Guinea Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo dismissed Thursday the Minister of Economy and entrusted his post temporarily to the head of government, according to an unofficial source.
Mr. Victor Mandiga, Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Integration, had been in office since 2021. He was replaced to “ensure the regular functioning of institutions and for political convenience,” said a presidential decree issued Thursday, without further explanation.
His post has been temporarily entrusted to Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam, who heads a 31-member government.
Mandiga did not make a statement after his dismissal. He had recently denounced the involvement of the Ministry of Finance in matters under his purview.
He also spoke out against the creation of a Secretariat of State for Regional Integration under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, he no longer regularly attended government meetings.
“He has been given an empty shell,” said a party official on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Mandiga, an economist by training, heads the Democratic Convergence Party (PDC), which has one seat in the National Assembly, out of 102 in the institution dominated by the presidential camp.
He supported Mr. Embalo’s candidacy in the 2019 presidential run-off election, which Mr. Embalo won against former Prime Minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, who is also the leader of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).