The Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea, alongside all members of the current government, has resigned. The resignations came on Friday after President Teodoro Obiang said the government was not doing enough to curb the COVID-19 pandemic or achieve economic stability for the country of over 1.2 million inhabitants.

Francisco Pascual Obama Asue had been prime minister since June 2016. In 2018, President Obiang dissolved the government but reappointed PM Asue and his deputy prime ministers to their posts. A new government is expected to be announced in a few days and it is unclear whether Mr Asue will return.

Issues to Consider for Equatorial Guinea 

• The 1982 constitution of Equatorial Guinea allows the president to name and members of the cabinet, make laws by decree, dissolve the Chamber of Representatives. He also retains the role of minister of defence while being head of government. 
• President Teodoro Obiang is the second president of Equatorial Guinea, the country’s longest-serving ruler and also the longest consecutively serving ruler in the world. He has had 9 Prime Ministers serve under him. He has widely been accused of corruption and abuse of power. 
• Mr Obiang appointed his son Teodorin Obiang who had previously served as an adviser to the president, as first vice president in 2012. This makes Mr Teodorin next in line for the presidency according to the current constitution of Equatorial Guinea. Expectations are that the new reshuffling will favour Mr Teodorin who has previously been accused of embezzling government funds to purchase private property. He has resisted attempts by the US government to confiscate his properties, denying charges. 
• The Equatoguinean economy has largely been dependent on oil since it was discovered in 1995. Global fall in oil prices in 2014 triggered a recession which has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IMF projects a 5.5% further contraction in 2020. 
• Equatorial Guinea has never enjoyed a full-on democracy and has been ranked as one of the least democratic countries in the world. Rights organizations have also described the two post-independence leaders (Francisco Macias Nguema and Theodore Nguema Obiang) as among the “worst abusers of human rights in Africa”.

Bottomline

A pro-Obiang government is expected to be announced in a few days, and they will be tasked with the responsibility of stabilizing the economy and managing the COVID-19 crisis.