Claim: Mai Ahmad Fatty, Party Leader of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), Claimed that “In 2019, the one who was Angola’s finance minister was a lawyer”.
Verdict: False
Full Text
On Thursday, 11th December 2025, appearing on Kerr Fatou, a popular online media on the program “Today on Kerr Fatou,” Mai Ahmad Fatty, Party Leader of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), claimed that “I know of countries where a lawyer was the finance minister.
“In 2019, the one who was Angola’s finance minister was a lawyer,” he said. Watch from the interview from 11:26 – 13:00 mins.
Mr Fatty made these remarks while responding to a question about the expertise of the newly appointed minister of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment Mod K. Ceesay.
The interviewee cited that the trade ministry is strategic, and someone with trade and economic issues should be their expertise.
He stated: “It’s true, but generally speaking, it’s not always that a minister is an expert in that area.
A minister should have a very good idea about the ministry he is going to lead.
Besides the president’s vision, you should also have a specific vision on how to move the ministry; that knowledge needs to be there.
“But if you look around the world, it is not all done that way. I know of countries where a lawyer was the finance minister. In 2019, the person who was Angola’s finance minister was a lawyer.”
Verification:
To verify the authenticity of Mai Ahmad Fatyy’s claim in an interview, which has 1.1k comments, 49 shares, and 312 likes at the time of this publication. InfoChecked decided to research to find out the facts regarding the claim.
Our findings revealed that the Finance Minister of Angola in 2019, Vera Esperanca dos Santos Daves de Sousa, is not a lawyer.
She is an expert in economic policies with a degree in Economics from the Catholic University of Angola (UCAN), and she also possesses a qualification in Banking Techniques and Practices.
A lecturer in Finance Markets, as well as a lecturer of Public Finance and Economic Integration.
Vera Esperanca dos Santos Daves de Sousa was appointed as Minister of Finance for Angola in October 2019, making her the first woman to hold that position.
She was reappointed following the August 2022 elections, and before her appointment, she was the Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury.
She succeeded Archer Mangueira as the Finance Minister, who himself has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, postgraduate studies in the areas of Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Economics Public Finance, Mathematics for Economists and Management, and advanced studies in Macroeconomics from the University of São Paulo (USP) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Conclusion
Based on evidence gathered by InfoChecked, the claim by Mai Ahmad Fatty, Party Leader of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), that the Minister of Finance for Angola in 2019 is a lawyer is false.
By Momodou Janneh