Libreville’s municipal council is steadily regaining its footing as local leaders convened yesterday in the Jean-Félix Lassy hall to review and approve the 2025 administrative and management accounts. The session, chaired in the presence of the Governor of the Estuaire Province, Marie-Françoise Dikoumba, unfolded under a distinctly more stable political climate—one that contrasts sharply with the turbulence that followed the rejection of the 2026 draft budget in April.

The April vote, which saw a broad majority of councilors reject the proposed budget, triggered a chain of events culminating in the departure of the previous executive team led by Pierre Matthieu Obame Etoughe and the subsequent election of a new leadership under Eugène Mba. This leadership transition has since paved the way for a return to routine municipal operations, in strict alignment with the decentralization law mandating the review of the previous year’s accounts during the first ordinary session of the calendar year.

Understanding the administrative account

At the start of the proceedings, Mayor Eugène Mba underscored the critical role of the administrative account—a comprehensive record of all budgetary transactions executed over the financial year. It serves as a vital tool for measuring the gap between projected revenues and actual collections, as well as comparing planned expenditures with disbursements made.

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For the 2025 fiscal year, the initial budget, set at 25.623 billion FCFA under the interim administration, was later adjusted upward by an additional 500 million FCFA. When presented to the council, the administrative account revealed a positive management result of 1.311 billion FCFA. Though Mayor Mba clarified he was not in office during the period in question, he emphasized the principle of public service continuity as justification for the council’s engagement with the financial report.

He urged councilors to evaluate the documents with diligence and responsibility. In addition to approving the administrative and management accounts, the session also included deliberations on a proposal concerning the Mindoubé commercial complex, presented by municipal authorities as a strategic initiative to bolster local economic activity and enhance the commune’s revenue streams.