Rivalry Brewing at the State House in Banjul
By Gainako’s Banjul Correspondent
“Hamga mom dui Declu Ken”
Highly confidential reports reaching Gainako indicates that the Vice President of the Gambia Isatou Njie-Saidy who was delegated to represent the Gambian leader at the 47th ECOWAS summit in Ghana held May 19, 2015 may have dropped the ultimate bomb on the embattled Gambian leader. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) consist of 16 member states and have been a powerful regional block overseeing elections; conflict resolutions and promotion of trade, economic intergration and good governance within West Africa for the past four decades. The summit which is held every two years to elect a chair is usually attended by heads of States.
However, due to series of open public disagreements between leadership of the body and the Gambian President dating back to ECOWAS boycott of Gambia’s 2011 elections, coupled with multiple court rulings against the Gambia government which Yahya Jammeh refused to honor, the Gambian leader was too embarrassed to attend the summit. He therefore delegated Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy accompanied by Jammeh’s new darling foreign Minister Neneh macdouall-gaye. The Vice President was instructed to out rightly reject what the Gambian leader regarded as “Western backed puppet idea to sabotage our sovereignty”
During a conversation with a delegate on the side as to whether Gambia will support the initiative Dr. Njie-Saidy whispered and said “I personally support the initiative and think is a good idea but my President will never go along with it” looking around to make sure that none of her accompanied delegates could hear her added our source. The Vice President who is also reportedly close to the Senegalese President Macky Sall also express her solidarity with President Sall and his efforts in bringing peace to Cassamance but does not want to be seen as close to Macky because she is scared of Jammeh’s reaction especially in the wake of recent public disagreements between Yahya Jammeh and the Senegalese President.
Our source also hinted that there is heightened tension and growing distrust between the Vice President and the newly trusted Jammeh confidant and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nene Macdouall. “The Vice President has always been the most trusted by President Jammeh and she doesn’t like it when she sees that someone else is getting too close to the President” added our source. The source continues to insinuate that the rumored possibility of Neneh Macdouall- gaye being the next Vice President to succeed Njie-Saidy is making things very uneasy for her.
A close family member to Vice President NJie-Saidy also confided in Gainako in a recent conversation that the much older Isatou Njie-Saidy has been looking for a way to get out but is terrified of the consequences and have no idea how she can go about it. The relative said they have advised the Vice President to seek medical leave and use those grounds to resign her position. The relative gave a perfect example what former agriculture Minister Solomon Owens did when he resigned on health grounds. “The Vice President too can use that pretext to get out of the situation without any backlash from Jammeh” the relative stressed… but on grounds that his/her name would not be used in any story.
It was put to the relative that the Vice President shows no signs of wanting to get out and in fact she has been a part of aiding Jammeh for all these years. The relative insisted that she is trap and if she knew how to get out safely she would have by now. Many political pundits are with the view that Vice President Njie-Saidy is no different than Jammeh and has been the biggest promoter of Jammeh’s propaganda machine all these years. In fact she gives Jammeh more legitimacy as he uses her to show the world that he has a woman vice president something absent even in many Western countries observed one pundit.
The big scoop here is the potential fall out between Yahya Jammeh and his longest serving Vice President. By confessing to some delegates at the ECOWAS summit that she supports a Presidential term limit in West Africa while her boss is completely against the idea puts them directly at odds for the first time. The situation is so damning that Mrs Njie-Saidy in fact allegedly said to one of her close aids in a local language “Hamga momdui Declu Ken” referring to Jammeh that he doesn’t listen to anybody. The officer who revealed these isolated conversation to a friend is also bracing for a backlash anytime. In the meantime, it remains to be seen how long Vice President Njie-Saidy and Neneh Macdouall will coexist at the State House especially with Jammeh increasingly given Neneh more access to him. Gainako will continue to monitor the situation in the next coming weeks to see the outcome. We will not be surprised if Jammeh decides to down play the imminent conflict or react abruptly to make drastic changes at the State House. For now the situation in Banjul especially in the wake of the ECOWAS embarrassment in putting Jammeh on the spot is creating more headaches within the Corridors of State power.