President Adama Barrow has nominated Foday Gassama, a native of Brikama who has been stanch supporter of United Democratic Party as a replacement for sacked lawmaker Ya Kumba Jaiteh.
The Gambian leader fired Jaiteh for undisclosed reasons couple of days ago as tension mount between him and his former party UDP.
“Adama Barrow, President of the Republic of The Gambia, acting under section 88 1(b) of the 1997 Constitution, has nominated Mr. Foday Gassama as National Assembly Member with effect from Monday, 4th March 2019. Mr. Gassama replaces Honourable Kumba Jaiteh as nominated member of the National Assembly,” said an announcement from the presidency on its official page.
Gassama was a strong supporter of the UDP who is now reportedly working with the President’s youth movement. During the coalition campaign, Gassama was with the media team of the coalition.
The decision by the president to sack a nominated lawmaker has been criticized as “unconstitutional” by the Gambia Bar Association.
Meanwhile, Kerr Fatou has learned from a very reliable source that Ya Kumba has been instructed to handover her diplomatic passport and vehicle.
A UDP lawmaker who does not want to be named in this story told Kerr Fatou that Kumba is working on filling an injunction to restraint the president.