President Jammeh has yet again fired another justice minister six months after appointing her to the top job. Ghanaian born Justice Mable Agyemang whose appointment as the first female Chief Justice in the Gambia was welcomed in many quarters was relieved of her job today February 4th without explanation. Chief Justice Agyemang’s background as a Commonwealth Judge who served many years as a technical aide to the Gambia was seen as a more likely Chief Justice to reform the Judiciary unlike many other justices who had little or no credible qualifications.
At the time of her appointment this paper reported that if the Chief Justice acts with any resemblance of Independent mindedness she will not last on the job. We also argued that Justice Agyemang unlike her predecessors had more to lose by accepting this position since she did not need the title to boost her resume. She was already a high profile Judge who served in many other capacities as a Commonwealth Judge across Africa. The tragedy in this case is that the country will never know what she did wrong or try to do to change the system.
In another development the Justice Minister Mama Sighateh has also been relieved of her job. Whether the two sackings are linked is anyone’s guess as no information is forthcoming from the administration. It is rather unfortunate again that President Jammeh does what he wants without regard to anything that matters to the people. This is yet another chapter that only shows the incompetence and irrational decisions of the President which has become a very familiar thing to Gambians.