Changes Under the Loi Cadre
Under the loi-cadre the French governor remained head of the territorial government. He was to be assisted, however, by the Government Council chosen by the newly elected Territorial Assembly, and provision was made for an African vice president, to be selected from among the assemblymen. Council members were not responsible to the assembly and could be dismissed only by a decree of the French Council of Ministers with the assembly's concurrence. Regulations issued by the council could be set aside by the governor, now designated the chief of the territory, but only if they exceeded the council's competence.
The PDG had complete control of the Territorial Assembly, and the twelve members of the first council were from the leadership of the party; Sékou Touré was elected vice president. In effect the council members functioned as ministers, each in charge of a sphere of local administration. The French governor of Guinea, who was sympathetic to African aims for autonomy, was president ex officio of the council. But from the beginning he permitted Sékou Touré to preside, and the latter for all practical purposes assumed the functions of a prime minister. In July 1958 a French decree officially made the African vice president in the various territories the council president.
The governor also cooperated closely in the reforms proposed by the PDG, which included the takeover of as much of the territory's administration as possible and the africanization of the civil service. One of the first actions of the council was to abolish the system of government-appointed chiefs and to establish elective councils in the villages, communes, and districts—the latter were redesignated circumscriptions (circonscriptions). Elections to local councils were held in November 1957, when some 40,000 councillors were elected to 4,123 village councils. These local councils, elected by universal suffrage for five years, replaced the village chiefs. Additionally, 526 councillors were elected to twenty-five district councils. Most of the deputies were PDG members.
The PDG, through the Government Council and the Territorial Assembly, continued to press for measures calculated to limit the powers of the French administrators and increase Guinean initiative. Several more towns were elevated to the status of communes, and a plan was approved for establishing over 100 administrative posts to be staffed by Guineans in parts of the country long neglected by the authorities. The new administrators were taken from the first students of the Territorial School of Administration (Ecole Territoriale d'Administration), established in 1957.
By mid-1958 the government of the territory was thoroughly reorganized and largely in African hands, and the Government Council had become the central executive authority. Locally the PDG, which had over 4,000 village committees, maintained effective control through its members in the elected local councils and the steadily increasing number of Africans serving as appointed administrators. French local administrators were largely bypassed and their complaints generally ignored.
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