Gabonese PM announces cabinet reshuffle

Libreville, Gabon (PANA) - Gabonese Prime Minister, Julien Nkoghe Bekale, on Monday evening announced the composition of the new government, a narrowed team of thirty members for greater efficiency, PANA reported on the spot. This reshuffle comes shortly after a huge financial scandal that has seen a dozen senior executives of public administration in prison. The former Cabinet Director of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, appointed on November 7 as Minister in charge of the Follow-up of the Human Investment Strategy of the Sustainable Development Goals, was dropped. The Minister of Petroleum, Mining and Hydrocarbons, Mboumba, and the Minister of Economy, Finance and Public Accounts, Jean-Fidegrave Otandault, cited in cases of embezzlement, were also dropped. Vincent de Paul Massassa, who has long held the position of Director of Hydrocarbons, iwas left out. Last week, a large-scale police investigation into Gabon's top administration has already resulted in 13 persons in pre-trial detention, including the spokesman for the presidency, Ike Ngouni Aila Oyouomi. -0- PANA LAW/JSG/SOC/KND/VAO 3Dec2019