History was made in Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday after the entire government led by vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of long term president Teodoro Obiang Nguema resigned.
Mangue was not affected by the resignation as he remains vice-president.
But Prime minister Manuel Osa Nsue Nsua tendered the resignation of his entire cabinet.
The official reason?
PM Nsua provided the answer to the oil-rich nation of 1.8 million people as the government falling far short of targets that should have met the erstwhile administration’s performance clause.
Presenting the mass resignation of the entrire cabinet, he said its performance barely reached 10% of outlined targets set out two years ago when he was appointed PM by President Teodoro.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter on Tuesday, vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue said the move was taking responsibility in line with the principle that public management must be accompanied by results.
“The degree of execution achieved is clearly insufficient in relation to the expectations and commitments undertaken,” he wrote.
If he was somewhat economical with the truth, the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) issued a no-holds barred statement criticising widespread corruption and cabinet members hardly getting to grips with the demands for meaningful economic transformation.
President Obiang recently lamented that corruption was being fostered in governnment, undermining efforts to wean the island nation of oil by diversifying the economy to include agricultural production.
The economy of Equatorial Guinea has taken a sever knock thanks to a decline in production caused by a drop in international oil demand.
The PDGE expressed the president’s personal dissatisfaction the apparent mismanagement of state resources with individual interests trumping collective aspirations in the implementation of national development projects.
It is not clear when a new government wil be instituted and who would be its members.
After coming to power in 1979, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is the world’s longest serving political leader.
WN/as/APA