By Lamin Cham
Whether by design or coincidence, President Adama Barrow on Friday redeployed five regional governors and their immediate deputies to other sectors of the civil service less than three weeks after the opposition United Democratic Party filed a case in court challenging the legality of their appointments.
The UDP members want the court to make a declaration that their appointments were unlawful, illegal and therefore null and void. They relied on sections 123, 124 and 125 of the Local Government Act which states that anyone to be appointed as a governor or a deputy governor must come from the civil service.
Section 123 provides that: “There shall be, for each of the Local Government Areas, except for the City of Banjul and Kanifing Municipal Council, a governor, who shall be a civil servant, not below the rank of a director in the civil service, appointed by the President.”
The case against the governors and their juniors is yet to be determined in court.
However, on Friday, the governors were served with letters redeploying them. A statement from the Office of the Government Spokesman Ebrima Sankareh explaining the redeployments did not mention the court case.
It said President Barrow has acted on his power to appoint the following Government officials as Governors:
Mrs. Fanta Bojang Njie Samateh Manneh, current Deputy Permanent Secretary (DPS), Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources as Governor of West Coast Region (WCR); Ms. Fatou Jammeh Touray, DPS, Ministry of Agriculture is new Governor, North Bank Region (NBR); Ms. Ramou Sarr, DPS, Ministry of Transport, Works & Infrastructure as Governor, Lower River Region (LRR); Mr. Musa Mbye, DPS, Ministry of Youths & Sports as Governor, Central River Region (CRR);
And Mr. Abdoulie Kah, DPS, Ministry of Defence as Governor, Upper River Region (URR).
It also went ahead to explain the fate of the redeployed officials: President Barrow has redeployed the following Governors: Mr. Lamin Saidykhan, Governor, NBR, as DPS Ministry of Agriculture; Mr. Samba Bah, Governor, URR, as DPS Ministry of Fisheries; Mr. Ousman J. Bojang, Governor, WCR, as DPS Ministry of Works; Mr. Seedy Lamin Bah, Governor, LRR as DPS Ministry of Youths & Sports and Mr. Ousman Bah, Governor, CRR, as DPS Ministry of Defence.
Similarly, all current deputy governors are redeployed to the Ministry of Lands, Regional Government & Religious Affairs. All appointments and redeployments are effective immediately”.
