Gabon Gets New House Speaker and Government.

Gabon’s new Prime Minister, Julien Nkoghe Bekalé, late on January 12, 2019 night announced a cabinet reshuffle without any major changes, Jeune Afrique magazine reported. The video announcement was recorded in Morocco where Bekalé met with President Ali Bongo Ondimba who is recovering since taking ill in Saudi Arabia last October.

Earlier the same evening, Jean-Yves Teale, Secretary General at the Presidency, in another video message recorded in Morocco, announced appointments of presidential aides, also without significant changes. Meanwhile at the National Assembly, Brice Laccruche Alihanga, remains Director of Cabinet, a position he has been holding since 2017. He is a former official of BGFI Bank.

The National Assembly has been non-existent since April 2018 when the Constitutional Court declared it vacant, blaming for failing to hold parliamentary elections on time. From that time, legislative duties were conferred on the Senate. Follo wing last October’s parliamentary and municipal elections that saw the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party, PDG retaining its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly with 98 of the 143 seats, President Ali Bongo on January 12, 2019 appointed a new Prime Minister, Julien Nkoghe Bekalé, 57.

He replaces Emmanuel Issozé Ngondet who becomes Ombudsman. Earlier on January 11, 2019, Faustin Boukoubi, 65, was elected Speaker of the National Assembly, replacing Richard Auguste Onouviet whose tenure ende...