Two former close aides of ex-President Yahya Jammeh have been elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Gambia’s National Assembly.
They are Fabakary Tombong Jatta, Majority Leader in the fourth legislature, and who served in the legislature for around 20 years, and Seedy Njie who was Minister of Information for not more than 10 days, since he was appointed just before Jammeh was forced to leave the State House in Banjul and go into exile in Equatorial Guinea.
They now occupy the third highest office in the country’s hierarchy of power, according to the country’s Constitution, and this follows their nomination by President Adama Barrow.
Their elevation came after the National Assembly election held last Saturday, when President Barrow’s National People’s Party ((NPP) won a simple majority of the contested seats.
Gambia’s Chief Justice, Justice Hassan B Jallow, based on the Constitution, presided over the election of the Speaker by the new members, and FTJ then presided as Deputy Deputy Njie and all the other new MPs took the prescribed oath of office.
It was the first session of the new Assembly, which got underway in Banjul at 10 am on Thursday 14 April, and they now constitute the sixth legislature of 48 elected and five (5) nominated members – including FTJ and Seedy Njie – in Gambia’s 53-member National Assembly.
Both men were vocal supporters of Jammeh and served under and worked closely with him up to the last minutes of his government and, in fact, gained notoriety for doing everything possible to help Jammeh to continue to cling to power, even though he had been defeated in the presidential election held in December 2016.
The new Speaker, Hon. Fabakary Tombong Jatta, in his maiden speech in the National Assembly chamber on Thursday, promised to deliver while assuring Gambians that the legislature will live up to the expectations of the electorate.
He called on members to represent the electorate with dignity and honor, and said parliament remains the embodiment of nation-building, solidarity, and unity; and, must endeavor to be seen as the moral powerhouse and beacon of hope for a better Gambia.
It would be recalled that FTJ in his capacity as Majority Leader of Jammeh’s ruling APRC party steered through the Assembly a bill to declare a state of emergency and to extend Jammeh’s rule for three months, so as to repeat the presidential election which Jammeh insisted must happen.
It took the intervention of ECOWAS governments spurred on by Senegal, which with the support of the African Union and United Nations, mobilized a military force to intervene if need be, whilst mediators led by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf negotiated with Jammeh to peacefully relinquish the seat of power and go into exile, which he did in January 2017.
The military force called Ecomig, with a mandate to enforce Jammeh’s departure if necessary, when Jammeh left the country eventually moved into Banjul, and is still in the country to protect the new president and his government, as well ensure peace and stability in the country.
