Gambian leader Adama Barrow has appointed a new Justice minister hours after the resignation of his predecessor Abubakar Ba Tambadou earlier on Thursday.
In a statement, the Office of the President confirmed that Mr. Tambadou submitted his resignation to President Barrow who accepted it and has since appointed a successor.
According to the presidency, Tambadou will with effect from 30 June 2020 cease to be Attorney General and Minister of Justice following his resignation ostensibly to pick up a job with the United Nations.
His replacement Mr. Dawda A. Jallow will assume office on 1 July 2020.
President Barrow praised Tambadou as a selfless patriot who “successfully initiated and diligently executed several of the government’s key governance reform activities” among them the establishment of the Constitutional Review Commission, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, and the National Human Rights Commission, among others.
The government described Tambadou as instrumental in restoring The Gambia’s regional and international image and leadership in the global human rights movement which his compatriots should be proud of.
In 2018, he was in the eye of a storm raised around an apparent conflict of interest involving his brother who is also a trained lawyer.
President Barrow had rejected his resignation, urging the 47-year old to carry on as his government’s chief legal adviser.
Mr. Tambadou worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as special assistant to the Prosecutor between 2012 and 2016.
He joined Barrow’s cabinet in February 2017, shortly after a tumultuous change of government which followed disputed elections months earlier.
Tambadou was widely praised in and out of his country as almost single-handedly spearheading Gambia’s international legal campaign against Myanmar’s alleged crimes against its Muslim minority Rohingya population.
WN/as/APA