Gambia’s Vice-President, Isatou Njie-Saidy resigns as Tension excalates

Gambia’s Vice-President, Isatou Njie-Saidy

Gambia’s Vice-President, Isatou Njie-Saidy, has resigned on Wednesday.

She announced her resignation hours before the official end of the tenure of Mr. Jammeh’s administration as the country’s political impasse gets worse over the refusal of Mr Jammeh to relinquish power to the President-elect Adama Barrow who was scheduled to be sworn in on Thursday.

The country’s minister of higher education, Aboubacar Senghore, who was appointed to the position last July, also resigned on Wednesday saying 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 Mr Jammeh.

The resignation of Mr. Senghore, who was the country’s former foreign affairs minister, brings the number of ministers that have resigned from Mr Jammeh’s cabinet since the political logjam to eight.