Cape Verdean PM predicts government reshuffle by the end of the month

“It will be this month, but I will not give any details,” he told journalists, on the sidelines of a public event in Praia, following the announcement made after Saturday's meeting of the leadership of the Movement for Democracy (MpD), which he chairs.

Asked whether the executive will have fewer members, Ulisses Correia e Silva said that “the Government is not fat: we have 16 ministers”, but “a narrative has been created and everyone repeats it”, he said, in an allusion to criticism from the opposition.

There has been “a reduction” since the last reshuffle, there has been “merging of ministries” and there are six Secretaries of State, which “were seven”, he detailed, adding: “We will make adjustments, but they will not be announced” for now.

The Prime Minister recalled that the executive started “with 12 ministers, but it was not possible to maintain the governance of a country like Cape Verde” with that number of government officials.

“The idea is being created that ministers are a burden to the nation”, which Ulisses Correia e Silva refutes.

“The Prime Minister earns 227 contos [around 2,000 euros] net per month, including base salary, including representation expenses and rent allowance. The President of the Republic has a base salary of 170 contos [around 1,500 euros] and if you add the rent allowance and representation allowance it will be a little more”, he pointed out, adding that “no one in the Government earns the money that people think”.

The costs of democracy do not lie “in the greater or lesser size of governments”, but “in the return it gives to the country”, he considered.

“We must not convey to citizens the idea that there are privileged people and those who live in poverty”, with the privileged people being “in the Government”.

“One day I will show my bank statement so people can see that I have moments of negative balances”, he indicated: “this idea that we are there to earn money or that we travel and take advantage of our trips to earn something is completely false”.

“These are positions that require personal and family sacrifice for the country and I am speaking on behalf of all political actors in this country,” he concluded.

An Afrosondagem survey on the quality of democracy and governance revealed, in December, a "fall in confidence" among Cape Verdeans in all institutions, including the Presidency of the Republic, the National Assembly and giving a negative assessment of the Government's performance.

The national leadership of the MpD met on Saturday to analyze the electoral defeat in the December local elections and Ulisses Correia e Silva “guaranteed changes in the party and in the Government that will strengthen the organization, the political fight and the confidence of Cape Verdeans”, announced the political force in a statement.

The meeting served for the national leadership of the MpD to renew confidence in the current prime minister as a candidate for the 2026 legislative elections.

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