American lobbyist John Aycoth thinks that it is a mistake for President Adama Barrow to hire former Jammeh enablers into his cabinet. Describing Jammeh as a psychopath and a former corrupt despot, Aycoth, said, even though he doesn’t know Gambia’s Foreign Minister Momodou Tangara, and Finance Minister Mamburay Njie, he noted that former officials, who were affiliated to Jammeh shouldn’t be a priority for job hiring. He referenced Hitler’s Nazi led government, which was notorious for its gross human rights violations. He says The Gambian situation sounded to him, like having one of Hitler’s Ministers heading the Holocaust museum, which he was quick to add, would never happen in a lifetime.
“I think to put in somebody at a high important Ministry of Ministry of Finance, someone that is affiliated, or who worked for Jammeh is a mistake. It is just a mistake. There are a lot of very sharp intelligent, highly qualified Gambians in this world that you could bring in to do the Finance Minister. You know that there are a lot of Gambians that worked at the World Bank for years, who were anti-Jammeh, these are the kind of people that you need to find to bring to the country and reward those kind of jobs, but you don’t give it to someone, who is associated with him. What is the point. Look, would you hire a Minister from Nazi Germany from Hitler, one of the Hitler’s Ministers to be the head of the Holocaust museum? No,” Aycoth a former Jammeh administration lobbyist remarked.
Aycoth says the human rights record of the former Jammeh administration, coupled with the blatant corruption that engulfed the brutal regime, should disqualify former officials associated with Jammeh to be accorded with such prestigious positions of authority.
He says Jammeh had maimed, and killed Gambians during his twenty two years misplaced rule. He added that corruption was also the order of the day during Jammeh’s rule, with Jammeh stealing over one billion dollars from Gambia’s meager resources.
He maintained that it is wrong to hire people, who had aided Jammeh, be it directly or indirectly to oppress innocent Gambians. He told this medium that Jammeh’s crimes against humanity had virtually affected all Gambians and the new government should avail job opportunities to qualified Jammeh Gambians and not former enablers.
Speaking in an interview with Freedom Radio Gambia’s prime time Leral show, Aycoth said it is not a wise move for the new administration to hire former Jammeh enablers. He said Jammeh represents corruption and any government that is interested in developing a country like The Gambia should rely on spent forces that had outlived their usefulness.
He added that both Jammeh and his gold digger Moroccan wife Zeinab Souma Jammeh are criminals, who have been indicted by the US government for stealing millions of taxpayers’ money to buy a $3.5 million dollars home in Potomac, Maryland. Aycoth, who welcomed the Justice Department’s move to pursue Jammeh’s stolen assets, said if the said home is recovered, it should be sold, and its proceeds should be sent to The Gambian government to help poverty-stricken Gambians.
Join The Conversation