Gaston N'Guerekata

Gaston Mandata Nguérékata (born 20 May 1953) is a Central African mathematician and politician. He was the first Central African to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics.

Early life and education Nguérékata was born in Paoua on May 20, 1953. He finished his primary education in Ecole Sous Préfecturale de Paoua. As an elementary school student, he became the accountant at his father's store, and soon he discovered that he loved math. Afterward, he continued high school at Lycee Moderne de Berberati and then at Lycée des Rapides in Bangui. During his year at Lycée des Rapides Bangui, he was appointed as the school's basketball team captain. In 1972, he graduated from high school as the first-rank achiever nationalwide on Baccalaureate Series C, the high school national graduating test for mathematics concentration.

Upon completing high school, he continued his higher education from graduate to doctoral degree at the University of Montreal through a Canadian government scholarship. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in 1980 with the dissertation titled Quelques Remarques sur les Equations Differentielles Abstraites. He then attended postdoctoral education at University of California, Berkeley. He founded Parti Pour la Renaissance Centrafricaine (PARC) in 2013.

In 2014, he launched several actions in Central African Republic such as providing free WIFI to University of Bangui and launching a project Cahier de doléances (Book of Grievances) in Mbaiki. On 27 February 2015, he signed the Catholic Church Community of Sant’Egidio Central African Republic national reconciliation agreement in Rome. In 2022, he resigned from his post as the chairman of PARC due to personal issues.

Personal life Nguérékata speaks French and English.

Awards

Officer of Central African Orders of Academic Palms - 1984