Concerned youth leaders on Friday called for the reversal of the sacking of Lamin Darboe.

Darboe was earlier this week dismissed as acting executive secretary of the National Youth Council by the Ministry of Youth. No reason was given in his sacking letter.

At a press conference held at TANGO on Friday, youth leaders demanded that he is restored, as they unveiled their game-plan.

Lala Touray said: “We’ve been called radicals before for taking onto the streets to protest for our rights. We’ve been labelled and called names for exercising our democratic and constitutional rights to protest and freedom of assembly and association. So what we are going to do this time as civil society, as youth leaders…

“We might not take on the streets and protest. But what we’re going to do if the government does not take a stance to reinstate Lamin Darboe, if the government does not take a stance to work with us amend the act that gives them the power to interfere in the institution of the National Youth Council, as civil society we’re going to boycott the National Youth Council. We will not have anything to do with the National Youth Council, we will not work with the National Youth Council…”

The chairperson of the National Youth Council Dembo Kambi on his part said: “We (council) have met and we have taken the decision that we’re going to provide leadership in this whole entire issue and we are also going to write and we implore on all the young people of this country to remain steadfast and to remain calm.

“We’re going to provide that leadership and we are going to reach out to government to negotiate, to talk to them to ensure we bring sanity back to National Youth Council.”

Marie Sock has distanced herself from tribal comments by a woman believed to be her sympathiser.

An audio recently emerged online of a woman conversing with Sock during which the former insulted Mandinkas. It angered members of the public who then asked Ms Sock to condemn the comments.

Sock in Facebook live address on Friday said: “That should never have happened no matter what. We’re one in this country. We inter-marry and we’re all related one way or the other. In that regard, I Marie Sock sincerely condemn that this should never happen again as we do not tolerate tribalism, bigotry and diversion.

“The Gambia is a blessed nation with beautiful people from rich diverse tribes, cultures and traditions. Therefore, we cannot afford to be divided in the society, our country and in Africa as a whole.”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the nation’s former AG.

Dr Ismaila Ceesay:

“Baa is the man who helped shape and drive the Gambia’s Transitional Justice project. He did a good job despite the challenges. However, I would have preferred for him to have stayed and guide the whole process to conclusion.

“His decision to leave now at this crucial stage has the potential to jeopardise the entire process. It’s akin to a captain abandoning his aircraft in mid-air. I wish him the best of luck in his new role at the UN.”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the nation’s former AG.

Dou Sannoh:

“I had excellent relations with him. He was among those people who were with the President to ensure the country’s new-found democracy is nurtured and fostered.

“Nobody is perfect and different things are being said by people about him but I have not seen anything he’s done that has imperiled the country.

“He left a job and going to do a job and wherever he is, they will say Gambia which we should be proud of. I wish him luck and pray that Allah protects him.”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the nation’s former AG.

Yankuba Darboe, a Three Years Jotna member:

“Adios to my learned friend Justice Minister Baa Tambedou, you have tried your best and served your nation! You will certainly be remembered by many for many reasons including my humble self!

“Mine will be bitter though, for I fear, I will not recollect your tenure fondly! For whilst you have championed the rights of the Rohingyas against the state of Myanmar, you have paid indifference to the grotesque violations of the rights of your fellow citizens in The Gambia for simply exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly!

“I will further remember you personally, for it is under your stewardship, that your state prosecutors opposed bail to my liberty for 30 days, just to keep me and my fellow members of the 3 Years Jotna Executives behind bars at the Mile 2 Central Prison!

“I will further remember you personally, for under your watch, the illegal executive orders were declared to terrify and already terrified nation emerging from a 22 years brutal dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh, by restricting citizens rights to freedom of association with the 3 Years Jotna concerned citizens.

“Whilst I bear no grievances against you, but I cannot help wonder, if you had made a stand at that crucial moment in January 2020 to stand for your fellow citizens being abused, how remarkable that would have been! As a result, I think your resignation at present is simply six months late!”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the nation’s former AG.

Lamin Jassey of GFF:

“Ba Tambadou in my opinion is one of the best Attorney General the country ever had. He set new records, reform the criminal justice system and strengthened AG chambers.

“He positioned The Gambia in the limelight on the world stage for all the good reasons. Indeed history will remember him in favourable terms.”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the nation’s former AG.

Foni Kansala National Assembly Member Musa Amul Nyassi:

“Generally I ‘ve not seen the impact [of his time in office]. I’ve not seen any case he has won, of all the sensitive cases from against the government he lost all.

