Ayessa, an ethnic
Mbochi, was born in
Ondza, located near
Makoua in the north of Congo-Brazzaville. A journalist by profession, he studied in France; after returning to Congo-Brazzaville, he worked on radio and television beginning in 1977. He then served as an adviser at the Congolese embassy in
Paris from 1980 to 1983, and he was appointed Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Communication in 1984. Later, he was Director-General of Audiovisuals. In 1990, he joined the
Congolese Labour Party (PCT); he was also elected to the PCT Central Committee in 1990. He served as Director of the
Congolese Information Agency (ACI) in the early 1990s. He was also editor-in-chief of ''Aujourd'hui'' ("Today"), a daily newspaper that described itself as "private and independent of political parties", when it launched on 23 March 1991. The paper launched immediately prior to the opening of the 1991 National Conference, in which the PCT lost power. Later in 1991,
Théodore Kiamossi, who had resigned from the PCT, was appointed to replace Ayessa as Director of the ACI; Ayessa was then appointed Communications Adviser to President
Denis Sassou Nguesso. He remained in the latter post until 1992, In March 1997, he was elected to the
Higher Council for the Freedom of Communication. Ayessa was subsequently appointed Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President, with the rank of Minister-Delegate, on 18 January 1999. He was deputy director of Sassou Nguesso's campaign for the
March 2002 presidential election, working under
Isidore Mvouba, the campaign director. In the
May 2002 parliamentary election, Ayessa was elected to the
National Assembly as the PCT candidate in Makoua constituency, located in
Cuvette Region; he received 70.80% of the vote and won the seat in the first round. Having held a succession of high-level posts under Sassou Nguesso, Ayessa was considered an influential adviser to the President. He officially succeeded Yoka at a ceremony on 22 May 2007. Ayessa also stood again as the PCT candidate in Makoua in the
June 2007 parliamentary election; he won the seat in the first round with 99.59% of the vote. In early June 2009, Ayessa was designated as Sassou Nguesso's National Campaign Director for the
July 2009 presidential election. Sassou Nguesso easily won the election amidst an opposition boycott. He presided over the ceremony at which the
Ninja militia leader
Pasteur Ntoumi, who had earlier led a rebellion against the government, was installed in his office as Delegate-General for the Promotion of the Values of Peace and Repair of the Ravages of War in December 2009. At the ceremony, Ayessa expressed a spirit of reconciliation, congratulating Ntoumi and welcoming the opportunity to work with him. At the PCT's Sixth Extraordinary Congress, held in July 2011, Ayessa was elected to the PCT's 51-member Political Bureau. In the
July–August 2012 parliamentary election, Ayessa again stood as the PCT candidate in Makoua. He won the seat in the first round with 72.75% of the vote. Acting as Sassou Nguesso's personal representative, Ayessa headed Congo-Brazzaville's delegation to the swearing in of
Catherine Samba-Panza as transitional President of the
Central African Republic on 23 January 2014. He praised Samba-Panza and reaffirmed Congo-Brazzaville's commitment to efforts to stabilize and improve the situation in the Central African Republic, which was plagued by violence and disorder. Ayessa was national director of Sassou Nguesso's campaign for the
March 2016 presidential election. In the
July 2017 parliamentary election, Ayessa stood unopposed as a candidate in Makoua, with no other candidates standing in the constituency. After 10 years as Director of the Cabinet of the President, he was instead appointed to the government as Deputy Prime Minister for the Civil Service, State Reform, Labour and Social Security on 22 August 2017. Ayessa died in
Istanbul on 17 February 2026, at the age of 74. ==References==