A special adviser to Gambian president Adama Barrow has tendered his resignation on Friday, saying he was no longer effective in the role.
During a press conference in Banjul on Friday, Mai Ahmed Fatty who heads the Gambian Moral Congress party, which was part of the coalition that swept Barrow to victory in the 2016 election, said the advisory role was no longer tenable for him to cling onto.
Despite questions from journalists, Fatty fell short of stating the exact reason he was quitting the role.
The GMC founder was fired by President Barrow in 2018 as Interior minister for reasons which were not made public.
He was rehired as presidential adviser earlier this year.
His resignation comes at a time Gambian politics is sucked into a bitter tug of war between Barrow’s supporters who want him to go for a five year mandate as stipulated in the constitution and his detractors who demand he respect an election promise he made to the electorate to step aside after three years.
Barrow recently got the nod from a section of his coalition partners for a full five-year mandate, a decision which came under a barrage of criticism from his detractors.
Sources told the African Press Agency that as presidential adviser Mai Fatty was in favour of the president stepping down after three years on December 2 2019.
His resignation came because the Gambian leader refused to toe this line, the source said.
This theory appears vindicated when he accused Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang, a former Vice President under Barrow, of adopting an elusive tactics to extend the president’s mandate from three years to five years without the knowledge of some coalition members including his party.
Ms. Tambajang recently announced that coalition members had met and agreed to extend Barrow’s tenure, claiming Fatty’s party and other stakeholders were informed, a claim denied by them.
Despite his departure as presidential adviser Fatty said he would continue to be a regular in Gambian politics.
“I am not going away. I will continue to strengthen my political party base, make it the strongest, most viable political party in the history of this country” he vowed of his GMC.
DB/as/APA