Image copyright AFP Image caption Ameenah Gurib-Fakim became Mauritius's first woman to be appointed president in 2015

Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, Africa's only female head of state, is to quit over a financial row. Gurib-Fakim, who is the only female head of state in Africa, has been accused of using a bank card provided by an NGO to make personal purchases and will step down after ceremonies to mark the 50th anniversary of independence on March 12. Gurib-Fakim, a chemistry professor, was appointed to the largely ceremonial post in 2015, as the island nation’s first female president, has denied any wrongdoing and said she had refunded all the money in question. "The President of the Republic told me that she would resign from office and we agreed on the date of her departure," Jugnauth told reporters in Port Louis, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation without revealing the chosen date. “The interest of the country comes first, and I am proud of Mauritius’s image as a model of living democracy in the world.”

He added it would take place before parliament returned at the end of the month. A scientist and biologist of international renown, she had been under pressure since the Mauritian daily L'Express published bank documents showing that Gurib-Fakim had used a credit card given to her by the London-based Planet Earth Institute to make thousands of dollars worth of personal purchases.
Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim is to resign over a financial scandal, where she was accused of using a charity bank card to make personal purchases worth tens of thousands of dollars.