She is accused of using a bank card provided by an NGO to make personal purchases

This file photo was taken on October 26, 2011 showing the then new President of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib-Fakim shaking hands with Mauritius' Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth as they pose with the cabinet during her swearing-in ceremony at the State House / AFP PHOTO / NICOLAS LARCHE

Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned after being embroiled in a scandal over her use of a credit card to buy luxury personal items, in an abrupt change of heart after vowing she would not stand down.

Gurib-Fakim, Africa’s only female head of state, submitted her resignation in the “national interest,” her lawyer Yousouf Mohamed told reporters.

He said her resignation would take effect on March 23, a move that will bring down the curtain on a saga that has gripped the Indian Ocean archipelago for weeks.

Gurib-Fakim had vowed to fight the accusations that first appeared in local newspaper L’Express – that she used a bank card provided by an NGO to make personal purchases, including jewellery and luxury goods worth at least 25,000 euros. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced a week ago that Gurib-Fakim had agreed to resign, with a date set for her departure after last Monday’s ceremony celebrating the Indian Ocean archipelago’s 50 years of independence.

But on Wednesday, a statement from the presidency lashed out at “weeks of attacks and false allegations” and said Gurib-Fakim planned to clear her name and would not go.

It is not clear what prompted her about-turn, but her lawyer said yesterday she was “relieved” she had made the decision to resign after enduring a “difficult” time in recent weeks.

Gurib-Fakim, whose role is mostly ceremonial, is a scientist and biologist of international renown, and in 2015 joined the London-based Planet Earth Institute (PEI) to try to develop scientific capacity in Africa. The presidency said that in May 2016, she received a credit card from PEI to pay for travel and logistical expenses linked to her role but inadvertently used it for unrelated personal expenses.

Gurib-Fakim said she immediately informed the PEI and paid back the amount, as well as all expenses paid by the PEI for her missions.