Background
He was born on December 28, 1912, at Pakouabo, Cote d'Ivoire.
He was born on December 28, 1912, at Pakouabo, Cote d'Ivoire.
He graduated from the Dakar School of Medicine and Pharmacy.
From 1936 until 1957 he pursued the quiet life of a country doctor on the Ivory Coast and in the Upper Volta. From 1957 until April 1959, when he joined the Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI) and was elected to the Legislative Assembly, he was the director of the Treichville Hospital, in a densely populated suburb of Abidjan, and director of the National Nurses School.
In January 1963 he did not run again for the Assembly, but on February 15 he was appointed Minister of Public Health and Population. Seven years later he became Minister of State. Apart from politics, he also led a distinguished career as an international civil servant; in 1966 he was elected Vice-President of the 19th Assembly of the World Health
Organisation, the following year he was made a member of its Executive Council and in 1969 he headed the 19th session of the WHO Regional Committee in Abidjan.
From 1963 until 1970, he was also President of the Public Health Commission at the National Assembly.
In October 1971, he headed a “factfinding mission” made up of Ivorian officials during a three-day visit to the Republic of South Africa, to explore the possibilities of “dialogue”.
His political influence has been generally underestimated though many think that old age and private business interests will gradually force him out of the political scene. However, he is still one of the few remaining “old guard” in Ivorian politics, with a ready ear in the President’s Palace.
His inicnse activity, both inside and outside the government, did not keep him, however, from being a managing executive of several firms, partly controlled by the state, such as the Societe d’Equipement de la Cote d’Ivoire, the Societe des Hotels Ivoiriens and the Societe d’Urbanisme et de Construction.