By John Ikani
Ivory Coast Prime Minister, Patrick Achi tabled his resignation and that of his Government on Wednesday as President Alassane Ouattara plans to slim down the size of the Cabinet.
Speaking at the opening of the outgoing Prime Minister’s last Cabinet meeting, President Ouattara said he had accepted the government’s resignation and would “from next week appoint a new Prime Minister who will come to me to propose a streamlined government.”
Ouattara said he would reduce the Government to around 30 ministers from the current 41, with new appointments to be made next week to govern the world’s top cocoa producer.
A slimmer Cabinet will be more efficient and in tune with the global economic climate, Ouattara said during the Cabinet meeting at which he accepted the government’s resignation.
“It is imperative to reduce state spending and re-focus on social and security resilience,” he added.
Mr Achi was appointed to the post in March last year, following the death of his predecessor, Hamed Bakayoko.
Initially a member of Henri Konan Bédié’s PDCI, he was Minister of Economic Infrastructure between 2000 and 2017 and President of the Regional Council of Mé since 2013.