“We’ve also seen his misleading information that the Janneh Commission shall have the mandate to sell the former president’s assets and his statement that Jammeh cannot own any asset in the country because he stole everything he owned.

“All in all, he only exhibited inefficiency.”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the nation’s former AG.

Momodou Sabally:

“And therefore Gambians must thank God that the worst Attorney General and Minister of Justice in our history has abdicated his office.

“It is a well calculated egocentric move aimed at scoring maximum benefit for himself and nothing else. But it is indeed good riddance of a corrupt and inept pseudo-Lawyer with no track record of professional excellence.

“What ought to be done right now is to set up a commission of enquiry into how Ba Tambedou handled the shady disposal of Yahya Jammeh’s assets. Such a commission would have had as principal witnesses, Ba Tambedou, Alpha Barry and a certain fair coloured lady.

“But Barrow is not interested in truth or justice. Ba Tambedou has freed the jungulars, lost every single case brought against government during his tenure as Justice Minister.

“He set up the Human Rights Commission and led them to be the first institution to recognise and promote homosexuality as a right in our country.

“Now the UN has rewarded him with a job for promoting LGBT rights in The Gambia.

“Good riddance. But let the National Assembly ask Ba Tambedou to present a bank statement of the account into which proceeds of the sale of Jammeh’s assets were lodged. This is a very critical assignment that needs to be done before Ba Tambedou leaves the shores of our country.”

Abubacarr Tambadou on Friday said ‘personal reasons’ triggered his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice. His exit after three and a half years in the role has divided opinion. The Fatu Network brings you what Gambians have been saying about the performance of the nation’s former AG.

Sheriff Bojang Snr:
“Minister Tambadou has been one of the most consequential ministers. He has done a sterling job in the transitional justice process in The Gambia. And in taking Myanmar to the International court, he has taken the fight to that Burmese genocidal regime and helped check their excesses. When few or none including Saudi Arabia or Egypt, stood up to defend Muslims, Ba Tambadou put his head over the parapet and said Gambia will. For that alone, I have been his No. 1 cheerleader.”

Abubacarr Tambadou will be working at the United Nations as the registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, The Fatu Network understands.

The United Nations Secretary-General will on Monday announce Mr Tambadou as the Registrar (Assistant Secretary-General) of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, to be based in the Hague, Holland.

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (“Mechanism”) organisation of the United Nations is mandated to perform a number of essential functions previously carried out by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (“ICTR”) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”), according to information available on the Mechanism’s website. The Mechanism operates across two branches: one branch in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, and the other in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The Registrar heads the Registry department of the organisation which provides administrative, legal, policy and diplomatic support services to all organs in both branches of the Mechanism.

According to the organisation’s website, the Registrar is appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and is the head of entity to whom the Secretary-General has delegated the managerial authority over the Mechanism’s human, financial and physical resources.

By Lamin Njie

Abubacarr Tambadou has said he’s aware his ‘principled’ position on former President Jammeh has not endeared him to the former leader’s supporters and sympathisers.

“…and to them I say, Jammeh belongs to the past, so wake up from your dreams of a Jammeh political comeback and move on with your lives,” Mr Tambadou said on Friday at a news conference where he spoke on his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice.

During his three and a half years in the role, no group of people or political entity lambasted him more than APRC.

The party has always blamed him for all its woes, most times accusing him of witch-hunting.

But on Friday, Mr Tambadou provoked a fresh war with the party by saying sympathisers of the former president should move on with their lives.

He said: “He (Yahya Jammeh) has caused too much pain and suffering to the people of this country throughout his 22 year reign of terror as the TRRC keeps revealing.

“He has during this period destroyed the innocence and soul of Gambian society with the sheer brutality of his crimes, and for this, he will be brought to account someday here or abroad. He will surely have his day in court.”

By Lamin Njie

Abubacarr Tambadou said on Friday he resigned as attorney general and minister justice due to ‘personal reasons’, as he mounted the justice ministry podium for the last time.

At the news conference where he declined to take questions from reporters, Mr Tambadou said “it has been an honour and unique privilege for me to serve my country in such high office under His Excellency President Barrow”.

“I owe him immense gratitude for the privileged opportunity given to me to contribute, even if modestly, to rebuilding our country after 22 years of unquantifiable damage. I am grateful for the trust and confidence he had shown in me by my appointment as the first Attorney General and Minister of Justice in a post-dictatorship new democratic Gambia. I thank him for his constant and continuous support to me and the Ministry of Justice throughout my tenure as AG over the last three and half years. I owe him an eternal debt of gratitude,” Mr Tambadou who has been praised and criticised in equal measure throughout his three and a half years in the role added.

