Kassoma was born in Rangel municipality, located in
Luanda, the capital. His parents, Paulo Kassoma and Laurinda Katuta, were from
Bailundo, a town in
Huambo Province. He studied
electromechanical engineering. Kassoma was later the governor of
Huambo Province and First Secretary of the MPLA in Huambo Province. On 11 February 2002, Kassoma offered white farmers in
Zimbabwe who lost their farms as a result of
that country's land reform the opportunity to resettle on 10,000 hectares of abandoned farmland in Huambo (specifically, in
Chipipa In accordance with the Political Bureau's decision, President
José Eduardo dos Santos appointed Kassoma as prime minister on 30 September 2008; in the same decree, he dismissed Kassoma from his post as Governor of Huambo Province. Kassoma was sworn in by dos Santos at the Presidential Palace in Luanda on the same day. Kassoma's government was appointed on 1 October. There were 35 members of this government, 17 of whom were new to the government. Under the terms of a new constitution passed by the National Assembly on 21 January 2010, the office of prime minister was eliminated. Kassoma was then designated as President of the National Assembly, replacing
Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, who was appointed Vice-President of Angola. Following the
2012 legislative election, Piedade was elected to replace Kassoma as president of the National Assembly on 27 September 2012. On 28 June 2013, Kassoma was designated as chairman of the board of directors of
Banco Espírito Santo Angola, a major bank in Angola. He consequently was replaced in his seat in the National Assembly on 18 July 2013. == References ==