Gambian president announces cabinet reshuffle
On 4 May, President Adama Barrow announced salient changes to the Gambian governing team: a reshuffling of politically significant posts and persons in the cabinet, the office of the presidency and the top of the civil service. The appointments are the latest iteration of a political cycle characterised by presidential elections in December 2021, legislative elections in April and now, a reshuffle.
Significance – Not so accidental now
President Adama Barrow came to power in January 2017 as the consensus candidate for an opposition coalition that eventually defeated the 20-year head of state, Yahya Jammeh and his Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation (APRC). The anti-Jammeh coalition was relatively short-lived, collapsing after Barrow fell out with colleagues from the United Democratic Party and then launched his own National People’s Party. His position at the helm of the country with comparatively shallow experience, party political pedigree and legislative backing earned him the moniker ‘accidental president’. It also made shoring up support a prominent motivation for 2018-2021 cabinet appointments and some difficult 2021 campaign promises/coalitions.
In December 2021, Barrow took the presidential contest. And in April this year, his NPP came ahead in the legislative elections. Against its former profoundly minority status, the NPP now has a simple majority assuming that it is able to maintain common cause with certain independents and minority parties. But the 2021 election machinations frayed support and relationships in some quarters, and the NPP is still without a robust parliamentary majority. Those dynamics are reflected in the new cabinet. For example, Hamat Bah of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) has retained his post.
The government now includes 18 ministers (15 men, 3 women), a new vice president, chief of staff and civil service head (2 men and 1 woman). The latter is a new post entirely.
Outlook – Change on principal portfolios
Notable figures no longer in government include the vice-president Dr Isatou Touray anf former finance, environment, interior and fisheries ministers – Mambury Njie, Lamin Dibba, Yankuba Sonko and James Gomez. Their successors are tasked with managing a promised suite of policy priorities around infrastructure development, public financial management, financial inclusion and climate change mitigation inter alia. See: Gambia legislative election results are in, and the scene is set.
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Photo credit: Adama Barrow, Chatham House