Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara fired Prime Minister Patrick Achi and dissolved his government on Friday, international news agencies reported. The president had already said this during the last meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 28 a rearrangement announced, but has not given a concrete reason for his decision to dissolve the entire government.
Prime Minister Achi had been in office since March 2021. “The president expresses his gratitude to Prime Minister Patrick Achi and all members of the government for faithfully serving the nation in recent years,” a spokesman for President Ouattara said. Achi and his ministers will remain in office temporarily until there is a new prime minister and government.
Rearrangements as a reward
It is not unusual in Ivory Coast for a president to reshuffle a government, says Sahel specialist Kars de Bruijne of the Clingedael institute. NRC. “He has done it several times after elections and many people will come back again. It will be interesting to see if that also applies to Prime Minister Patrick Achi.”
In local and regional elections at the end of last month, Ouattara’s ruling party RHDP emerged as the big winner. “Such a reshuffle is a way to reward people,” De Bruijne explains. “In Ivory Coast, appointments are used to gain influence and electoral advantage in different regions.”
Prime Minister Achi submitted his own resignation and that of his government last April, after the president announced that he wanted to reduce the number of ministerial posts. A week later, Achi was reinstated as prime minister. But with a view to the presidential elections in 2025, Ouattara could possibly decide to really put Achi aside now.
Power struggle
“The president is now weighing up who can help him and his party retain power in view of the presidential elections in two years,” political analyst Sylvain N’Guessan, director of the Institut de Stratégies d’Abidjan, told reporters. NRC. The 81-year-old Ouattara has not yet stated whether he will run for a fourth term. “The question behind this is whether he will seize this moment to make room for a new generation. Is he going to put forward a new face who will soon be their presidential candidate in 2025?”
N’Guessan does not rule out that Ouattara himself will want to make another bid for the presidency. “But that is not without risks, because just look at what has happened in the region in recent years, with one coup after another.” In 2020, Ouattara was elected to a controversial third term after what many described as a “constitutional coup.”
Ivory Coast is currently preparing to host the Africa Cup of Nations in January next year. After that, De Bruijne expects that the election battle will really start. “It will be interesting to see whether Achi really leaves as prime minister and if so who will replace him.”