Choguel Kokalla Maïga

Choguel Kokalla Maïga (born 1958) is a Malian politician and President of the Patriotic Movement for Renewal, a political party in Mali. He served in the government as Minister of Industry and Trade from 2002 to 2007 and later as Minister of the Digital Economy, Information and Communication from 2015 to 2016.

Choguel Kokalla Maïga in 2016

Life and career

Born in Tabango, in the Gao Region, Maïga is a telecommunications engineer by profession, and is a close associate of Moussa Traoré. He was once a member of the National Youth Union of Mali. In February 1997 he became president of the Patriotic Movement for Renewal, a political party in Mali. In 2002 he stood for president, obtaining 2.73% of the votes in the first round[1] before bowing out and supporting Amadou Toumani Touré. In the legislative election of the same year he aligned himself with Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta's Rally for Mali party and with the National Congress for Democratic Initiative, both part of the larger Hope 2002 coalition. Maïga was the Minister of Industry and Commerce in the government of Ahmed Mohamed ag Hamani, serving in that capacity from October 16, 2002 until April 28, 2004;[2] he remained in that post under Ousmane Issoufi Maïga, serving from May 2, 2004 until September 27, 2007.

In December 2005, Maïga was the Malian representative at the Hong Kong WTO Doha Round trade negotiations. With cotton and food subsidies in the developed world dramatically affecting the Malian economy, Maïga was quoted saying "[The US and EU] are like elephants fighting. We are like the grass under their feet."[3]

In the 2007 presidential election, Maïga did not stand as a candidate, instead once again supporting Amadou Toumani Touré. Following Touré's re-election, Maïga was appointed as Director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT, later known as the AMRTP) in January 2008. He remained in that post until he was appointed to the government[4] as Minister of the Digital Economy, Information and Communication on 10 January 2015.[5][6] He was dismissed from the government on 7 July 2016.[7]

References
  1. L'Essor: official First Round Results
  2. Malian Embassy to Japan Archived 2012-07-18 at Archive.today.
  3. Anti-WTO Summit: 800 arrests at failed WTO meeting Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine, 20 December 2005.
    Interview: l'Essor, 2005-12-26.
  4. Kassim Traoré, "Mali : Choguel Kokalla Maïga ministre de la communication : Le tigre en chef et enfant terrible de la politique signe son retour", Le Reporter, 14 January 2015 (in French).
  5. "Mali : composition du nouveau gouvernement formé le 10 janvier", Xinhua, 11 January 2015 (in French).
  6. "Mali : sept ministres quittent le nouveau gouvernement", Agence France-Presse, 11 January 2015 (in French).
  7. "Mali: une membre de l'ex-rébellion et huit nouveaux ministres au gouvernement", Agence France-Presse, 8 July 2016 (in French).
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