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Momodou
Denmark
11818 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Feb 2026 : 12:02:12
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A victim of vindictiveness?
By D. A. Jawo
In June 2018, I was one of five cabinet ministers whose services were terminated by President Adama Barrow in a major cabinet reshuffle, of course, without advancing any reasons for his decision because as executive president, the law gives him the powers to hire and fire without being required to give any reasons.
Virtually all of those affected, apart from me, were later offered one position or the other within the administration. I have no doubt that if I had also conformed to certain prescribed protocols, such as either keeping quiet and not engaging in anything that was seen as critical of the government or singing praises of President Barrow and his administration, there was a high possibility of me being recycled. In fact, there were feelers from certain people with connections to the seat of power who directly or indirectly approached me at different times with the suggestion that President Barrow was amenable to appointing me in the diplomatic field if I was interested, apparently on condition that I stopped my criticism of the government.
I however made it categorically clear to those self-appointed emissaries that I was not interested in getting back to government. Those who know me quite well know that I’m a critic and the one and a half years that I had spent in the cabinet were like some form of confinement to me. I had seen and heard so many things that I had the urge and inclination to criticize but as a member of the government, it would have been unethical to do so. As government is a collective responsibility, regardless of one’s position on any matter decided in cabinet, at the end of the day, one had to fall in line and accept it, and as information minister and government spokesperson, I was also expected to defend it.
Therefore, when I was out of government, I felt like I had regained my freedom and I had no intention of ever getting back into a similar situation.
Despite my frequent criticisms of the government, I continued to maintain quite cordial relationship with both President Barrow and some members of the government. This is because I always try to base my criticisms on principle rather than on personalities. I have absolutely no personal grudge against President Barrow or any member of his administration. If anything, I am forever grateful to him for choosing me our of more than two million Gambians to serve in his first cabinet.
As a former cabinet minister, I continued to enjoy certain privileges, such as being invited to state functions, including the independence celebrations.
However, while some members of the administrations had openly expressed disquiet over my frequent criticisms of certain aspects of government actions, it appears that the last straw which broke the camel’s back was the recent revelation that I was a member of APEX, a group of Gambian volunteers whose objective is to bring together the opposition parties in a coalition to confront President Barrow and his grand alliance during the next presidential elections. That, to some people within the administration, was more than what they were ready to accept from me. Therefore, they had to devise some form of sanctions to be imposed on me.
As a veteran journalist, everyone had expected me to be among those invited to the President’s annual media dinner, but it was not a surprise that I was not invited to the last one held in December. It was the same situation with several other state functions, including the recent national dialogue forum as well as the 61st independence anniversary celebrations.
From my sources within the corridors of power, a particular cabinet minister made it a point of duty to ensure that my name was removed from the lists of those invited to any of those functions.
I’m I really disturbed by the withdrawal of such privileges? Obviously not. As a bona fide Gambian, I am free to belong to any group or engage in anything within the precinct of the law. Therefore, if anyone decides to deny me certain privileges because of my activities, so be it.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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A victim of vindictiveness?
