Bissau – Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Thursday sacked his economy minister and temporarily handed over his portfolio to the prime minister, a presidential decree said.
Victor Mandiga was replaced “to guarantee the regular functioning of institutions”, it said.
Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam would temporarily take on the role of minister of the economy, planning and regional integration.
The ousted minister did not immediately respond to the announcement.
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But he had recently objected to what he described as the finance ministry’s involvement in some of his ministry’s affairs, and to the foreign ministry overseeing a new state secretariat for regional integration – one of his ministry’s responsibilities.
He no longer regularly attended cabinet meetings.
Mandiga, an economist, heads the Democratic Convergence Party (PDC), which holds a single seat in a 102-member parliament dominated by the president’s supporters.
He backed Embalo during the 2019 presidential elections that brought him to power.
The former Portuguese colony of around two million people is notoriously unstable and has suffered four military coups since 1974, its most recent in 2012.
A failed coup attempt in February left 11 people dead.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@PresidencyZA
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