By Lamin Cham
Fatoumatta Jahumpa-Ceesay, The Gambia’s ambassador to South Africa, has publicly apologised over a leaked private conversation in which she made some unsavoury comments about the opposition United Democratic Party, among others. In her apology and explanation, Ambassador Jahumpa said:
“A private online conversation I had with Jabel Ceesay, a gentleman acquaintance based in the United States on Friday, was regrettably leaked over the weekend causing consternation among some Gambians.
The statements ascribed to me in the leaked audio were uttered in the context of a private, informal conversation between two individuals outside the guardrails of formal public or media scrutiny. The leakage and dissemination of the audio contents constitute a grave betrayal of trust.
Notwithstanding, as a Muslim brought up from a respectable family, and in deference to my family, friends and political affiliates, I hereby once again offer a full and an unreserved apology for the unsavoury choice of words in my description of the members of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) as contained in the leaked audio. I also apologise to Honourable Touma Njie and Nenneh Freda Gomez and any other person I may have inadvertently disparaged in my comments.
The statements were a lapsus lingae – a slip of the tongue. Going forward, I would advise myself and all other politicians in our country as we are about to enter a high-stakes electoral cycle, to temper the bellicosity of our rhetoric and focus on selling our policies and programmes to our people to help them make informed choices.
