A senior minister and close confidante of President Barrow has said if exiled former president Yahya Jammeh returns to the country he will be prosecuted.
Speaking in an interview with The Standard last week, Tourism minister Hamat Bah said: “Jammeh is not returning to The Gambia. As soon as Jammeh lands here, he will face the full force of the law. No doubt about that. [It’s] absolutely not true [that he is coming]. The TRRC is ongoing and the revelations are on and justice must take its course. I can assure you this government is not in any way related or aware of Jammeh’s imminent return to The Gambia. Political supporters can say what they want to say. Jammeh himself knows that the revelations at the TRRC will not go unanswered.”
There has been mounting crescendo in certain areas in Foni and among some APRC supporters that the former president’s return is imminent. This led to The Gambia Government making a public statement last week debunking the “baseless reports [that] have provoked anxiety and tension among members of the public”.
A verbose Ebrima Sankareh said the misinformation has given rise to acts of deception particularly, among supporters of the former President, “who have been terribly misled to believe in these fairy tales over the purported imminent return of former President Yahya Jammeh”.
“The public is reminded that former president Jammeh’s asylum in Equatorial Guinea is an Ecowas/AU arrangement. Under these arranged diplomatic circumstances, the host country is obligated to ensure that the former president remains in Equatorial Guinea until agreed and decided otherwise by the parties in consultation with The Gambia Government,” he asserted.
Minister Bah’s statement underlined the spokesman’s clarification.
The former ruling party is expected to hold its annual congress from 19th to 21st February at the Paradise Suites Hotel, Kololi under the theme Back to State House 2021
