Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday named Adriano Afonso Maleiane as the country’s new prime minister reported Reuters. The announcement was made shortly after the sacking of Carlos Agostinho do Rosário as part of a cabinet reshuffle that also resulted in the filling of several posts including the finance minister.
Prime Minister Rosario had held the post since the start of Filipe Nyusi’s presidency in 2015. Nyusi fired six ministers including four holding the key portfolios of Finance, Mineral Resources, Industry, and Public Works on Wednesday, without giving a reason, in what was seen as a major cabinet reshuffle.
A statement released from the Mozambique presidency named Ernesto Max Tonela as the Minister of Economy and Finance, and Carlos Zacarias, currently chairman of the National Petroleum Instituto (INP) responsible for licensing oil and gas projects, as Mineral Resources and Energy Minister.
The other new appointments were Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance and Minister of Industry and trade.
Nyusi also shifted Lidia Cardoso from Deputy Minister of Health to Minister of Sea, Inland Waters, and Fisheries. The move came on the same day when the Mozambique president presided over a meeting of the ruling party’s powerful political commission.
With the major cabinet reshuffle, it is expected that Nyusi is trying to strengthen his position within the Frelimo party ahead of its September congress, which is set to decide its presidential candidate for elections scheduled for 2024 in the natural gas-rich southeast African nation.
Nyusi has faced growing questions about his alleged role in the projects that ended in a sovereign default and court cases spanning New York to London to Johannesburg.
Last month, his predecessor, Armando Guebuza, testified as a witness in a criminal trial on the deals that Nyusi would be best placed to answer questions about them, as he was head of the operational command that Guebuza tasked to implement the coastal protection system at the heart of the scandal. Nyusi has denied wrongdoing.
