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Maria das Neves

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For the Portuguese royal, see Infanta Maria das Neves of Portugal.
Maria das Neves
Das Neves in 2015
11th Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe
In office
3 October 2002 – September 2004[a][b]
PresidentFradique de Menezes
Preceded byGabriel Costa
Succeeded byDamião Vaz d'Almeida
Personal details
Born1958 (age 66–67)
São Tomé and Príncipe
Political partySocial Democratic Party

Maria das Neves Ceita Baptista de Sousa (born 1958) served as the 11th prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe. She was a key figure in the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe-Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD) and became the first woman head of government in the country.

Early life and career

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Maria das Neves Ceita Baptista de Sousa was born in 1958.[3][2] She was raised in São Tomé until adulthood and then studied finance and credit at the University of Santiago de Cuba from 1980 to 1987.[4] She worked at the Ministry of Finance,[3] where she lead the Statistic Bureau[5] and was involved with the African Development Bank.[2] In July 1993, she was appointed as a member of the Office for the Establishment and Development of the Free-Trade Zone.[5] She also worked at the World Bank and at UNICEF.[3] Das Neves married Carlos Quaresma[6] and had two children.[3]

Das Neves became Minister of Economics in 1999. In 2001 her position changed to Minister of Finance, and in 2002 she instead became Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism.[3] Following the 2002 parliamentary election, no party obtained a majority of the legislature. They formed a coalition under Gabriel Costa, and das Neves remained in the cabinet, but the coalition was short-lived.[3] The three major parties chose das Neves as a compromise candidate to succeed him as Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe.[7]

Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe

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Das Neves became prime minister on 3 October 2002. She was the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe.[2] Das Neves retained most of Costa's ministers.[8] She also included several women in her cabinet, making up four of the eleven members.[3] She appointed her husband, the governor of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, as an economic advisor.[6]

Das Neves considered the country's external debt to be the most important political issue to address during her premiership.[3] She worked to develop industry in São Tomé and Príncipe with an emphasis on oil.[7] She was worried about making the economy too dependent on oil but did not have enough support from the president or the legislature to enact policy to diversify the economy.[3] Das Neves also focused on developing a tourism industry for the country.[7]

President Menezes dissolved parliament on 21 January 2003 after a dispute over constitutional reform, and das Neves worked with Supreme Court President Alice Vera Cruz to convince him not to hold early elections.[9]

Das Neves ended assistance for the leaders of the Christian Democratic Front in June 2003, and they joined in planning a coup.[10] The military coup took place in 2003, and das Neves was arrested along with the rest of the government.[3] They threatened to deport her husband, who was subject to an international arrest warrant.[11] She had a heart attack during the coup.[2] An agreement led to the end of the coup a week later, and das Neves was taken to the hospital.[3]

Das Neves resigned as prime minister after the coup on 9 August 2003, but President Fradique de Menezes convinced her to stay and she was sworn in on the same day.[2] She formed a new government including MLSTP–PSD, MDFM, and Independent Democratic Action.[12]

Das Neves ordered the dismissal of Minister of Natural Resources Tomé Vera Cruz and Foreign Minister Mateus Meira Rita in March 2004, when it became known that each had pursued agreements with Energem Petroleum and the government of Angola, respectively, without her approval. Both were members of MDFM, which defected from her government and joined the opposition. This caused conflict between das Neves and President de Menezes.[12]

Das Neves was implicated in a corruption scandal in September 2004, and de Menezes dismissed her.[b] She alleged that she had been dismissed because of her rejection of the Natural Resource Ministry's agreement with Energem Petroleum.[13] She said that the allegations were a plot against her and that de Menezes was corrupt.[3] Das Neves was succeeded as prime minister by Damião Vaz d'Almeida.[14]

Post-premiership

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Das Neves was summoned as a witness alongside other former government officials on 25 October. The National Assembly revoked her parliamentary immunity in 2005, and she was charged with embezzlement of public funds in May of that year.[15]

Das Neves was elected to the National Assembly in the 2006 parliamentary election. While serving in the legislature she chaired the Committee on Human Rights and Gender Issues where she successfully pushed for criminalisation of battery against a woman.[3] Das Neves ran in the 2011 presidential election as an independent and placed fourth with 15 percent of the vote. She ran as a member of MLSTP–PSD in the 2016 presidential election and placed third with 24 percent.

Maria das Neves is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

References

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  1. ^ Seibert 2006, pp. 281, 292.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Johri, Meera (2010). "Maria Das Neves". Women in Power: Profiles of Women Presidents and Prime Ministers of the World. Rajpal & Sons. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-81-7028-891-6.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Skard, Torild (2014) [2012]. "Political squeeze in São Tomé and Príncipe: Maria das Neves and Maria do Carmo Silveira". Women of Power: Half a Century of Female Presidents and Prime Ministers Worldwide. Policy Press. pp. 298–301. ISBN 978-1-4473-1580-3.
  4. ^ Seibert, Gerhard (29 July 2019). "Women in São Tomé and Príncipe". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-027773-4.
  5. ^ a b Seibert 2006, p. 250.
  6. ^ a b Seibert 2006, pp. 296–297.
  7. ^ a b c Jalalzai, Farida (2013). Shattered, Cracked or Firmly Intact? Women and the Executive Glass Ceiling Worldwide. Oxford University Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-19-994353-1.
  8. ^ Seibert 2006, p. 277.
  9. ^ Seibert 2006, p. 278.
  10. ^ Seibert 2006, p. 280.
  11. ^ Seibert 2006, p. 297.
  12. ^ a b Seibert 2006, p. 281.
  13. ^ Seibert 2006, pp. 281–282.
  14. ^ Seibert 2006, p. 282.
  15. ^ Seibert 2006, p. 293.
  1. ^ Das Neves was briefly deposed from 16 July 2003 – 23 July 2003 by Fernando Pereira.
  2. ^ a b September 14[1] and 18[2] 2004 have both been given as dates of her dismissal.
  • Seibert, Gerhard (2006). Comrades, Clients and Cousins Colonialism, Socialism and Democratization in São Tomé and Príncipe. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-14736-2.

Further reading

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News articles

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Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
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