Three days after being named Prime Minister, Anatole Collinet Makosso formed his government team, which includes one of the children of President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and a leader of the main opposition Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS).
The new government has 36 members, including four ministers of state. There are eight women. Eleven personalities have joined the team, which has several socio-economic challenges to meet.
The most notable entry is that of Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso. Son of the Head of State, he inherits a portfolio freshly created for the occasion, that of International Cooperation and the promotion of public-private partnership, an appointment that may cause controversy.
A former member of parliament, he was above all a senior executive at the Congolese national oil company, SNPC. And he is suspected of massive misappropriation of oil money, again recently denounced by the NGO Global Witness. Investigations are underway in France for ill-gotten gains and a complaint has been filed in the United States about a luxury apartment in Miami.
Some believe that this is a ploy by the Sassou Nguesso family to try to escape legal proceedings abroad. Another notable entry was that of Honoré Sayi, a member of parliament and chairman of the UPADS parliamentary opposition group in the National Assembly. A philosophy teacher, he chaired the parliamentary group of UPADS, the leading opposition party in Congo. He was appointed Minister of Energy and Hydraulics.
The Ministry of Finance and Budget was given to Rigobert Roger Andély, a bank executive who had previously held these positions between 2002 and 2005. In addition to negotiations with the IMF, he will have to deal with the urgent issue of unpaid pensions.
Seven personalities have been dismissed, including Henri Djombo, who has been a minister without interruption since 1997.
Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso has been instructed to put his team to work “without delay.