Connect with us

Politics

Ivory Coast: President Ouattara keeps promise to reduce cabinet in new appointments, but reappoints core of old ministers

Published

on

As promised last week, President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast has named a reduced number of appointees of 32 ministers on Wednesday, from an initial 41.

The President however reappointed the head of the defence, finance and foreign affairs ministries, and appointed fresh hands as mines minister, as released in a statement.

Following the resignation of former Prime Minister Patrick Achi last week, President Alassane Ouattara reiterated plans to slim down the size of the cabinet. He indicated that he would reduce the government to around 30 ministers from the current 41, with new appointments to be made next week to govern the world’s top cocoa producer.

The presidency also revealed that the president’s brother, Tene Birahima Ouattara is the new head of defence while almost all of Ouattara’s former ministers retained their portfolios after the reshuffling.

The minister of mines and energy was relieved of his appointment, as former Minister of Agriculture, Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly became the substantial minister. Other reshuffled ministers are the ministers of culture and private sector investment.

The nine ministries that no longer feature on the new government list have been integrated into other offices.

Ouattara is expected to step down at the end of his third term in 2025 when presidential elections will be held.

Politics

Algeria, Sierra Leone get non-permanent seat at UN Security Council

Published

on

Algeria and Sierra Leone, have been elected as non-permanent members of the the United Nations’ Security Council for 2024-2025.

The two countries are part of the ten countries elected for two years in the Council outside the five power bloc countries— the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom.

The countries replace Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates and will join Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland who were elected last year.

For Sierra Leone, it’s a return to the council after 53 years. Its Foreign Minister, David Francis said it was “a great day for this small, progressive and confident country…which has successfully transitioned from war to peace.”

Guyana and South Korea were also elected unchallenged while Slovenia handily beat Belarus for the only contested seat.

An official of rights agency, Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau remarked that “the vote in the General Assembly shows why a competition for UN elections is essential” after Slovenia edged Belarus for the seat going to Eastern Europe and obtained 153 votes, against 38 in Belarus.

“UN member states have undoubtedly decided that Belarus’ grave human rights violations at home and attempts to cover up Russian atrocities in Ukraine disqualify it from serving on the Security Council, a crucial body for ensuring human rights. humans,” he added.

Algeria got 184 votes, South Korea 180 votes, Sierra Leone 188 votes and Guyana 191 in a single candidate votes for four seat reserved for Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean.

There has been a long debate about the place of Africa in international relations. At the inception of the United Nations, only four independent African countries represented the continent when 50 representatives of different countries met in San Francisco, California, in 1945 to complete the Charter of the United Nations.

Continue Reading

Politics

South Africa: Opposition, DA want findings on alleged arms supply to Russia public

Published

on

South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance has vowed to challenge the decision by the presidency to keep from the public, findings from recent arm supply allegations.

The follows allegations by United States Ambassador, Reuben Brigety that South Africa provided ammunition to Russia by ship. Brigety said the US was sure that contrary to its public claim of being non-aligned in the Russia/Ukraine crisis, South Africa supplied arms to Vladimir Putin’s army in December.

Following the allegation, President Ramaphosa launched an investigation to be conducted by an independent body which will be led by retired Deputy Justice Phineas Mojapelo, advocate Leah Gcabashe, and former justice minister Enver Surty. Meanwhile, his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya said the government would withhold the panel’s findings.

Magwenya said the terms of reference for the inquiry would not be gazetted or published.

“The investigation covers issues of national security and classified information, which is protected from disclosure,” he said.

“This inquiry has been instituted in a similar manner to the inquiry that investigated the July 2021 riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng and the value of its report remains unchallenged.

“The panel will be supported in gathering the information that is necessary to fulfil its mandate by letters from the president instructing all relevant government entities as identified by the panel to cooperate fully with the panel or face disciplinary sanction,” he said.

“The work of the panel will not be public, nor will its report be made public. The president will speak to any actions that may result with respect to national security. This is provided for within our secrecy laws as per the nature of this matter,” he added.

In a statement, the DA said it would not ” leave this secrecy unchallenged. We have already submitted an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act to obtain a copy of the panel’s terms of reference. And we are obtaining legal advice to challenge Ramaphosa’s plan to hide the report once it is complete.”

The party leader, John Steenhuisen argued that keeping the report private “undermines the ability of prosecutors and the public to hold guilty parties accountable for any such violations of the law”.

“Hiding this report from public view will rob the people of South Africa – and of the world – of the opportunity to see the full facts of this matter.

“Refusing to disclose the complete picture of how the ANC-led government allegedly smuggled weapons to arm Russia’s war in Ukraine and various parts of Africa will also undermine the very purpose of the investigation.”

Continue Reading

EDITOR’S PICK

VenturesNow18 hours ago

Kenya: Parliament approves appointment of Kamau Thugge as central bank governor

Months after throwing open the position for the country’s top banker, Kenya’s parliament has approved the appointment of Kamau Thugge...

VenturesNow18 hours ago

Ghana presents ‘working proposal’ for debt restructuring— IMF sources

West African country, Ghana has made a major move at resolving its debt crisis as the country has presented debt...

Metro19 hours ago

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force...

Tech19 hours ago

Flutterwave partners Token.io to provide seamless bank transfer to users in UK, EU

Pan-Africa’s payments technology company, Flutterwave has entered into a partnership with Europe’s account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider, Token.io to power...

Culture19 hours ago

Kenyan govt to convert ‘evil cult’ forest into a memorial site

The Kenyan government says it plans to convert the Shakahola Forest, where bodies of over 250 members of a Christian...

Metro19 hours ago

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations...

Sports20 hours ago

FIFA honours Osimhen after amazing season with Napoli

Following his record-breaking season with Napoli where he scored 26 goals to win the Serie A top scorer award, Nigerian...

VenturesNow20 hours ago

Despite revenue crisis, World Bank projects faster growth for Kenya  

The World Bank on Wednesday said progress in the agricultural sector would likely lead to Kenya’s economic growth at a...

Musings From Abroad2 days ago

Angola, Portugal sign 13-point pact spanning finance, law, others    

Angola and Portugal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding including 13 different agreements that cut across financial, legal and other...

VenturesNow2 days ago

Congo DR, Angola advance talks over decades-long oil block dispute

Discussions are on to end a decades-long dispute between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola over an off-shore oil...

Trending