[14] He was subsequently appointed to the government as Minister of State for Justice and Human Rights on 3 March 2007,[15] and he was succeeded as Director of the Cabinet by Firmin Ayessa on 22 May 2007.
[16] Sassou Nguesso, acting on Yoka's recommendation as Minister of Justice, commuted all death sentences to life in prison with hard labor in August 2007.
[17] After a French group, Zoe's Ark, made an abortive attempt to fly children out of Chad to Europe, causing a major scandal, Yoka announced on 31 October 2007 that the Congolese government was suspending international adoptions.
[18] Yoka faced criticism from human rights advocates in late 2007 for inaction on a draft law on the protection of indigenous peoples, despite the government's apparent support for it.
[20] After Sassou Nguesso won re-election, he retained Yoka in his post as Minister of State for Justice and Human Rights on 15 September 2009.
[22] In the National Assembly on 25 April 2014, opposition leader Pascal Tsaty-Mabiala asked Yoka a question in which he claimed that it was an "open secret" that President Sassou Nguesso wanted the constitution to be changed to enable him to run for another term.