The nomination of Dr Mamadou Tangara, current minister of Foreign Affairs and Gambians Abroad for the position of Secretary General of the Commonwealth has generated a heated debate on social media and other platforms recently.
Some observers in the Gambia object to the nomination of Dr Tangara on the grounds that he was a leading member of the Government of former president Yahya Jammeh. They argue that he not only condoned the human rights violations of citizens of the Gambia but served as a mouthpiece to defend the actions of the government of the time.
Thus, they postulate that supporting such a man for the position of Secretary General of the Commonwealth will defeat the ideal of accountability in relation to the current transitional justice in the Gambia. This is a point that seems to have some merits in their opinion.
Others are of the view that given that Dr Tangara was working for the Gambian State and not an individual, it will not be proper to deny him certain opportunities just because he served in the government of Yahya Jammeh who is accused of rights violations. They argue that there were commissions of inquiry which looked into the activities of the former president and his associates but Tangara has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing.
This nomination and the debate it generated is a wakeup call for Gambians to sit down and discuss the issue of the transitional Justice and what parameters it should take. As it is, there are many people who worked in the government of the former president and now hold key positions in the current government. Does that negate the transitional justice? Should all people who worked with Yahya Jammeh be denied the opportunity to serve in the current dispensation?
If the answer to the above questions is yes, then for how long? When will it be all right for a person who once served under Yahya Jammeh to be considered clean enough to serve the Gambian Stat again?
