Ten
of the eleven ministers appointed so far were sworn in yesterday at the Kairaba
Beach Hotel which is temporarily serving as the State House of President Adama
Barrow.
However,
one of the eight parties that formed the coalition government has so far no
member in the new cabinet of President Barrow.
They
are Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, minister of Foreign Affairs, International
Cooperation and Gambians Aboard; Omar A Jallow, minister of Agriculture; Hamat
N.K. Bah, minister of Tourism and Culture; Mai Ahmed Fatty, minister of the
Interior; Henry Gomez, minister of Youth and Sports; Lamin B. Dibba, minister
of Forestry, Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources; Isatou Touray,
minister of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment; Amadou Sanneh, minister
of Finance and Economic Affairs; James Gomez, minister of Fisheries, Water Resources
and National Assembly Matters; and Lamin N. Dibba, minister of Lands and
Regional Government.
Ba
Tambadou has been appointed minister of Justice but he was not sworn in
yesterday for he was out of The Gambia at the moment.
Fatoumata
Tambajang who is appointed vice president is also yet to be sworn in; she is
currently representing the president at the 28th African Union summit in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
Missing
party
Three
of the ministers sworn in are members of the United Democratic Party (UDP) while
the other seven parties of the coalition has one each in the cabinet.
The
Peoples Democratic Party for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), led by Halifa
Sallah, has no representative in the cabinet so far. Mr Sallah, who is the spokesperson of the government,
was not even seen at the swearing in ceremony.
Sedia
Jatta, an executive member of PDOIS, was approached for any possible
explanation for the party’s absence in the cabinet but declined to comment.
Earlier
on, Mr Sallah had said the eleven appointed ministers are appointed based on
the compact, the agreement of the coalition.
According
to the coalition agreement seen by The Point newspaper, cabinet composition of
the new government should take consideration of the results of the last
presidential and parliamentary elections and gender balance. There is so far one female cabinet
minister.
In
the 2011 elections, the UDP-led coalition came out second, next to the then
ruling APRC party, with 17.36 per cent while the NRP-led alliance had 11.11 per
cent.
More
to come
Seven
ministers are yet to be appointed.
Mr
Sallah had said these ministers, as opposed to the ones appointed, would not be
politicians but technocrats who would be appointed based on their
qualifications, experience and expertise.
Meanwhile,
Amie Bojang-Sissoho has been appointed director of press and public relations
at the Office of the President.
