By Sainey Darboe:
The former Vice President of The Gambia, Fatoumatta Tambajang, has lifted the lid on a gripping story of intrigue and drama culminating in her sacking by president Barrow, a move she attributed to efforts by UDP Leader Ousainou Darboe and Foreign Minister Dr. Mommodou Tangara.
Speaking in a Kerr Fatou exclusive, Fatoumatta Tambajang groused:
“For me, at the beginning I never knew I was removed. It was important for me to know why I was removed and I went to the president. What he said is he removed me because I have written a letter to the UN signing acting president and that it was unconstitutional and undiplomatic. That was the advice he got from his present minister of Foreign Affairs and former Vice President Ousainou Darboe.
The crux of the matter is that the Foreign Minister Dr. Tangara had an issue with me. We had traveled to America with $32,000 for two weeks. Then he was at the UN and the accountant general transferred money to their account for my two weeks’ accommodation, transportation, logistics and administrative support”.
Upon return home after a one-week sojourn in the U.S, Fatoumatta Tambajang in her telling launched efforts to account for how the $32,000 was spent in order to retire any residual sums to the treasury.
And the plot thickens, as the then Gambian representative to the UN Mommodou Tangara rolled off figures to her that seemed to stretch the limits of credibility.
She continued: “When my permanent secretary went to him he said to my permanent secretary he had spent $21,000 on vehicle rentals. I told my permanent secretary ‘please tell him I want that money back to the treasury’. In between he came and said he( Tangara) went to the car rental company and they decided to give us a discount of $5000 and we pay $18,000.
I told my permanent secretary ‘does it make sense’....he used that to make a vendetta against me with the president. And also telling him I was eying his position...because he also mentioned it somewhere and I heard it”.
Despite recently offering support for president Barrow to serve out the constitutionally mandated five years instead of three years agreed in the highly contentious political coalition agreement, she indicated the miasma of betrayal by the president still lingers.
She recalled with a tinge of regret:
“I went to the president and explained to him. For me it’s just politics. I don’t know why the president believes him. Today is the first time I have had the opportunity to say it. I felt betrayed by the president His Excellency Adama Barrrow”.
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