Gabon’s prime minister announced a new cabinet on Friday, just days after the Constitutional Court ordered him to resign for failing to organize legislative elections on time last weekend.
The court ruled on Monday that Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet was no longer legitimate. It also ordered that the National Assembly be dissolved.
Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba (C), flanked by Vice President Pierre Maganga Moussavou (L) and Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet (R), watches the arrival of La Tropicale cycling race 13th edition in Libreville on Jan. 21, 2018. /VCG Photo
Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba (C), flanked by Vice President Pierre Maganga Moussavou (L) and Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet (R), watches the arrival of La Tropicale cycling race 13th edition in Libreville on Jan. 21, 2018. /VCG Photo
However, President Ali Bongo, the current head of the Central African OPEC member’s half-century-old political dynasty, reappointed him on Thursday.
Announced on state television, Issoze-Ngondet’s new 40-member cabinet is composed of 11 ministers of state, 17 ministers and 12 deputy ministers and includes three allies of opposition leader Jean Ping.
The incoming government will remain in office until the elections, delayed since December 2016, are held.
There is still no date for Gabonese voters to go to the polls.
President of the Gabonese elections center (CGE - Centre Gabonais des Elections) Moise Bibalou Koumba sworns in at the Constitutional Court in Libreville, on May 2, 2018. /VCG Photo
President of the Gabonese elections center (CGE - Centre Gabonais des Elections) Moise Bibalou Koumba sworns in at the Constitutional Court in Libreville, on May 2, 2018. /VCG Photo
With no parliament in place, the government now refers solely to the President Ali Bongo.
Ping has refused to recognize his defeat to Bongo, then incumbent president, in a 2016 election that international observers said was marred by irregularities and which sparked brief spasms of violence.
The legislative elections are unlikely to take place before July at the earliest, according to commentators.
The country has large oil, mineral and tropical timber resources, and its per-capita national income is four times greater than that of most sub-Saharan nations.
But about a third of its population of 1.8 million still live below the poverty line -- the result, say experts, of inequality, poor governance and corruption.
Newly appointed president of the Gabonese elections center (CGE - Centre Gabonais des Elections) Moise Bibalou Koumba (C), flanked by representative of the majority Francois Oyabi (R) and of the opposition Christelle Nkoye (L), speaks to the press following his swearing-in ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Libreville, on May 2, 2018. /VCG Photo
Newly appointed president of the Gabonese elections center (CGE - Centre Gabonais des Elections) Moise Bibalou Koumba (C), flanked by representative of the majority Francois Oyabi (R) and of the opposition Christelle Nkoye (L), speaks to the press following his swearing-in ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Libreville, on May 2, 2018. /VCG Photo
Source(s): AFP
,Reuters
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