Issifou Okoulou-Kantchati

Issifou Okoulou-Kantchati (born 23 January 1951[1]) is a Togolese politician, currently serving in the government of Togo as Minister of City Planning and Housing.

Biography

Okoulou-Kantchati was born in Mango, located in the Oti Prefecture of Togo. He studied in France and became a member of the Central Committee of the Rally of the Togolese People (RPT) in 1977.[1] In the 1990s, Okoulou-Kantchati headed the Alliance of Democrats for the Republic (ADR), a political party.[2] He was Quaestor of the High Council of the Republic, which was established as the transitional parliament in 1991.[1] In an August 1996 by-election for a seat in the National Assembly from Oti, Okoulou-Kantchati, standing as the ADR candidate, placed second in the first round, receiving 32.89% of the vote against 40.19% for RPT candidate Stanislas Baba.[3] Baba then narrowly defeated him in the second round, receiving 51.41% of the vote.[4]

Okoulou-Kantchati later joined the RPT. In the March 1999 parliamentary election, he was elected to the National Assembly as the RPT candidate in the First Constituency of Oti Prefecture; he faced no opposition and won the seat with 100% of the vote.[5] He was re-elected to the National Assembly in the October 2002 parliamentary election and served as President of the Finance Commission in the National Assembly.[6] On 29 July 2003, Okoulou-Kantchati was appointed to the government as Minister of Energy and Water Resources.[7][8]

His house in Mango was attacked by opposition supporters amidst the violence that surrounded the April 2005 presidential election.[9] After that election, he was moved to the post of Minister of the Environment and Forest Resources on 20 June 2005.[8] He was the first candidate on the RPT's candidate list for Oti constituency in the October 2007 parliamentary election[10] and won a seat.[11] At the time of the election, he was the RPT Coordinator in Savanes Region.[12] Following the election, he was designated as one of seven members of a committee to amend the National Assembly's rules of procedure on 14 November 2007.[13] He remained in the government that was formed after the election in December 2007.[8]

Okoulou-Kantchati remained in his post as Minister of the Environment and Forest Resources until 15 September 2008, when he was instead appointed as Minister of City Planning and Housing.[8][14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Profiles of Togolese government ministers, etiame.com (French).
  2. ↑ L'afrique politique 1997: revendications populaires et recompositions politiques (1997), KARTHALA Editions, page 267 (French).
  3. ↑ Crocodile No. 157, 8–14 August 1996 (German).
  4. ↑ West Africa (1996), page 1,339.
  5. ↑ Journal Officiel de la Republique Togolaise, 20 April 1999, page 37 (French).
  6. ↑ Ebow Godwin, "Parliament Adopts Tightrope Budget", Ghanaian Chronicle, 3 February 2003.
  7. ↑ "Le Togo annonce la composition du nouveau gouvernement", Xinhua (People's Daily), 31 July 2003 (French).
  8. 1 2 3 4 List of governments of Togo, IZF.net (French).
  9. ↑ "Togolese ruling party raps opposition over 24 April election violence", Radio Togo, 25 April 2005.
  10. ↑ List of 2007 candidates in Oti, CENI website (French).
  11. ↑ Text of Constitutional Court decision (final election results), 30 October 2007 (French).
  12. ↑ "Pour son soutien a des candidatures indépendantes : Natchaba est suspendu du RPT-Oti", Togoforum.com (French).
  13. ↑ Bulletins at National Assembly website (French).
  14. ↑ "L’équipe autour de Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo", Republicoftogo.com, 15 September 2008 (French).
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