René Serge Blanchard Oba is a Congolese politician. He is the President of the Movement for Solidarity and Development (MSD), a political party, and he was the Administrator-General of the Congo Telecommunications Company (SOTELCO) from 2003 to 2008. He was a Deputy in the National Assembly of Congo-Brazzaville from 2007 to 2012. ONPT and SOTELCO Oba was a trade union leader for a time; subsequently he worked as the Director-General of the National Office of Posts and Telecommunications (ONPT) and the National Savings Bank. He was considered a protégé of Edith Sassou Bongo, who was President Denis Sassou Nguesso's daughter as well as the wife of Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon. Speaking on 22 January 2002, he discussed the increasingly competitive environment faced by the ONPT due to mobile phone companies as well as a revision of telephone rates, which was implemented earlier in the month and intended to make the ONPT more competitive. In the May 2002 parliamentary election, Oba stood as a candidate in the fifth constituency of Talangaï, a district of Brazzaville, but he and a number of other candidates were disqualified after the first round of voting by the National Election Organization Commission (CONEL) due to voting irregularities. Oba was accused of orchestrating violence and the destruction of ballot boxes. In response to CONEL's decision, Oba thanked his supporters and urged them to remain calm. In 2003, when the ONPT was split into two separate companies, Oba was appointed to head the Congo Telecommunications Company (Société des télécommunications du Congo, SOTELCO), a new company in which the state was the primary shareholder. Oba presided over the commercial launch of SOTELCO on 7 May 2003, and he said on the occasion that SOTELCO planned to offer more reasonable rates. However, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications announced on 18 June 2003 that Oba was being dismissed from his new post as Administrator-General of SOTELCO. Some SOTELCO employees, pleased by the move, met on 19 June to thank President Sassou Nguesso for ending their "nightmare" and to "condemn the delaying tactics" of Oba's supporters. Reactions in the press were varied. Le Coq criticized Jean Dello, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, for deciding to dismiss Oba, arguing that there was no basis for the move. Meanwhile, Tam Tam d'Afrique attributed the decision to Oba's "mismanagement" and the "poisonous atmosphere" that prevailed under his leadership. The decision to