The Gambian Vice President, Isatou Njie-Saidy,has threw in the towel, effectively isolating the embattled President, Yahya Jammeh who had vowed to remain in power against the international outcry and military build-up around him.
The Vice President announced her resignation hours before official end of the tenure of President Jammeh’s administration as the country’s political impasse gets worse over his refusal to relinquish power to the President-elect, Adama Barrow who was scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow, Thursday.
The country’s minister of higher education, Aboubacar Senghore, who was appointed to the position last July, also resigned today, saying that he cannot serve in the post beyond the tenure of the outgoing president.
“Given my strong religious and legal background, I feel it is now ethically and legally speaking time to step down as minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology and Religious Affairs as the constitutional mandate of the current government expires today, Wednesday 18th January 2017,” he wrote in his resignation letter to President Jammeh.
The resignation of Senghore, who was the country’s former foreign affairs minister, brings the number of minister that have resigned from President Jammeh’s cabinet since the political logjam to eight. [myad]
