state.