Paramanga Ernest Yonli

Paramanga Ernest Yonli (born 31 December 1956 in Tansarga, Tapoa Province) also known as Ernest Paramanga Yonli, is a Burkinabé politician.

He obtained his mathematics and natural sciences baccalaureate with honors in 1976.

At the university level, following a degree in general economics at the University of Ouagadougou, he came top of his class in his Masters in economic sciences at the University of Benin in Togo, then completed his training with a Ph.D. at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

His thesis focused on "Farmer strategies in food security and cereal marketing: the role of cereal banks in the North Plateau-Central of Burkina Faso."

Paramanga Ernest Yonli is also a specialist in international economics (Paris I University – Pantheon Sorbonne) and development and agricultural economics (same institution).

Married to Safi, one of the daughters of former President Saye Zerbo (1980–82), he is father to four children.

After working in management and business administration in France, he began a career as a researcher at the University of Ouagadougou from 1985 to 1994.

During this period, he became a member of an international multi-disciplinary research team whose work focused on “risks in agriculture” in semi-arid areas.

This international research body, headquartered in Europe, brings together researchers from the European Union and ECOWAS countries like Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, the Ivory Coast, etc.

In 1992, during the first general elections, which saw the return of Burkina Faso to the rule of law, Yonli was approached to head up the list of ODP/MT candidates in his constituency of Tapoa.

He declined the offer for personal reasons but led the campaign that saw his party win two of the three contested seats.

In October 1994, Paramanga Ernest Yonli was appointed, in addition to his role as researcher, as Director General of the National Fund for the Promotion of Employment (F.A.P.E.).

He was tasked with reorganizing this body to promote the self-employment of graduates from the country's universities and professional training colleges.

Upon receiving further funding, Yonli extended the Fund to artisans and the informal sector.

He simultaneously decentralized the Fund, opening branches in Burkina Faso's ten main towns after Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso, thus also demonstrating his sense of innovation and openness to modernization.

Firstly, as Cabinet Leader for the Prime Minister in 1996, as mentioned above, then as Minister of Civil Service and of State Reform in 1997, and finally as Prime Minister and Head of Government in 2000, a post he would occupy for seven years.

He thus holds the record for the longest time spent in senior political positions in his country.

The Ph.D. thesis he defended in 1997 at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands was a logical progression from the research results discovered by this international team in Burkina Faso, particularly in the provinces of Yatenga, Sanmatenga, Namentenga, Bam, and Passoré.

During the elections for the second government of the 4th Republic in 1997, while simultaneously serving as Cabinet Leader for Prime Minister Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo from 1996, he headed up the list of candidates for the ruling party, which had since become the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP).

Although elected four times as a Member of the National Assembly (1997 to 2012), Yonli never took his seat as an MP, occupying senior governmental posts throughout this period instead.

When in September 1997, President Blaise Compaoré appointed Yonli as Minister for Civil Service, he gave him the formidable task of overseeing the Global Public Administration Reform.

Following several attempts at reform, both with social partners and with members of the National Assembly, this project had still not been completed despite the government's overwhelming majority in the National Assembly (101 MPs out of 111).

It was the first challenge taken up by Yonli.

Following the start of his role in September 1997, he would organize national reform hearings in December of the same year and successfully secure the adoption of three laws governing the Global Public Administration Reform as of the first session of the National Assembly in 1998.

To further cement the public administration reform, Yonli implemented a permanent consultation framework between trade union organisations and the government.

He was Prime Minister from 6 November 2000 to 3 June 2007 and then President of the Economic and Social Council of Burkina Faso until March 2015.

He is a member of the Congress for Democracy and Progress party and a Grand Officer of the National Order of Burkina Faso.

Additionally, he served as Minister of Finance from 2000 to 2002.

As a result, he won the two contested seats in his constituency and would go on to do the same in 2002, 2007, and 2012.

In 2007, he was appointed Ambassador for Burkina Faso to the United States.

He would be the first Ambassador to bring together the entire Burkinabé community residing in the United States, as well as traveling regularly to the University of Houston in Texas to visit one of the largest Burkinabé student communities in the United States.

He returned to his home country in 2012 to become President of the Economic and Social Council, a post he still occupies today.

The leadership of Yonli was characterized by his innovation, his promotion of the fundamental values of Burkinabé society (dialogue – tolerance - forgiveness), and efficiency.

Yonli is a descendant of the last dynasty of the Gurma kingdom, founded at the end of the 13th century by migrants from Kanem-Bornu, a region situated initially between modern Niger, Nigeria, and Chad.

This dynasty, often confused with the history of the Gurma people, who live in Eastern Burkina Faso, can be subdivided into three lines: Yobri, Tambaga, and Tansarga.

Paramanga Ernest Yonli comes from one of the ruling families of the last line of Tansarga.

Gurma society is organized around a power center of a founding family, ministers of the court, and the people.

This power center is governed by democratic principles whereby all adult citizens appoint the Chief or the King following an aligned vote.

Paramanga Ernest Yonli's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father each ruled Tansarga in the canton of Gobnangou.

Today his older brother remains the chief of the village of Tansarga.