By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
The Brikama Area Council Chairman, Yankuba Darboe, has said that the delay in the swearing-in of the nominated Youth Representative, Binta Senghore, and councillors for the differently abled was due to late submission of their nomination papers to the Ministry of Local Government and Land, and not because of a petition against them from the West Coast Region Youth Committee.
Chairman Darboe said this on Monday, August 20th at an event at the Brikama Area Council building, where the other seven nominated members took their oath to serve their respective interest groups in the Brikama Area Council.
The youth and differently-abled councillors, Binta Senghore and Ndey Saine missed their swearing-in as their nomination papers were confirmed late according to Chairman Darboe, despite claims that their appointments were on hold due to a petition.
“We have two other nominees who are yet to be sworn in, and that is our nominee for youths and the differently abled. We are waiting for confirmation from the ministry [Local Government and Lands] in order to be able to conclude those two, and we are hoping that will happen as soon as possible.
“We were hoping it would happen before this ceremony today, but unfortunately, the nomination papers went in a bit late Friday, and they were not able to deal with it,” Darboe said.
The procedure by which the nominated youth rep was nominated by Yankuba Darboe sparked debate on social media a while back, with many people believing she was only appointed based on her political affiliation.
On Monday, the West Coast Region Youth Committee believed that Binta was not sworn in due to their petition against her nomination by the Brikama Area Council chairman.
When contacted for clarity on the matter, the Public Relations Officer of the Brikama Area Council, Lamin Sighateh, told The Fatu Network that he has no idea about the petition against the nomination of Binta Senghore.
He confirmed that, to his knowledge, the youth rep and differently-abled were not sworn in because they didn’t receive confirmation from the local government and lands. He told TFN that they would be sworn in later.
The Fatu Network tried to reach the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Lands for comments, but all efforts were unsuccessful.
