November 10th 2017, June 29th 2018 and March 15 2019 will be remembered in the years Barrow has shepherded Gambia as president.
November 10th will go down as the day Barrow decided to flip through pages of his predecessor’s book and stole a pointer or two. While it shook up the inner of what was supposed to be a coalition group, it also marked beginning of an end to his reported over “maslaha” syndrome.
It was a reality that greeted with a blink and yet a difficult pill to down for Mai Ahmed Fatty. The Gambia Moral Congress’ top dog was fast metamorphosing into the face of a coalition government as referenced in his handling of the security sector, appearing to overshadow the man who in fact propelled him to the coveted portfolio -Barrow.
Barrow was described a novice -an easy have-a-go-at amid claims Fatty was fast basking in popularity. So at this stage, just nine months after Jammeh left the country’s shores, Barrow felt the figure dubbed Dingding Mansa -translating as mini king – needed to alight off his bus. Mai didn’t go down without a rancour.
Allegations, ranging from looting public funds which has come to be synonymous with sackings of public officials, to falling out with Barrow, whirled a fast becoming toxic political atmosphere. There were the inevitable talking points as pundits munched their bites of the saga
Seven months later, another booting will take effect, this time it was the vice-president in a shaky clear-out. Tambajang Fatoumatta, spice from the rumourmill, relate that she was only in the deputy role temporarily and was always going to get wielded the axe once Darboe -considered the substantive man for the void – is fully settled having come out of prisons at time of appointment of the cabinet.
Unlike Mai’s case, Tambajang’s dismissal was blamed on Darboe who is accused of plotting her booting via an informal dispatch which, the press were then told, had no government letter-head to it. This matters little in the current times we thrive but the fact remains she’s pained to this day by the circumstance her head was made to roll. Darboe rebuffed these allegations. In the interim, Barrow appeared to be passing a message that he is in charge and not Darboe as most believed. This overhaul will then be preceded by Ousainou’s grand exit of government’s corridors. Occurring nine months from Tambajang’s inglorious march out of the rooms, Darboe’s removal has been long predicted after a spat with his godson Barrow. The barrister’s shoving was celebrated with car horns by those who felt and fingered him of orchestrating and scheming the disintegration of the coalition.
Whether this is established fact or related fiction remains a subject on lips. One thing known is that he is no longer serving as the nation’s deputy.
Currently, Barrow continues to flip his electrical broom and casualties continue to be counted. Latest of Adama’s craze is shuffling of his cabinet again, seeing the introduction of some new faces. Of interest now is, key cabinet stars not to have tasted the president’s whip still.
Tourism minister Hamat Bah is a noticeable presence. This, it is suggested, is perhaps the veteran politician willingly dances to his boss’s tunes without posing any pockets of opposition to agendas laid out to him.
There is also Isatou Touray now, deputy to the statesman, Amie Sissoho-Bojang, Mamadou Tangara, Safie Lowe Ceesay, minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Claudiana Cole Minister of Basic and Secondary Education and Henry Gomez of the GPDP as presidential adviser.
