Gambian Foreign Affairs Minister, Neneh Macdouall Gaye, has resigned from her post.
She indicated in a letter addressed to the country’s President, Yahya Jammeh that, “I am of the conviction that under the prevailing circumstances, I cannot effectively serve as Foreign Minister. I thank you for the opportunity you gave me to serve my country.”
Mcdouall Gaye’s resignation comes at a time when the country is experiencing political difficulty with President Yahya Jammeh refusing to step down even after losing a democratically held election to real estate mogul, Adama Barrow.
The Gambia’s foreign minister resigns. Not many left standing in Jammeh’s government in its last few days (if indeed they are the last). pic.twitter.com/Ap9ma0UMn9
— Ruth Maclean (@ruthmaclean) January 17, 2017
ECOWAS leaders have failed on two occasions to convince Mr Jammeh to step down.
Jammeh, days after conceding defeat in the elections, alleged malpractice and filed a motion to challenge the results in the Supreme Court.
The country had been without a functional Supreme Court for two years, after Mr. Jammeh sacked some Supreme Court judges for ruling against his government in a case against affecting ex-military chiefs.
The country’s Chief Justice, Emmanuel Fagbenle, pulled out of the case filed by Jammeh, seeking to stop the inauguration of President-elect Adama Barrow.
Other senior officers in Mr. Jammeh’s government including the Ministers of Trade, Environment, Finance and recently Foreign Affairs, have all resigned, spelling more doom for Mr. Jammeh.
Mcdouall Gaye
The Justice Minister, Mama Singhateh, is also reported to have fled the country to neighboring Senegal.
There are reports of many citizens fleeing the country ahead of Thursday’s inauguration of President-elect Adama Barrow who is currently in Senegal until the swearing-in.
‘Military intervention in Gambia’
Parliamentarians in Gambia on Monday, January 16, 2017, passed a resolution demanding that ECOWAS Heads of State Authority desist from using force to remove Mr. Jammeh from office.
The legislators say a peaceful means must been employed to settle the political stalemate, stating that the Gambia was a sovereign nation and its constitution must be respected.
Members of the governing APRC party in parliament, also called on ECOWAS to deploy supreme court judges from member states to hear Jammeh’s election petition case.
They argued that the case must be heard before the transfer of power.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor
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