By Pateh Kinteh in Banjul & Ebrima G. Sankareh in Raleigh, USA. 

Predictably, Secretary of State for Youth, Sports, Culture and Religious Affairs Sheikh Omar Faye has tumbled alongside Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Bala Garba Jahumpa, the older brother to Gambian House Speaker Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay. The major Cabinet reshuffle only solidified predictions about Omar Faye’s honeymoon with Yahya Jammeh, the details of which we will deal with later in our analysis. For now though, the reshuffled Cabinet. President Yahya Jammeh acting on the powers conferred on him by Sections 71(1) and 71(3) of The Gambian Constitution has immediately effected the following changes in his Cabinet:

Crispin  Grey-Johnson-New Foreign Sect.

Chrispin Grey-Johnson currently the Secretary of State for Higher Education, technology & Research has been appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs & National Assembly Matters. Bala Garba Jahumpa, the currently Foreign Secretary to be redeployed in the diplomatic field to be specified later. Mr. Abdoulie Sallah a former Health Secretary has been appointed as the new Secretary of State for Higher Education, Technology & Research.

Bala G. Jahumpa-Out

Mass Axy Gai the vice president of The Gambia Football Federation (GFA) has been appointed as Secretary of Youth, Sports, Culture and Religious Affairs. He re-places Sheikh Omar Faye who will be redeployed in the diplomatic arena to be specified later.

Omar Faye Swearing-In  in June 2006

Ousman Jammeh, Secretary General office of The President has been appointed Secretary of the newly created Department of Energy, Petroleum & Mineral Resources. Mr. Jammeh will also continue to be the Secretary General until further notice the presidential memo stated.

The dispatch called on all Secretaries of State “to live to up expectations, ensure a maximum delivery of national programmes that government has embarked on. There should be no complacency, no compromise for non-performance” the white paper warned the newly appointed Cabinet Secretaries. “However”, sates the release “support will be given to all Secretaries to ensure that they achieve the development aspirations of the government.” Similarly, the President has appointed Amie Saine Firdaus as Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice. Saine until last night a presidential aide, replaces

Mr. Kebba Sanyang who has been appointed as the new Secretary of Works, Construction & Infrastructure, a Department previously run by Jammeh himself.

            EVIDENTLY, of all the changes, one particular case will continue to generate attention and debate- the case of Omar Faye whose appointment 15 months ago had shocked many Gambians especially, those of us abroad. Faye who was granted political asylum in the United States in the wake of the July 22 1994 coup that catapulted Jammeh to the pinnacle of power was an embodiment of hope for most dissidents in the Diaspora. His name and high profile military resume were enough credentials for most Diasporans to admire and trust and so he became a trustee and confidant of most Gambians. However, Faye probably the most respectful officer I have ever encountered-humble, submissive and religious, surprised everybody when he met President Jammeh in a Washington DC hotel suite, went on his knees, crawled from vestibule to Jammeh’s sofa and proceeded with a plea for a presidential pardon from an utterly despicable dictator he had vowed to tackle by all means possible. Shortly thereafter, he returned home ending over a decade-long exile in Atlanta, Georgia. No sooner had he returned than he was on a roller–coaster ride to political prominence, first as Director of Press & Public Relations at the presidential palace followed shortly thereafter, with a Cabinet appointment. During his political osmosis with an otherwise strange political bedfellow, Faye was debriefed and gave a dossier of intelligence report on his colleagues, friends and admirers. Our Statehouse operative Kissy Kissy Mansa is privy to some of the disturbing details that Faye concocted in his report and the Jammeh government has taken everything as gospel truth. We will leave it at that and allow the facts to unravel themselves.

            However, as if by divine intervention, Omar Faye was for the better part of his Cabinet appointment in murky waters, embroiled in a sexual scandal the disturbing details of which generated newspaper leads. He was accused of involvement in extra-marital sex with a married lady and in the end, he bravely married her with allegedly, doctored matrimonial licenses. In the end, his wife, madam Ceesay Faye in Atlanta sought divorce through the Qadi Courts, the matter was re-routed through family channels and divorce finally granted. For now though it remains to be seen what diplomatic position Yahya Jammeh would be willing to task him with. What is certain however, is that President Jammeh’s statement that “there should be no complacency, no compromise for non-performance” lies at the heart of Jammeh’s proverbial electric broom that has so mercilessly buffeted Sheikh Omar Faye a man who has sacrificed friends, family, confidants and admirers for Yahya Jammeh’s uncertainty. What is good for the goose they say is necessarily good for the gander! We wish Omar the best of luck as he navigates the weird world of Yahya Jammeh’s playing field where lies instead of competence propel unknown political quantities to amazing heights.

This brings us to the case of two Gambian journalists- Malik Sam Jones and Mam Sait Ceesay who without a shadow of doubt will be mercilessly tortured by Musa Jammeh and his drunken thugs. There is no escaping this reality for torture of journalists has become Musa Jammeh’s ritual. Before the duo ran afoul of the regime, they had dubiously distinguished themselves as apologists to all it atrocities. The third in that category of Gambian journalists is currently in the UK quiet like a dumb ass for at least two years now. He only makes noise when we criticize his madam FJC, a relationship that only the marines did not know. Like this dude, Jones and Ceesay had allegedly almost justified Deyda Hydara’s cold blood assassination by Yahya Jammeh’s killers. Today, Hydara is in Heaven as a gentle prince while Jones and Ceesay await a regime of torture that not even a dog deserves. The only reason why they were whisked to the Mile II Prisons even after Magistrate B.Y. Camara granted them bail was for Musa Jammeh and his team of genocidal killer machines to involuntarily extract confessions from them. We hope when they finally see the light of day, only God knows when, they will be alive to the realities of Yahya Jammeh’s nastiness and begin a process of sober reflection for a better Gambia. Meanwhile, we will continue to fight for their release just as we continue the fight to bring Deyda Hydra’s murderers to justice. Until then, God bless The Gambia!