Claim: The coalition gov’t sacked non-Mandinkas from top gov’t jobs

Source: Ex-leader Yahya Jammeh

Verdict: The claim is false.

Since Jammeh left for exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017, he has kept a low profile. That changed recently. After the Gambian leader Adama Barrow visited home village of Kanilai, few days after his party signed a coalition agreement with Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction party, Jammeh called his first rally in Kanilai. He distanced himself from Barrow, and a faction of his party that signed an alliance with him, causing in split in APRC.

Jammeh’s faction of APRC later joined the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC). Following a nomination of the GDC candidate on November 2, they held a rally jointly with the APRC. At that rally, Jammeh launched an attack on Mandinkas and UDP.

Claim

In that rally, Jammeh launched an attack on Mandinkas and UDP, who he said controlled the coalition government. He claimed that civil servants, parastatal heads, and other senior government officials who were not of Mandinka ethnic extraction were fired by the coalition government and replaced by Mandinkas.

“As soon as the Coalition came into power, they [government] dismissed all the civil servants, senior civil servants, managing directors that are not Mandinka…Because all the ministers were appointed by UDP, ambassadors were appointed by UDP, the security services are all headed by Mandinkas, the ministers are Mandinkas, all the ambassadors, maybe except a few are all Mandinkas,” said Yahya Jammeh.

Fact-check

After the coalition came to power, ten cabinet ministers were sworn in on February 1, 2017 by president Adama Barrow. This was at Kairaba Beach Hotel where the president temporarily used as his office.

Foroyaa published the list of ministers as follows: Ousainou Darboe, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad; Hamat Bah, Minister of Tourism and Culture; Omar A. Jallow, Minister of Agriculture; Mai Ahmed Fatty, Minister of Interior; Henry Gomez, Minister of Youth and Sports; Lamin B. Dibba, Minister of Forestry, Environment, Climate Change, and Natural Resources; Dr. Isatou Touray, Minister of Trade, Regional Integration, and Employment; Amadou Sanneh, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs; James Furmus Gomez, Minister of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters and Lamin Ndambong Dibba, Minister of Lands and Regional Government.

From the list above, Hamat Bah, Omar A. Jallow, Henry Gomez, James Peter Gomez are all not from Mandinka ethnicity.

A few weeks later, The Point newspaper published another list of ministers who were appointed by Barrow in March 2017. They are Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajang as minister of Women’s Affairs; Saffie Lowe-Ceesay as minister of Health and Social Welfare; Demba Ali Jawo minister of Information & Communication Infrastructure; Claudia A. Cole minister of Basic & Secondary Education; Alieu Badara Joof minister of Higher Education Research, Science & Technology, and Bai Lamin Jobe as minister of Works, Transport & Construction. None of the six ministers belong to Mandinka ethnic group.

Verdict: Jammeh’s claims are false

Claim 2

In the same address at a GDC rally, Jammeh claimed all managing directors of parastatals who are non-Mandinkas were fired and replaced by Mandinkas. On March 13, 2017, four heads of parastatals were removed.

They are Lamin Sanyang as managing director of the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) replaced by Abdoulie Tambedou, Baboucarr Sanyang removed as managing director of GAMTEL and was replaced by Soulayman Susso, Edward Graham was removed as managing director of Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) and replaced by Mohamed Manjang, and Ebrima Sanyang of NAWEC was removed and replaced by Baba Fatajo.

While Jammeh is correct in that all those removed as heads of the above-mentioned government agencies are non-Mandinkas, it is incorrect to say that the positions were refilled with only Mandinkas. Abdoulie Tambedou who replaced Lamin Sanyang as managing director of Gambia Ports Authority belongs to the Serahuli ethnicity. Therefore, the claim is not entirely correct.

Verdict: The claims is not entirely correct

Claim 3

In the same rally, Jammeh also claimed all non-Mandinka security heads were fired and replaced by Mandinkas. Before the change government, the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) was Ousman Badjie.

He was replaced by Gen. Masanneh Kinteh. The Inspector-General of Police, Yankuba Sonko was removed and replaced by Landing Kinteh, Pa Mboob was replaced by Buba Sanyang as Director-General of Gambia Immigration Department who later retired. David Colley who was the director-general of the Gambia Prisons Services was removed in 2017 and replaced by Ansumana Manneh.

For the Gambia Fire and Rescue Services (GFRS), Chief Fire Officer Roger Bakurin who went into retirement, was replaced by Sang Kolley Ndow while Bakary Gassama remains the Director-General of Gambia Drug Law Enforcement Agency (DLEA-G).

While the former CDS of the Gambia Armed Forces Ousman Badjie, from Jola ethnicity was removed and replaced by Gen. Masanneh Kinteh, a Mandinka— the former police chief who was removed was a Mandinka and replaced by Landing Kinteh, also a Mandinka.

The former Director-General of Gambia Immigration Department at the time of the change of government was Pa Mboob, not from Mandinka ethnicity, and was replaced by Buba Sanyang, who is of Jola ethnic extraction.

Jammeh was correct that the former Director-General of Gambia Prisons Services David Colley, who is a Jola, was replaced by Ansumana Manneh, a Mandinka.

However, the Chief Fire Officer Roger Bakurin— not a Mandinka— had served the agency until his retirement, and was replaced by Sang Kolley Ndow, who is also not a Mandinka.

Verdict: The claim is false

Claim 4

On May 19, 2017, The Fatu Network has published the list of 20 ambassadors appointed by President Adama Barrow. They are Miss Jainaba Jagne to India; Faye Ceesay to China; Musa Sonko to Guinea Bissau; Ebrima Manneh to the United States; Lang Yarboe to Spain; Alasana Jammeh to Morocco; Ebrima Ndure to Senegal; Jainaba Bah to Russia; Francis Blaine to the United Kingdom; Femi Peters to Sierra Leone; Ousman Badjie to Cuba; Mawdo Juwara to Mauritania; Sulayman Alieu Jack to Ethiopia; Ramzia Diab to Malaysia; Abdoulie Bojang to South Africa; Omar Gibril Sallah to Saudi Arabia; Dr. Sidat Jobe to France; Kemesseng Jammeh to Turkey; Teneng Mba Jaiteh to Belgium; and Mamadou Tangara to United Nations.

Based on what we have verified on the above list, 12 ambassadors appointed by the Barrow government in 2017 belong to other ethnic groups. They are not of Mandinka ethnic extraction.

Verdict: The claim is false

Researched by Kebba Jeffang