Benoît Bati
Benoît Bati is a Congolese politician who served in the government of Congo-Brazzaville as minister-delegate for the digital economy from 2016 to 2017. Previously he was a deputy in the National Assembly of Congo-Brazzaville from 2002 to 2016, and he has been president of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the National Assembly since 2017.
Political career
[edit]Bati served as a magistrate for a time, and during the late 1990s he was a member of the National Resistance Council (CNR), which acted as the political leadership for rebel militias fighting the government in southern Congo-Brazzaville. The CNR made peace with the government in late 1999.[1] In the May–June 2002 parliamentary election, he stood as the LADIP candidate in Tsiaki constituency, located in Bouenza Region. He won the seat in the first round of voting, receiving 54.19% of the vote.[2]
In the June–August 2007 parliamentary election, Bati stood for re-election as the candidate of the Life Party in Tsiaki. He won the seat, receiving 53.83% of the vote.[3] After the National Assembly began meeting for its new term, Bati was designated as Second Vice-President of the National Assembly's Legal and Administrative Affairs Commission on 18 September 2007.[4] He was also President of the Italy-Congo Friendship Association in the National Assembly.[5]
When Italian representatives of the anti-death penalty organization Hands Off Cain visited Congo-Brazzaville in November 2010, Bati was one of three members of the National Assembly who discussed the death penalty with the representatives. In reference to the group's name, Bati said that they should not "lose sight of Abel" (the victim) by focusing on "Cain" (the offender).[5]
At the Sixth Extraordinary Congress of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT), held in July 2011, Bati was elected to the PCT's 471-member Central Committee.[6]
In the July–August 2012 parliamentary election, Bati stood for re-election as the PCT candidate in Tsiaki. In the first round of voting, he received 43.62% of the vote, while Guy-Richard Sibi, an independent candidate, received 35.07%. Facing Sibi in a second round of voting, Bati won the seat with 56.70% of the vote.[7] Subsequently, he was designated as President of the National Assembly's Legal and Administrative Affairs Commission on 19 September 2012.[8] A bill proposed by Bati regarding the organization of associations was slated for consideration by the National Assembly at a session that began on 2 July 2014.[9]
After President Denis Sassou Nguesso's victory in the March 2016 presidential election, he appointed Bati as Minister-Delegate for the Digital Economy, working under Prime Minister Clément Mouamba.[10] In the July 2017 parliamentary election, he was re-elected to the National Assembly as the PCT candidate in Tsiaki, winning the seat in the first round with 58% of the vote.[11] Following the election, Bati was dismissed from the government on 22 August 2017.[12][13] He was designated as President of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the National Assembly on 2 September 2017.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ Pierre Englebert and James Ron, "Primary Commodities and War: Congo-Brazzaville's Ambivalent Resource Curse" Archived 2012-01-31 at the Wayback Machine, Comparative Politics, volume 37, number 1, October 2004.
- ^ "Elections législatives : les 51 élus du premier tour", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 5 June 2002 (in French).
- ^ "Les résultats des élections législatives, avant l'examen des contentieux électoraux", La Semaine Africaine, number 2,720, 21 August 2007, page 7 (in French).
- ^ Cyr Armel Yabbat-Ngo, "Rentrée parlementaire de la 12ème législature: Les bureaux des commissions permanentes ont été enfin élus", La Semaine Africaine, number 2,729, 21 September 2007, page 5 (in French).
- ^ a b "Congo: Hands Off Cain mission – Meetings with the Chamber and Senate for abolition of the death penalty", Hands Off Cain, 23 November 2010.
- ^ "Membres de comité central du PCT élus par le VIe congrés" Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, number 1,294, 29 July 2011, page 4 (in French).
- ^ "Résultats du deuxième tour des élections législatives", La Semaine Africaine, 11 August 2012 (in French).
- ^ Roger Ngombé, "Assemblée nationale - Sept commissions permanentes sont mises en place", Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, number 1,580, 20 September 2012, page 2 (in French).
- ^ Roger Ngombé, "Assemblée nationale : la session administrative dominée par des affaires judiciaires", ADIAC, 2 July 2014 (in French). "Assemblée nationale : La session administrative dominée par des affaires judiciaires | adiac-congo.com : Toute l'actualité du Bassin du Congo". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Équipe gouvernementale de la Nouvelle République", ADIAC, 1 May 2016 (in French). "Équipe gouvernementale de la Nouvelle République | adiac-congo.com : Toute l'actualité du Bassin du Congo". Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Les résultats tels que publiés par le ministre de l’intérieur et de la décentralisation", La Semaine Africaine, number 3,711, 25 July 2017, page 7 (in French).
- ^ Trésor Kibangula, "Congo-Brazzaville : ce qu’il faut retenir du gouvernement Clément Mouamba 2", Jeune Afrique, 23 August 2017 (in French).
- ^ Cyr Armel Yabbat-Ngo, "Nouvelle équipe gouvernementale: On prend les mêmes et on recommence !", La Semaine Africaine, number 3,719, 25 August 2017, page 3 (in French).
- ^ "Parlement : l’Assemblée nationale se dote des instances dirigeantes", ADIAC, 3 September 2017 (in French).