By Omar Bah
Gambia’s President Adama Barrow will on 27 November 2017 finally move to the State House in Banjul, ten months after coming to power, press secretary, Amie Bojang has confirmed.
President Barrow, 52, could not move into the presidential compound because the place needed sprucing up after former president Jammeh lost the December election and vacated.
“President Barrow will move to State House in Banjul and all appointments and his operations will be from Banjul effective Monday, 27 November 2017,” Mrs Bojang-Sissoho said during her weekly press conference yesterday.
Foreign affairs
During the wide-ranging briefing, she disclosed that President Barrow will receive the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma next week.
She said President Barrow has been briefed that the United States Government has been positive on lifting the visa ban imposed on Gambia government officials and their family members.
“The Gambia is also to be listed on the Millennium Challenge Corporation [a bilateral US foreign aid agency] and there are plans for USAID to engage in The Gambia. The president has also been informed that The Gambia will establish a human rights commission,” she added.
Mrs Bojang further stressed that the President has also said that the government will continue to maintain the FGM laws as well as educate people about it.
“He was also in consultation with Ecowas on trade regularisations and free movement of the people within Ecowas. The president acknowledges that while every president has been elected to protect their people they cannot succeed without working together as a regional body,” she said. She said the president intends to attend the opening of the new Senegalese airport.
On trade
She said President Barrow visited Dubai to promote The Gambia as a potential business hub during last week’s Dubai global investment forum and that several investors, including DP World, have expressed interest in The Gambia.
Interior Minister
Mrs Bojang said the president is currently reviewing a list of candidates for the position of Minister of the Interior and he is expected to make an announcement “very soon”.
Justice
She said the president led the recent cabinet discussions and has approved the presentation of three bills to the National Assembly. “These are the establishment of the Constitutional Review Commission, the bills on the Human Rights Commission and the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission,” she outlined.
