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Cote d'Ivoire: PM Gon Coulibaly, presidential hopeful is dead

0 July 9, 2020, 11:05 a.m.

Ivorian Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly has passed away.

He died on Wednesday 08 July 2020 after falling ill during a Council of Ministers meeting and was rushed to the hospital.

Mr. Gon Coulibaly had attended the Council of Ministers meeting same day before his demise.

His death was confirmed on Ivorian state television, RTI by the secretary to the presidency of the Republic, Patrick Achi. Relaying the condolences of the President, Mr. Achi said,

“I am deeply saddened to announce that Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly left us at the start of the afternoon after having taken part in the Council of Ministers. Cote d'Ivoire is in mourning. I salute the memory of a statesman, of great loyalty, devotion and love for the fatherland. With the disappearance of Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Cote d'Ivoire losses a model for youth, an example of competence, hard work and selflessness "

Being one of the candidates for the October 31, 2020 Presidential election in the country, unfortunately Mr. Gon Coulibaly will not be part of the said elections.

Gon Coulibaly was designated to represent the candidate for the ruling party, the Rassemblement des Houphouetistes pour la Democratie et la Paix (RHDP) after Mr. Alassane Dramane Ouattara declared that he will not seek a third term of office.

Coulibaly is said to have died of heart attack which took him to France where he had spent earlier spent two months for treatment before returning home for elections activities.

According to reports, Mr. Coulibaly had undergone a heart transplant in 2012.

“I am back to take my place by the side of the president, to continue the task of developing and building our country.”

Those were Coulibaly’s words when he returned from France last Thursday to prepare for the upcoming presidential elections.

Coulibaly had held the post of Prime Minister since 2017 under the Ouattara Administration until his last minutes at the age of 61.

The Council of Ministers on Wednesday 08 July 2020 was the first gathering he attended upon returning from France, and is painstakingly the last he would ever have to attend again.