Tiemoko Meyliet Koné, the new vice-president of Côte d’Ivoire, was sworn in on Wednesday April 20, 2022 before the Constitutional Council in Abidjan, the economic capital, the day after his appointment to this post which had been vacant for almost two years.
“I solemnly swear and on my honor to respect the Constitution, to conscientiously fulfill the duties of my office, in strict compliance with its obligations and with loyalty to the President of the Republic”declared the new Ivorian vice-president. “May the President of the Republic withdraw his confidence in me if I betray this oath”he added, during a ceremony in the presence of the Head of State, Alassane Ouattara.
On April 19, before the deputies and senators gathered in Congress in the Ivorian political capital Yamoussoukro, President Ouattara announced the appointment as vice-president of Tiemoko Meyliet KonéGovernor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) since 2011.
Announcing his appointment, President Ouattara described his new vice-president as a “brilliant economist”a “outstanding technocrat”a “competent and hardworking man” who has “all (her) trust”. Like his vice-president, Alassane Ouattara was also governor of the BCEAO and seems, at 80, to prepare his succession.
Little known to the general public, Tiemoko Meyliet Koné had a long career with BCEAO. He was also chief of staff to Prime Minister Guillaume Soro between 2007 and 2010, Minister of Construction, then special adviser to the President of the Republic Alassane Ouattara, in charge of economic and monetary issues. The post of vice-president, sanctuary in the last constitutional reform of 2016, had been vacant since July 2020 and the resignation of Daniel Kablan Duncan for “personal convenience”.
Thus, since his re-election in October 2020, Alassane Ouattara had no vice-president. Article 62 of the Constitution, however, provides that the vice-president becomes President “by right” in case of vacation “by death, resignation or absolute impediment” of the last. “Article 62 makes the vice-president in the event of a vacancy of power, not an interim, but by right a president of the Republic responsible for continuing and completing the current mandate”recalled the President of the Constitutional Council, Mamadou Koné, on April 20.
A new government is to be named this week by Prime Minister Patrick Achi who was reappointed on April 19, six days after his resignation. It will be composed of about thirty members against more than forty at present, with a view to “taking into account the global economic situation” and thus reduce “State expenditure”, according to President Ouattara.