Gabon President Ali Bongo has appointed the country’s first female prime minister who used to be his defence minister.
Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda’s appointment to the prime minister role was announced on Thursday.
The 56-year old is the sixth prime minister appointed under President Bongo after taking over from his father in 2009.
The previous prime minister, Julien Nkoghe Bekale, stepped down earlier in the day, allowing Ossouka Raponda to now move quickly towards forming a new government.
Ossouka Raponda became budget minister eight years ago before being elected mayor of the capital Libreville in 2014.
She became the first woman to hold that position since 1956 and then served as defence minister since February 2019.
The new prime minister has many issues to be worried about including the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gabon has registered nearly 6,000 cases to date.
“The priority mission of the new prime minister will be, above all, the economic revival and the continuation of the social support of the Gabonese people in a world context marked by the consequences of the crisis linked to Covid-19,” La Libreville website said.
Ossouka Raponda will have more to do since President Bongo, 61 who had a stroke in 2018 is yet to fully recover.
Source: Africafeeds.com
