Hassan Bouba, a former adviser to Central African Republic rebel leader and self-proclaimed general Ali Darrassa, has discretely taken up appointment as Minister of Animal Breeding in the country.
The new minister who is of Chadian nationality like his boss Ali Darrassa, is the assistant political coordinator of the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic rebel movement.
He was appointed to the post on April 20, by Central African Republic Head of State, President Faustin Archange Touadera, but had not taken up the post since then because of disagreements within his own rebel movement.
Political observers in the capital Bangui are at a loss as to why the decision by Hassan Bouba to take up the post now but the discrete way in which he was eased into the job is an indication there might have been behind-the-scene negotiations between his party hierarchy and the government.
It should be recalled that on April 20, Ali Darrassa sent a letter to the Central African Republic Prime Minister, Firmin Ngrebada, informing him of the choice of Mahamat Ibrahim, another Chadian, as Minister Counselor to the Prime Minister in replacement of Hassan Bouba who was proposed for the post of Minister of Animal Breeding.
This new posting did not seem to have pleased Hassan Bouba and he refused to take up the post which he considered not influential enough and which put him far away from the centre of power.
On the other hand, President Faustin Archange Touadera had rejected the nomination of Hassan Bouba for the post and asked Ali Darrassa to propose another member of the UPC for the position.
However, after three months of negotiations, Ali Darrassa still presented Hassan Bouba as his candidate for the ministerial position and called on President Touadera to formally name him to the post.
President Touadera formally appointed him Minister of Animal Breeding on December 3.
“His arrival in Bangui to take up the post without any fanfare may have been the result of serious negotiations or as a result of his waning influence within the UPC which has left him with no option but to take up the post he had earlier rejected,” one political observer in Bangui told HumAngle on Tuesday.
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