On 7 September 2008, President
Faure Gnassingbé appointed Houngbo as Prime Minister of Togo; he replaced
Komlan Mally, who had resigned two days earlier. Houngbo took office on 8 September. Houngbo travelled to the UN Headquarters in New York on 11 September for a visit to mark his departure from the UN. The same day, he met with UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon, who congratulated Houngbo on his achievements at the UNDP. In Togo, Houngbo's government was named on 15 September 2008. It included 27 ministers, aside from Houngbo himself: 3 ministers of state (one of whom was Houngbo's predecessor, Komlan Mally), 20 ministers, 2 minister-delegates, and 2 secretaries of state. Houngbo presented his general policy programme to the
National Assembly on 16 September. Of the 80 deputies who participated in the vote on Houngbo's programme, 50 (representing the ruling
Rally of the Togolese People) voted in favor of it; the opposition
Union of Forces for Change voted against it, while the opposition
Action Committee for Renewal abstained. Gnassingbé was re-elected in the
March 2010 presidential election and sworn in on 3 May 2010. Houngbo accordingly resigned as Prime Minister on 5 May, and Gnassingbé re-appointed him as Prime Minister on 7 May. His new coalition government was announced on 28 May, which included seven members from the UFC, Togo's main opposition party. Houngbo resigned on 11 July 2012, and was succeeded in office by
Kwesi Ahoomey-Zunu on 23 July. ==Career within the United Nations System==