President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone and President Alpha Conde of Guinea are two very close friends. I hear even their spouses are very good friends.
President Koroma was in Conakry, Guinea, December 14, this year, where he witnessed the inauguration of President Conde for his second and last five-year term as President of Guinea.
In his speech, President Conde promised to work for all Guineans, create jobs for the youths and appoint what he called "competent" people to key positions in state governance to push Guinea forward on the road to political and economic development.
From President Conde’s inauguration speech, most Guineans knew a cabinet reshuffle was imminent but they did not know when it would hit the airwaves.
Well, it hit them on what we in the Anglophone world call Boxing Day ( Saturday December 26). A new Prime Minister of Guinea emerged.
His name is Mamady Youla, born in Conakry in 1961, 54 years old. He later studied Economics in Abidjan and Paris. Worked for some time at the Central Bank of Guinea and then took up various positions in the private sector. He was at one time Director General of a huge mining company called Guinea Alumin Corporation. A certainly competent man.
Youla is expected, as per the Guinean constitution, to select in the next few days a cabinet to run the country for the next five years. Expect more competent men and women to preside over Guinea’s affairs.
In neighbouring Sierra Leone, there was no warning of a cabinet reshuffle except maybe to party insiders although the firing of Lands Minister Musa Tarawally just before Christmas created a scare.
A scare that’s still hanging in the air.
Sierra Leone’s cabinet reshuffle is not yet over. We have only seen part 1 so far.
In Guinea, Youla is also yet to announce his new cabinet. There is a lot of suspense and nail-biting there too. Reports say a lot of cows are being killed as sacrifice and a lot of what we call in Sierra Leone Moray Men (soothsayers) are making tons of money over there right now. To help their clients get or maintain Ministerial jobs. Scary, right?
Two Presidents, two cabinet reshuffles.
Mamady Youla, Guinea’s new Prime Minister.
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