The Fatu Network 2020 Man of the Year said he had resigned since 1 June, meaning the move had been kept under wraps for weeks.

While Mr Tambadou used Friday’s news conference to tout his achievements, he also conceded ‘some things could have been done differently’.

He said: “Indeed, some things could have been done differently. In fact, some things can always be done differently, and there is always room for improvement.

He then added, in a clear riposte to critics: “”But those who are constantly looking for mistakes by this government will always find faults because of the unique circumstances in which we find ourselves as a country in transition.

“We inherited a system of governance where State institutions from the Presidency to the lowest levels were systematically dismantled over a two decade period; and where we found no culture or practice of State protocol in consonance with democratic practice.”

Mr Tambadou in a statement that was read over 40 minutes said a lot has happened over the past three and half years of the Barrow government.

On his part as attorney general, he said: “On my part, I have initiated and delivered on the key pillars of our transitional justice process which has now achieved global recognition by experts as being among the best models in the world particularly for its inclusiveness and originality.

“Some other milestones include the successful gazetting of a new draft constitution without amendment, the establishment of a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission process which is currently underway, the establishment of The Gambia’s first National Human Rights Commission, and the establishment of the Janneh Commission to inquire into the financial corruption of former President Jammeh, and as a result of which the Government has been able to recover over 1.1 billion dalasis so far.

“And in all of these processes, we were able to put together a team of talented and credible Gambians, and I wish to thank them for their service to country.”

The United Democratic Party has said it has learned with ‘grief’ the sacking of Lamin Darboe.

Darboe was axed as acting executive director of National Youth Council on Wednesday. No reason was given.

UDP’s youth wing in a statement signed by President Kemo Bojang on Thursday said: “According to the dismissal letter from the Ministry of Youths and Sports, reason(s) of service termination were not indicted. The move by the Government, the Ministry of youths in particular, is a reminder of the system that we fought against in the 22 years of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorial regime, where powers were abused.

“In this regard, the UDP Youth Wing wishes to express utter dismay and dissatisfaction in the manner Lamin’s sacking happened. It is our sincere belief that in the “New Gambia” such disrespect, abuse and disregard for due process of the law should not happen and people should not be victimised for political reasons.

“In light of the the above, UDP Youth Wing stands in solidarity with Lamin Darboe. The attestations from the youth fraternity since the sacking of Mr Darboe is a testimony that Lamin has been serving the country’s youths with distinction. He is known, both locally and internationally to be knowledgeable, experience and a determined young person. His stint as Executive Director of National Youth Council has witnessed unimaginable successes for the youth fraternity.

“We wish to make it clear, as the youth wing of UDP, we will not stand and watch the rights of individuals or groups violated especially within the youth population. We believe young people of The Gambia deserve better and the National youth council which is an act of Parliament that represents all interest of young people must not be used as a political tool.”

The United States Department of State Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo on Thursday released the 2020 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, upgrading The Gambia to Tier 2 Watch List.

“The report notes that the Government of The Gambia is making significant efforts in this important area but does not yet fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” a statement by the US government through its Embassy in Banjul said.

The United States government this time last year said The Gambia is not making significant efforts to fight human trafficking – as the country was placed in Tier 3 where it risked sanctions.

It prompted the Gambia government to make urgent moves including a two-day summit in January this year to analyse the situation of trafficking in persons in the country.

Six months down the line, the country has now been been upgraded to Tier 2 of the US TIP Report.

The US Department of State said: “The United States congratulates the Gambian government, the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons, law enforcement and justice sector entities, civil society organizations and key partners in the advancements made this past year to combat trafficking. These modest advancements include increased investigations, identifying more trafficking victims, improving security at the Department of Social Welfare shelter, coordinating with international organizations to increase training for officials, and significantly increasing efforts to raise public awareness of trafficking, including of child sex trafficking. In addition, the government encouraged former president Yahya Jammeh’s victims of sexual exploitation to testify at the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission. Many of these efforts were facilitated by the International Organization for Migration via a grant from the United States government, with an array of Gambian civil society organizations and international partners playing a vital role in promoting activities to combat trafficking and support victims.

“Despite these achievements, the government did not convict a trafficker for the third consecutive year, victim services remained inadequate overall, and some law enforcement officers allegedly requested bribes to register trafficking complaints.

“Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a country can remain at Tier 2 Watch List for only two years and must address identified deficiencies to progress fully to Tier 2 within that time or be automatically downgraded to Tier 3. The annual rating cycle begins on April 1 and ends on March 31. We encourage the Gambian Government to expand on the good work undertaken over the past year and redouble efforts in the following critical areas: direct and fund law enforcement to investigate all reported trafficking cases, including those brought forward by civil society; investigate those accused of taking bribes to do their duty under the laws of The Gambia; increase efforts to vigorously investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers, including allegations of child sex tourism; cease using extra-judicial or administrative remedies to resolve human trafficking cases; develop and train government officials on comprehensive standard procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims, including among people in commercial sex and other vulnerable groups.”

By Lamin Njie

Abubacarr Tambadou on Thursday visited State House amid his resignation as attorney general and minister of justice.

Mr Tambadou was at State House to meet President Barrow as well as Vice President Dr Isatou Touray.

While the circumstances of his resignation remain a matter of huge speculation, a source told The Fatu Network Mr Tambadou has landed himself a job at the United Nations.

“He was waiting on the Security Council to vet him before he finally resigns,” the source said.

The Fatu Network 2020 Man of the Year will be working at the UN in a ‘role that’s at the level of an assistant secretary general – and will report directly to the secretary general’.

A senior lawyer reacting to Mr Tambadou’s resignation said on Thursday his concerns are if the government ‘will find someone who will stand by the laws of the country and not to satisfy the government’.

“If we do not choose the best person, we will go back to the Jammeh’s era where the AG will be changing the laws to suit the needs of the president and not that of the country,” the senior lawyer said.

Dawda Jallow has quickly emerged as potential candidate to replace Mr Tambadou.

The former magistrate has the qualification of five years experience as a member of the Gambia Bar Association.

Madi Jobarteh has called on Gambian youths to take to the streets to demand the withdrawal of the sacking Lamin Darboe.

Darboe was suddenly sacked as executive director of National Youth Council on Wednesday. No reason was given.

Madi Jobarteh wrote on Thursday: “Section 13 of the National Youth Council Act gives authority to the President to appoint the Executive Secretary in consultation with ‘the Council and the Public Service Commission’. The entire Act did not speak about the removal of the Executive Secretary.

“However we know that based on Section 231(5) of the Constitution a power given to a person or authority to appoint does also include the power to dismiss. In fact Section 231(4) indicates that the person or authority who apppoints in consultation with another person or authority is not required to consider or act according to the advice of the entity that it must consult.

“This means the President can indeed sack Lamin Darboe without having to consult the Council or the PSC or take on their advice. But the need to consult only relates to appointment alone. The procedure and reasons for dismissal are not stated in the NYC Act. This means there is a huge gap in the Act which is prone to abuse.

“That notwithstanding the dismissal letter of the Executive Secretary cannot come from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The dismissal letter should come either from the Office of the President or the PSC or the Chair of the National Youth Council. Therefore I take it that the President did not sack Lamin rather it is the Minister who sacked him unilaterally which is illegal.

“For that matter this dismissal letter is unlawful and I urge Lamin Mokendeh Darboe to challenge it in court.

“At the same time I challenge the Chair of the National Youth Council Dembo Kekendo Kambi and his Council members to lead the youths to challenge this dismissal in court and occupy the streets of The Gambia to protest the dismissal until it is reversed.”

Gambian youth online have expressed their support to Lamin Darboe following his dismissal as executive director of National Youth Council.

Mr Darboe has been the NYC chief since 2014 but he was sacked from the role on Wednesday.

The ministry of youth and sport informed him in a letter that the minister of youth and sport has ‘concurred with the decision to terminate your services’ as acting executive director of National Youth Council in accordance with the National Youth Council Act of 2000.

“In this regard, you’re hereby requested to hand over the functions of the position of acting executive director, National Youth Council, to Mr Alhaji Jarju, the program manager, National Youth Council,” the ministry of youth and sports in its letter signed by permanent secretary Saikou Sanyang told Mr Darboe.

The ministry of youth has however failed to state who was behind the decision to terminate Darboe.

But Gambians mostly youths online have railed against Mr Darboe’s sudden sacking. Most who quickly changed their profile pictures to a photo of Mr Darboe have described him as a man committed to the development and interests of youth in the country.

By Lamin Njie

Executive Director of National Youth Council Lamin Darboe has been sacked from his role, according to sources.

Mr Darboe got his marching orders on Wednesday, sources have told The Fatu Network. No further detail could be obtained as to why he was sacked.

His sacking was done through the ministry of youth and sport.

Mr Darboe was National Youth Council’s executive director for the past six years.