Breaking News
As 2 Diplomatic maids flee Washington Embassy; Chargé D’Affaires J.T. Kujabie elusive
--Ex-Ambassador Macdouall Gaye likely in trouble
By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief
Ambassador Gaye, L. Sanyang & elusive J.T. Kujabi
According to our unimpeachable State House operative, Kissy Kissy Mansa, two diplomatic maids assigned to erstwhile Gambian Ambassador to Washington, DC, Neneh Macdouall Gaye, have fled the Ambassador’s residence moments after it dawned on them that their boss has been sacked and like her, they too had to return to the West African state of The Gambia where economic conditions are progressively worsening. Says Kissy, “despite frantic diplomatic efforts for the duo to turn in themselves and pick their air tickets, they remain elusive and every indication suggests that the ladies have no intention returning to The Gambia anytime soon”.
Reveals Kissy, President Jammeh is very angry at this unfortunate development and sees it as calculated sabotage to undermine the reputation of his government in the United States and rest assured this will not go unpunished.
A highly placed source in the Foreign Ministry who talked to us on conditions of strict anonymity, confirmed the allegation and added that news of the two ladies’ absconding from the ambassador’s residence continues to raise eyebrows because the duo were state employees and their diplomatic visas were guaranteed by the Government of the Republic of The Gambia.
Quizzed further to shed light on why Ambassador Gaye was axed barely two months after presenting her credentials to President Obama, the source began by complaining about the high cost of Tobaski rams (the Muslim feast of Eid ) and then proceeded to reveal that reports from Washington alleged that Ambassador Gaye was communicating with powerful US Senators and human rights defenders about the case of Chief Ebrima Manneh, the disappeared Gambia Daily Observer reporter who is widely believed to have been murdered by the regime. According to our records, the source said, people in the Embassy took note of these alleged contacts and the Gambian leader did not like this because it is feared that some of these Senators are trying to bring down the Jammeh government. But if talking to Senators was why she was sacked, that would not be consistent with your government’s avowed principles of transparency and accountability I charged. Our source replied, “my good brother, I am not here to argue about politics, but before Madam Gaye there were numerous envoys and none would talk about this Chief Manneh matter, I think she too should have just followed that tradition, you understand where am coming from….” “Besides”, our source went on, “there were personal squabbles between the Ambassador and Ebrima JT Kujabie and as you may have known, Mr. Kujabie is a very powerful force in the scheme of things”. Likewise, Ambassador Gaye and our financial attaché, Lamin Sanyang may have had some administrative problems and in the process, she was elbowed, our source said.
Curiously, our source also revealed that even though the two ladies entered the United States on diplomatic visas, it was stupefying that until their fleeing; they were not officially registered which our source calls reckless on the part of the Gambian visa Counselor whose job it was to register them with the State Department. What is even curiouser is the fact that because these ladies were never registered, they were therefore, being paid as local staff which is a significant difference with a diplomatic pay our source revealed.
Given our commitment to journalistic balance, we decided to give the Embassy the benefit of the doubt and lo and behold, this reporter has been calling both the Washington Embassy and the Ambassador’s residence and predictably, no one would pick our phone calls.
In a related twist of bizarre proportions, Ebrima J. T. Kujabie, the so-called Charge d’Affaires of the ill-fated Embassy has been in The Gambia since last September and to date, it is not clear why? As we went to press the Gambian Embassy in Washington, DC is once again without an Ambassador which begs the question why, probably one of The Gambia’s most important embassies cannot function as expected. For the past ten years, the Mission in Washington has witnessed the most turbulent times and in the center of the diplomatic skirmishes sits Lamin Sabi Sanyang (a.k.a the bulldozer) and how he survives all these stormy weathers, really defies physics.
However, The Gambia Echo in its investigations was able to establish that Kujabie’s absence from the Embassy clouded further by his wife-Francess Ngum’s sudden departure may have stemmed from what family sources in Banjul attribute to worrisome spousal battery. Following a tip off by credible family sources in Serekunda, we were able to obtain information here in the United States, that Ebrima J. T. Kujabie only escaped arrest because of his diplomatic immunity after he allegedly battered his pregnant wife, the daughter of legendary Gambian musician, Abdel Kabirr Ngum (a.k.a Laye Ngum). According to family sources, Kujabie has a violent temperament and even though his wife was pregnant, he pummeled her without provocation. “Mr. Sankareh, at one moment, the Montgomery County police, in the State of Maryland came in after a 911-emergency call pleading for intervention” a family source begging strict confidentiality revealed during a phone conversation. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, The Gambia Echo would want to ask the Foreign Ministry why Charge’ d’Affaires Kujabie has been absent from his station for such a long period? Has he been declared persona non grata because of alleged spousal battery? Whatever the reason, it is getting curiouser and curiouser.