[5] He also obtained a Bachelor's Degree in History Education and worked on a doctorate at Paris-Sorbonne University before being recalled back to Congo in 1965.
[6] After he returned, he worked as a director at the Lycée Chaminade (1965–1967), the place where he completed his secondary studies[5] and the École Normale Supérieure de l'Afrique Centrale (1967–1970).
[1] Also during that period, he temporarily assumed responsibility for the portfolio of information, culture, arts, and sports on March 2, 1973 following the arrest of Sylvain Bemba.
Shortly after Denis Sassou Nguesso became president in early 1979, Tchicaya was elected as Vice-President by an extraordinary PCT party congress on March 31, 1979.
[12] In February 1983, he was named as president of the Banque Commerciale Congolaise and later accused by Claude-Ernest Ndalla of treason and plotting against the regime.
[7] After splitting from the PCT,[15] Tchicaya was part of the opposition National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP; Union National pour la Démocratie et le Progrès) at the beginning of the transition to multiparty democracy, but he left the UNDP to found another opposition party, the RDPS, on October 29, 1990.
[19] His best showing was in Kouilou Region (which includes Pointe-Noire, the country's second-largest city and economic capital), where he obtained 28% of the vote and placed second behind Pascal Lissouba.
This led to a political crisis and the formation of a new government under Prime Minister Claude Antoine Dacosta that incorporated both Lissouba's supporters and members of the Union for Democratic Renewal (URD)–PCT opposition coalition.
[1][20] Dacosta's "60/40" government remained in place until the time of the May–June 1993 parliamentary election, in which Tchicaya won a seat in the National Assembly.
[1] During the 1997 civil war, Tchicaya was the Second Vice-President of the National Mediation Committee, which was chaired by URD leader Bernard Kolélas and established in June 1997.
[35] He faced seven challengers[36] and prevailed with 55.20% of the vote[35] when the election was held over again in his constituency in July 2007 due to problems that plagued the first attempt.