By Alhagie Jobe
Sira Wally Ndow-Njie, Gambia’s ex-Deputy Minister for Tourism and Culture who was sacked on Monday, June 20th, has been arrested and currently detained at the notorious NIA headquarters in Banjul, the Fatu Network has confirmed.
Reports indicate that she was picked up by the NIA from a funeral service she was attending on Tuesday afternoon. It is not still clear as to why Mrs Ndow-Njie is been arrested but the incident happened barely hours after her sacking as deputy minister.
President Yahya Jammeh on Monday, June 20th acting under the provisions of Section 71(4) (b) of the Constitution of The Gambia relieved Mrs. Ndow-Njie of her appointment as Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture without any reason.
Many believe her arrest is in connection to the scandal uncovered by government involving the Ministry of Petroleum where she served as minister before, the Gambia National Petroleum Company (GNPC) and the Board of GNPC on the procurement of petroleum.
The Office of the President on Monday in a press release described the discovery as ‘one of the most serious economic crimes’ scandal uncovered during the past 22 years of the second republic and confirmed that many have been arrested and helping in the investigations.
Mrs Ndow-Njie was first appointed to serve in President Jammeh’s Cabinet on 25th December 2009 as minister of Energy and removed from office on 10th June 2010. She was again appointed to serve as Minister of Petroleum in February 2015 until on April 18th, 2016 when she was relieved of her appointment and redeployed to the Tourism and Culture ministry as deputy minister, a position she last held.
