Guinea-Bissau’s newly appointed Prime Minister on Tuesday declared that national reconciliation will be his main aim in office.
”Our society is divided to the point of having been rendered fragile. For this reason, our first order of business is the reunification of all Guinea-Bissauans,” said Martinho N’Dafa Cabi.
President Joao Bernardo ”Nino” Vieira announced the appointment of Cabi in a radio address late on Monday night, ending days of speculation following the resignation of the country’s former premier.
Cabi, a former government minister, is a leader of the PAIGC, the main opposition party that had been instrumental in calling for the removal of former prime minister Aristides Gomes.
Last month, Guinea-Bissau’s Parliament passed a motion to impeach Gomes, with 54 out of 85 parliamentarians voting in favour, saying a change was needed to pull the country out of its economic spiral. Prior to the vote, the country’s three leading political parties, including the PAIGC, had signed a pact saying Gomes’s government needed to be replaced.
Gomes announced his resignation on March 29, but it was unclear if Vieira, a close ally of Gomes, would accept his resignation and name a new premier, as required by the country’s Constitution.
In addressing the nation, Cabi said his priorities also include organising forthcoming parliamentary elections and ensuring that they unfold in ”an atmosphere of tranquility”.
He also said he plans to address the country’s economic woes, including the fact that numerous government employees, including doctors and teachers, have not been paid for months.
”We are well aware of our failures. There is no room for politics when there is famine. The people must eat,” he said.
Vieira was elected last June in the first presidential vote since a 2003 military coup toppled democratically elected president Kumba Yala. He appointed his protégé, Gomes, as premier, infuriating the PAIGC, which called the appointment unconstitutional.
Guinea-Bissau is deeply impoverished and has been rocked by coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. — Sapa-AP