According to a statement issued by the State House in Banjul on Friday, President Adama Barrow has made “changes to his cabinet with effect from 15th March 2019” which relieved H.E. A.N.M Ousainou Darboe “of his cabinet appointment as the Vice President of the Republic of The Gambia,” relieved Hon. Amadou Sanneh “of his cabinet appointment as Minister to Trade, Regional Integration, Industry, and Employment,” and relieved Hon. Lamin N. Dibba “from his appointment as Minister of Agriculture.” All of the cabinet members fired are members of the United Democratic Party (UDP) where President Barrow was a member until he resigned in 2016 to lead the Coalition 2016 in the presidential election against former President Yahya Jammeh.
The statement further states that “Honourable Dr. Isatou Touray, Minister of Health has now been appointed to the Position of Vice President. She will continue to oversee the Ministry of Health until further notice.” The statement also states that “Mr. Lamin Jobe has been appointed Minister of Trade, Regional Integration, Industry, and Employment. The 51-year-old Jobe is a native of Sanchaba Sulay Jobe and holds a Master Degree [sic] in Business Administration from the University of Poona, India. Mr. Jobe worked at the Ministry of Finance and Trade from 1981 to 1996 before moving to the National Investment Promotion Authority and Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation respectively. From 1998, he has been the General Manager of LAMFAM Enterprises in The Gambia and Guinea Bissau, respectively, until his current appointment as Minister of Trade, Regional Integration, Industry, and Employment.” The statement concludes that “Honourable James Gomez, Minister of Fisheries and Water Resources will oversee the Agriculture Ministry until further notice.”
President Barrow had in the past referred to Mr. Darboe as his ‘political godfather.’ His firing, even if not surprising to some in the country, came to many in the UDP as a disappointment, unbelievable and even unfathomable. Given the heightened tension between the two camps within the UDP, some political observers and commentators have predicted that the recent, all too public, division between Barrow and Darboe would lead to either his resignation or removal from the Office of the Vice Presidency. Mr. Darboe was appointed, in February 2017, as Minister of Foreign Affairs and later promoted, in June 2018, to the post of the Vice Presidency.
Two sources who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said the firing of the leadership of the UDP from Barrow’s cabinet was precipitated by the lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court by the nominated member, Hon. Yakumba Jaiteh. Her appointment was revoked on February 25th, 2019 by President Barrow but Hon. Jaiteh is challenging it in the Supreme Court of The Gambia. According to one of the sources who spoke with Mr. Darboe on Friday after his dismissal, President Barrow went to the Vice President Darboe’s office to complain that Yakumba Jaiteh was embarrassing by dragging his government in court for challenging the revocation of her appointment to the National Assembly. He was said to have argued to Mr. Darboe, as the UDP leader, to intervene to restrain Hon. Jaiteh and the protesters at the Supreme Court. According to the source, Mr. Darboe said he told the president that he was faulty and wrong for removing a member of the National Assembly from office who simply disagreed with him on certain public policies. Mr. Darboe is said to have reminded the president that ending abuse of power and law was the reason people rose up to remove Yahya Jammeh from office. According to the source, the president asked Mr. Darboe “is that what you are telling me?” and Mr. Darboe responded in the affirmative. According the source, the president left the Vice President’s Office and went back into his office and decided that all the UDP members will be removed from his cabinet. According to the source, Mr. Darboe told them that the direct confrontation between the two men — the president and his political Godfather — took place on Friday and hence the rash decision to fire the Vice President and his colleagues from the UDP in the cabinet. Barrow’s decision was relayed to Darboe around 11AM on Friday but that sources told The Times that the former Vice President did not tell them who related the message of his dismissal to him and they also did not ask him that question.
The tension between President Barrow and members of the UDP has been brewing since the formation of The Barrow Youth Movement for Development in 2016 which many in that party see as a precursor to a party for the president to further his political ambitions. President Barrow is said to be unhappy with Amadou Sanneh who dislikes the presence of Mambury Njie and Momodou Tangara in the cabinet. They were members of the former government who many in the UDP and civil society think should not have been included in this transitional government, particularly, for their complicities in the political and economic crimes of the former government.
Barrow believes that Sanneh, who just returned from Germany after a month of medical treatment, is smearing his government by blaming the Minister of Finance, Mambury Njie, for the increases in the of prices of basic commodities and essentials. Hon. Jaiteh had voted against the Supplementary Appropriation Act of 2018 presented to the National Assembly in December. She’s also believed to have grilled Yankuba Darboe, the Commissioner General of The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), for increases in commodity prices. Darboe of the GRA, according to the second source, redirected Hon. Jaiteh to the Ministry of Finance which has the authority to regulate prices. She has criticized the fanfares that the President Barrow staged in Basse and Farafeni in the initiating road and bridge projects as government wastes. According to the sources, President Barrow saw the aggressiveness of Hon. Jaiteh as displeasing hostilities, especially given the fact the he appointed her to the National Assembly. He also saw the UDP members pointing fingers at cabinet members who worked for the APRC government. Barrow is reportedly angry at Sanneh and members of the UDP who are blaming Mambury Njie for the high commodity prices when in truth Sanneh, as the former Minister of Finance, convinced the cabinet to present a bill in the National Assembly that weaved import duties and taxes with the promise that they will reduce prices of basic goods and food items on the consumers. The promise for lower commodity prices never materialized as businesses did not reduce prices on the claim that the dalasi depreciated against the dollar and Euro. The UDP, according to the sources, saw the firing of the Vice President and his colleagues from the cabinet coming and are not surprised by Barrow’s actions on Friday. When The Times asked them the reason their leaders did not resigned before their dismissal, they argued that the UDP’s strategy was not to resign which, if they have done, the public would have perceived as sabotaging the government of Barrow. But now that he had fired them, the people will draw the conclusions that Barrow is the one who betrayed the leadership and members of their party.
According to the sources, Darboe has asked for people to give him time over the weekend because he’s very busy. He wanted to use the time to reflect and consult with people like MC Cham, Alhagie Jobe Kanteh, and others who are considered to be senior leaders, patrons and ‘owners’ of the party. The said Mr. Darboe will probably make a statement to members of the party and the country this week. All efforts to reach the spokesperson of the State House to get their account of the story were unsuccessful.