President Adama Barrow on Wednesday fired Gambia’s central bank governor and three other bank officials considered loyal to former dictator Yahya Jammeh, a senior official at the bank said Wednesday.
Central bank governor Amadou Colley, two of his deputies and the bank’s financial director, who all served during Jammeh’s iron-first rule, received their letters of dismissal.
The dismissals according to Central Bank senior officer, Nuha Barrow are part of Barrow’s attempts to ensure that democracy is re-established in the small Islamic republic and depose those who held high positions during Jammeh’s 22-year rule.
Since he assumed office on Jan. 19, Punch reports that Barrow had ordered the dismissals and arrests of numerous security, intelligence and government officials.
Jammeh, who caused weeks of political impasse by refusing to accept the result of the December 2016 election, stands accused of having committed wide-ranging human rights violations during his presidency, including torture, killings and abductions.
After weeks of regional pressure and the threat of arrest by West African troops who had entered Gambia, Jammeh eventually conceded defeat and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea.
Posted Juliet Ekwebelam
