President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal on Monday announced a major changes in his government with the appointment of a new prime Minister after he sacked his former ally Ousmane Sonko from the Prime Minister’s job.
Sonko has since been recalled to the parliament and elected the Speaker of the parliament.
President Faye’s announcement came in a live television broadcast less than two weeks after he fired Sonko, his former mentor, and dismissed the cabinet following disagreements including over the troubled economy.
Sonko remains the undisputed leader of Pastef, the party he founded in 2014 – to which Faye also belongs – and which controls 130 of the 165 seats in Senegal’s only legislative body.
On Monday, Faye named senior economist Ahmadou Al Aminou Mohamed Lo as prime minister, saying the new appointee had the expertise to steer Senegal out of its crippling debt.
Lo on Monday read out a list of 30 new ministers, including some Pastef members, but notable for the absence of several of its senior figures who had been in the previous government