By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly has confirmed the appointment of seven individuals to serve as commissioners at the Reparations Commission following their nomination by the government.
The commission is mandated to identify and pay reparations to victims of the Jammeh era crimes.
Retired civil servant and member of the victim community Dr Badara Loum is the chairperson of the commission. Gambia College vice principal and a member of the disabled federation Isatou Ndow is the vice chairperson.
The rest of the commissioners are victims representative Ayesha Jammeh, youth representatives Abdou A Manneh and Safiatou Touray, senior medical officer Dr Babanding Daffeh and former victim support coordinator at the TRRC Ebou Faye-Njie.
Twenty-one lawmakers voted to confirm the appointments. There were no abstentions and two voted against including Foñi Kansala lawmaker Almameh Gibba who protested the appointment of Dr Babanding Daffeh as a commissioner.
Gibba argued that Dr Daffeh was accused of “illegally stitching a woman” which he claimed went viral on social media and therefore disqualified him to serve in a commission that is going to look into cases of persons subjected to crimes like sexual and gender-based violence, which he himself allegedly committed.
“Dr Daffeh is not qualified for this job and I disagree with his involvement in it,” Gibba charged.
This prompted Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie to intervene telling Gibba to desist from making unsubstantiated claims against Dr Daffeh’s conduct and character. Njie said the lawmaker should instead focus on Dr Daffeh’s qualifications.
But Gibba remained defiant and the Speaker had to switch off his microphone and ordered him to sit down.
