Sierra Leone’s recently elected leader on Saturday released a complete list of his 20-strong government ministers, consisting mainly of technocrats and his party’s stalwarts.
Three women — heading the foreign affairs, energy and social welfare portfolios — are on the list that is still subject to parliamentary approval.
Ernest Koroma of the All People’s Party on an opposition ticket won last month’s vote, which was seen as a test of whether the West African country had truly recovered from a civil war that claimed 120 000 lives and left thousands of survivors maimed.
He did not include in the Cabinet any members of the former ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party, which smoothly handed over power to him last month.
Koroma named a losing presidential candidate in the 2002 elections and a former United Nations official, Zainab Bangura, as Foreign Minister.
David Carew, head of the auditing firm KPMG-Sierra Leone, was appointed Finance Minister of the world’s second-most-impoverished country.
A former diplomat under the old All People’s Congress, Dauda Kamara, is to head the Internal Affairs Ministry. — Sapa-AFP