Isidore Mvouba, Prime Minister of Congo

Isidore Mvouba (born 1954) is the current Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo since January 7, 2005. Mvouba was born in Kindamba near the capital, Brazzaville. He is a member of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT, or Parti Congolais du Travail), and is a close confidant of long-time president Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who ruled from 1979 to 1992 and was elected in 2002. He declined an invitation from president Pascal Lissouba to become Minister of Trade when Lissouba became president in 1992. Mvouba has served in Sassou-Nguesso's regime in various ways since the president came back to power in 1997. He has also been secretary of the PCT, of the Union of Congolese Socialist Youth (UJSC, Union de la jeunesse socialiste congolaise). His appointment to the position of Prime Minister was criticized because the president did not have the constitutional right to appoint anyone to the position, and the position had been vacant since October of 1997.