By Buba Gagigo
The Gambia’s Justice Minister, Dawda Jallow, has described former President Yahya Jammeh as a wanted man and said he cannot benefit from the former president’s bill that was passed on Thursday.
In a noteworthy development, the Gambian government introduced a new bill at the National Assembly. This bill alters the existing Presidents Act, introducing significant financial provisions for ex-presidents and their spouses, including lifetime pensions and gratuities.
“Former President Jammeh, even if he is deemed to be qualified to benefit from this act, the reality is that former President Jammeh is a wanted person in the Gambia. He is recommended to be prosecuted by the TRRC. Government has accepted that President Jammeh will be prosecuted. So he’s a former president, which cannot be denied; however, he is a former president that is in conflict with the law, and unless that conflict with the law is determined, even if he’s entitled to benefit under this legislation, it will not kick in because, like anyone of us, if you are a suspect of having committed a crime, unless you deal with that issue and clear it you cannot be entitled to it, you cannot be entitled to certain benefits. If you look at the application of the act, of course, no former president is excluded; that is the spirit that it is coming from,” the Justice Minister said while answering a question about whether Jammeh would benefit from the legislation.
The bill that was passed on Thursday would establish an office for a former president, which shall exist during the lifetime of the former president from the date of his or her ceasing to be president.
The government, within six months after a president leaves office, shall furnish and equip the office of a former president to the standard of cabinet level and shall employ not less than four staff members, including a personal assistant and personal secretary.