The Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, Geraldo Martins, continues to exercise his duties with “full powers” and holds the financial portfolio by decision of the President of the Republic, who this Monday announced the dissolution of parliament.
Guinea’s head of state, Oumaro Sissoko Embalo, announced in a brief statement to reporters after leaving the Council of Ministers that he had renewed “confidence in the prime minister of the outgoing government until the formation of a new government.”
The President noted that he informed the Prime Minister that “he has full authority to perform his functions, which he will combine with the functions of the Minister of Finance and [do] Secretary of State to the Treasury.”
Geraldo Martins will take over the posts of Minister Suleimane Seidi and Secretary of State António Monteiro, who are in preventive detention.
The arrest of the two government officials was ordered Thursday by the Justice Ministry as part of a process to pay the equivalent of about nine million euros to 11 companies and sparked armed clashes early Friday between the president’s guards and the National Guard after the latter went after government officials from judicial police cells.
The President of the Republic considered these events to be a coup d’etat, who decided to dissolve parliament on the grounds that this body protected suspected rulers and not the interests of the state.
Sissoko Embalo has now announced that he is keeping Prime Minister Geraldo Martins in office, noting: “the renewal of confidence does not mean that I have reappointed him.”
In this executive body of the presidential initiative, which will serve until new elections, the date of which has not yet been announced, the President of the Republic is responsible for the role of the Minister of Defense and Internal Affairs, as well as for the Armed Forces.
The head of state also indicated that the portfolio of foreign affairs remains with the current minister, Carlos Pinto Pereira.
Umaro Sissoko Embalo also stated that the prime minister will dictate what type of government Guinea-Bissau will have.
The PAI-Terra Ranca coalition won legislative elections last June with a parliamentary majority and formed a government.
The coalition is led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), whose President Domingos Simões Pereira is the leader of parliament, while the Madem G15 party, which supports Sissoko Embalo, is in the opposition.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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