OSLO: The portraits of her predecessors line the hall of her new office: women for the most part, in their 50s and all white. An austere group that will soon be spiced up by the exotic face of Norway’s first black cabinet minister, Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen.The 44-year-old from the French overseas department of Martinique is also the first person of foreign origin to join the ranks of a Norwegian government, after Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg last week appointed her minister of children and equality.Her appointment has ruffled the feathers of some in Norway, in particular among the far-right Progress Party, the biggest opposition party.

Ramin-Osmundsen, who was granted a Norwegian passport in an accelerated procedure earlier this month, was immediately accused of allegiance to a “foreign power”, of not being aware of the real problems ethnic minorities face even though she has lived in Norway for 16 years, and of failing in a previous public appointment.

“I was ready for the criticism but it’s true, I didn’t expect it to come right away,” she says.

Sitting on the edge of the sofa almost apprehensively, as though she has yet to take ownership of her new office, Ramin-Osmundsen welcomes her visitors with a broad and easy smile, her affable personality shining through.

Her former colleagues say however that she can be authoritarian, a characteristic that sets her apart in a country that is accustomed to flat hierarchies and consensus.

The mother of three children and married to a native Norwegian, Ramin-Osmundsen has long since adopted the customs and traditions of her new home.

She has been seen celebrating Norway’s national holiday wearing a ‘bunad’, the traditional national costume, and enjoying the country’s pristine nature by hiking in the mountains under rugged conditions.

“I have three identities: Martinique, France and Norway,” she says.—AFP