LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Guinea-Bissau: Government
built 634 days ago
Despite the fact that the country of Guinea-Bissau had a very promising past in terms of its economic and social development, the country today is rife with problems—economic, social, and political. In consequence, members of the media frequently are threatened and harassed by government officials who appear to seek scapegoats to blame for the problems they have not yet solved and to which they have contributed. Both state and private media professionals face problems in being irregularly or poorly paid, the state printing house frequently lacks necessary supplies that prevent the public and private press from publishing regularly, and government intimidation of journalists occurs fairly regularly. Some journalists and editors are arrested repeatedly, targeted by the government for critiquing government behavior and for supposedly adding to real or perceived national security risks.
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Guinea-Bissau’s new government, under the presidency of PAIGC leader Luis de Almeida Cabral, established a monopoly over foreign trade and moved toward a socialist state by authorizing nationalization of all landholdings. In 1980 President Cabral was overthrown in a coup led by Prime Minister João Bernardo Vieira. Elected to a five-year term in 1984, President Vieira and his military-dominated government survived a coup attempt in 1985. Vieira was reelected in 1989, 1994, and then again in 2005, following a military coup.
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Guinea-Bissau is among the world's least developed nations and depends mainly on agriculture and fishing. Guinea-Bissau exports some fish and seafood, along with small amounts of peanuts, palm kernels, and timber. License fees for fishing provide the government with some revenue. Rice is the major crop and staple food. Because of high costs, the development of petroleum, phosphate, and other mineral resources is not a near-term prospect. However, unexploited offshore oil reserves may possibly provide much-needed revenue in the long run.
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Guinea-Bissau is governed under the constitution of 1984 as amended. The president, who is the head of state, is popularly elected for a five-year term; there are no term limits. The prime minister, who is the head of government, is appointed by the president. The unicameral legislature consists of the 100-seat National People’s Assembly, whose members are popularly elected for four-year terms. Administratively, Guinea-Bissau is made up of nine regions.
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The new Attorney General appointed in September 2001, Caetano N'Tchama, served as prime minister of Guinea-Bissau until President Yala dismissed him from his head-of-government position in March 2002. He had been particularly harsh toward the media. The same month he was appointed Attorney General, N'Tchama entered the private radio station, Radio Pidjiquiti, and demanded that tapes from an earlier broadcast be turned over to him. When the broadcasters refused, N'Tchama sent armed men the next day to intimidate station staff even further. He continued to demand the tapes from a program where journalists from the private newspaper, Diário de Bissau, had suggested N'Tchama was dismissed from his post as prime minister due to incompetence.
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Guinea-Bissau remained tense in 2002 after the failed coup attempt against Pres. Kumba Ialá in December 2001. In May the government claimed that there had been another coup attempt from within the military.
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