By Alhagie Jobe
The government of President Yahya Jammeh is mounting a mass arrest of top government officials and a dozen have so far been arrested over the weekend in different locations in the country and currently detained at the notorious National Intelligent Agency headquarters in Banjul, the Fatu Network has confirmed.
Among the top government officials arrested are Nuha Touray, Secretary to Cabinet at the Office of the President, Fafa Sanyang, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum, Momodou Badjie, managing director of Gambia National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Seedy Kanyi, general manager of Gambia Transport Service Corporation which was set up to replace GPTC and under the management of the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation.
Also picked up during the weekend is Cherno Marena, the former Solicitor General who was sacked since May and has since been working with renowned lawyer Badu Conteh.
Muntaga Sallah, former permanent secretary for petroleum is also detained at the NIA, Muntaga is currently standing trial at the Banjul Magistrate Court for stealing and abuse of office. His father, SillahBa former tourism minister was arrested first and when Muntaga when to drop his food, he was detained and his dad was later released.
It is still not clear though what is surrounding the mass arrest but some believe President Jammeh ordered the arrests to start executing his threats against the largest ethnic group, the Mandinkas and others believe there may be major scandal in the Petroleum Ministry as most of those arrested have connection to that ministry.
We are monitoring every development and will keep you updated.
