The President of São Tomé and Príncipe on Monday January 8 appointed five new ministers to the government, which has now been reshuffled to include 13 ministries, according to a decree.
The presidential decree signed on Monday by Carlos Vila Nova appoints as new members of the executive Lúcio Daniel Lima Magalhães, to the Ministry of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Parliamentary Affairs and with the Coordination of Sustainable Development, ngela da Costa, to the Ministry of Health, and who accumulates the portfolio of Women’s Rights, Disney Leite Ramos, to the Ministry of Economy, Nilda Borges da Mata, to the Ministry of Environment, and José do Nascimento de Rio, to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Natural Resources.
Former ministers Ilza Amado Vaz and Gareth Guadalupe were reappointed to the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration, and Human Rights, and Gareth Guadalupe was transferred from the Ministry of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and Parliamentary Affairs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, and Communities, which he had held cumulatively since July last year.
Also reappointed were Jorge Amado, in the Ministry of Defense and Internal Administration; Abel Bom Jesus, in the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Fisheries; Ginésio da Mata, who lost the economy portfolio, leaving only the Ministry of Planning and Finance; Celsio Vera Cruz Junqueira, who stayed with the Ministry of Labor and Solidarity, losing the health area; as well as the ministers of Education, Culture, and Sciences, Isabel Viegas D`Abreu, and Youth and Sports, Eurídice Medeiros.
With this reshuffle, the former Minister for Women’s Rights, Maria Milagre, was the only one to be removed from the executive, joining the former Ministers for Infrastructure and Natural Resources, Adelino Cardoso, who resigned from his post last week, and Alberto Pereira, the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, and Communities, who resigned in July last year, both involved in controversies.
According to executive sources, the new members of the government should be sworn in this week.