Conakry – Guinea’s junta has gutted the country’s infrastructure ministry, ousting its head and seven staffers as the West African state’s coup leader expands his anti-corruption drive.
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Yaya Sow was dismissed alongside the secretary general and the heads of the Road Maintenance and Public Procurement Fund in the department he headed, according to a decree.
Minister Yaya Sow was dismissed “due to the opening of a judicial investigation before the Court of Repression of Economic and Financial Offenses”, according to a decree read on public television on Wednesday night.
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The anti-corruption court was set up by the military and is led by junta leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya as part of a wide-ranging anti-graft crackdown that has netted more than 180 officials and ex-ministers as well as the former president.
Doumbouya, previously a special forces commander, overthrew President Alpha Conde in September 2021, pledging to fight corruption while also insisting there would be no “witch hunt”.
In 2010, Conde, 84, became the first democratically elected president in Guinea’s history, but his popularity dived in his second term as critics accused him of authoritarianism. He is now being prosecuted for alleged corruption.
Doumbouya, who installed himself as president, has agreed to restore civilian rule in two years.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@SaliouDiallo699
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