By Kaddy Jawo
The Minister of Tourism and Culture, Hamat Bah said that Mamadou Tangara, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, fought firmly during the country’s political impasse in 2016.
Minister Bah said despite all the promises former president Jammeh offered to Tangara he declined all of them for the best interest of the country and said “Jammeh Must Go,” and thereafter stood by his words.
He said Tangara is a true patriot which is the reason he won the prestigious 2019 United Nations Population Award earlier this year.
“Some people are busy complaining that we hired Jammeh’s former ministers and put them in our government, but we know why we did that because we know what ministers like Tangara can bring to the table that can move the country forward,” Bah said.
He added that Gambians must appreciate people’s efforts because people like Tangara are not political ministers but are rather people who are willing to work for the betterment of the country.
“We are looking at the competence of the people to help us run this country. Personal issues are not very important as far as Barrow’s government is concerned,” noted Bah.
He said the government wants to adopt the global trend whereas if one is a diplomat one has to bring investors to the country before one’s contract can be renewed at expiration. Elaborating on the quid pro quo philosophy of the transactional governance the Barrow administration envisions for The Gambia, Bah elucidates by saying that “we cannot keep using taxpayers money to pay diplomats when you are not bringing anything to the table.”
Tangara is considered by many people who fought against the Jammeh’s reign of terror as an aider, abetter and accomplish in some of the crimes perpetrate by the former president. In October 2013 when Jammeh was on a visit to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly, Tanagara engaged Falai Baldeh, a member of the United Democratic Party Branch of New York, in a fistfight while defending Jammeh from protesters. Baldeh and other protesters reportedly barricaded the former president and his entourage at the Ritz Charlton Hotel where the president and his delegation stayed during their visit to U.N.
When President Barrow took office in 2017, he told journalists at his first press conference that he would not hire former ministers who served under Jammeh, or members of the opposition Gambia Democratic Congress into his cabinet because the coalition has sufficient human resources to fill cabinet and top-government positions.
In June 2018, President Barrow shocked many of his supporters when he reneged on that promise and appointed Mamadou Tangara as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mamburay Njie Minister of Finance — the same positions the two held respectively under Yahya Jammeh. Tangara, previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Jammeh, was The Gambia’s Ambassador to the United Nations where he remained a holdover from the Jammeh regime until reappointed by President Barrow to his current position in June 2018.
Baldeh, like the retired Lt. Col. Samsudeen Sarr, became a turncoat when he accepted the so-called ‘amnesty’ Jammeh offered to dissidents living in the Diaspora. Baldeh and Tanagara—both political enemies and later colleagues in the Jammeh Sultanism — have both again switched sides and transferred their loyalty and support from Jammeh to Barrow.
Minister Bah made his remarks during the opening of the first National Tourism and Culture conference currently underway at Kairaba beach hotel. The event brought together key tourism and cultural players from public and private institutions across the country.
The purpose of the conference is to review and evaluate the successes and challenges experienced during the winter 2018/2019 Tourism season; and to set plans for the upcoming seasons 2019/2020 respectively.
The promotion of a culture-centered Tourism is one of the eight strategic priorities of the National Development Plan 2018-2019. The Gambia, over the years, has become one of the most sought-after tourist destinations on the continent. The Gambia has many tourist attractions sites scattered across the country.
Musa Camara contributed to reporting