N'Famara Keïta

N'Famara Keïta (1924 - c.1984) was a Guinean economist and politician. He served in the council of the Politburo of the First Republic of Guinea as Minister of Trade from 1963.[1]

Keïta was born in 1924 in Molota in the Kindia Region, completed some secondary schooling in Dakar and in 1947 was appointed a court clerk in Macenta. He was selected by the future President Ahmed Sékou Touré as a trade union activist, and became a member of the Guinean Democratic Party. In 1956 he was elected mayor of Kindia.[2] When Guinea gained independence from France, on 10 November 1958 he was appointed secretary of state in the Office of the Presidency.[3]

In April 1960, as Minister of Cooperatives, he unveiled a plan for development of industry and agriculture that significantly increased collective ownership of the means of production, a measure greeted enthusiastically by party militants and unexpectedly endorsed by the president.[4] In 1962 he visited Moscow, where he signed a trade agreement.[5] On 1 January 1963 he was appointed Minister of Trade, on 1 February 1964 he was named Vice-President and on 8 November 1964 he became Minister for Macenta. In 19 January 1968 he was named a member of the politburo and Minister of Commerce, Transport, Posts and Telecommunications.[1] In this role, in February 1969 he visited China in 1969 where he met Mao Zedong in Beijing.[6] In the 1972 cabinet he became Minister of Social Affairs.[1] In May 1972 he was among the members of the National Politburo who welcomed Fidel Castro of Cuba on his visit to Guinea.[7] In a final cabinet reorganization on 1 June 1979 he was appointed Minister of Energy and for Konkouré.[1]

After the death of Sékou Touré, the military seized power and arrested Keïta and other members of the former government. He was later executed.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Djibril Kassomba Camara (2005). Le redressement national en République de Guinée: les effets pervers. Editions L'Harmattan. p. 53ff. ISBN 2747597350. http://books.google.ca/books?id=D_MTkPws6lcC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53. 
  2. ^ a b Thomas O'Toole, Janice E. Baker (2005). "Keïta, N'Famara (1924 - cs. 1984". Historical dictionary of Guinea. Scarecrow Press. p. 124. ISBN 0810846349). http://books.google.ca/books?id=kIiHwg3Y5u4C&pg=PA124. 
  3. ^ Thierno Bah (2009). 1954-1984, trente ans de violence politique en Guinée. Editions L'Harmattan. p. 31. ISBN 2296072828. http://books.google.ca/books?id=NvtOMgjUN9wC&pg=PA31. 
  4. ^ Maurice Jeanjean (2004). Sékou Touré: un totalitarisme africain. Editions L'Harmattan. p. 191. ISBN 2747576574. http://books.google.ca/books?id=e5u4lXchXYQC&pg=PA191. 
  5. ^ "W GUINEA AND USSR AGREE ON TRADE video newsreel film". British Pathe. http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=62300. Retrieved 2011-01-04. 
  6. ^ "Delegation Visits China". Peking review, Volume 12, Issues 1-26. 1969. p. 124. 
  7. ^ "Conakry Radio Broadcasts Castro Visit Communique". Banboseshango. 8 May 1972. http://banboseshango.webs.com/guinea.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-27.