By Ebi Kesiena
Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Friday sacked three ministers a day after appointing them when they failed to show up for a swearing-in ceremony, according to a decree and the presidency.
the presidency said in a statement that the trio did not take part in the swearing-in of the new government on Friday and provided no explanation to justify their absence.
The three “shall be removed from office”, said the ruling, naming education minister Tcherno Djalo, natural resources minister Fernando Dias and energy and industry minister Mario Fambe.
They are all members of the Party for Social Renewal (PRS), part of the ruling coalition led by the president’s Madem party.
Embalo announced a new 36-member government on Thursday.
“We sent him a list of leaders selected to be part of the new government,” a PRS official told AFP, asking not to be named.
“He did not take it into account. He did what he felt like. He’s responsible for what happens next.”
Embalo dissolved Guinea-Bissau’s parliament on May 16 and announced early parliamentary elections to resolve a long-running political crisis.
Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam kept his job in the reshuffle.
The elections are set for December 18 in the notoriously unstable former Portuguese colony of two million people.
Bissau has suffered four military coups since 1974, most recently in 2012
In 2014, Guinea-Bissau vowed to return to democracy, but it has enjoyed little stability since and the armed forces wield substantial clout.
Eleven people died in February in violence described as an attempted coup.
