Group opposes nomination of former Jammeh ally as Commonwealth Secretary-General

At their meeting in Samoa, 21 – 27 October, the Heads of Government will select and appoint the next Commonwealth Secretary-General.

The three candidates vying for the Commonwealth Secretary-General position are Mamadou Tangara from the Gambia, Shirley Botchwey from Ghana, and Joshua Setipa from Lesotho.

Some civil society organisations have raised concerns about Mr Tangara’s candidacy. In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, a group of ‘Concerned Gambians and Commonwealth Citizens’ argued that Mr Tangara is “not fit and proper” to be the Commonwealth Secretary-General in the name of the Gambia as he does not “possess Commonwealth values.”

The group said Mr Tangara did not defend the country at a time when the Gambia was “undergoing a brutal dictatorship.”

Mr Tangara served under former Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh in different capacities including as foreign affairs minister.

During his time as minister, the group said Mr Tangara used his position to defend dictatorship at international forums.

“Public officials who turn the state into a weapon of violence and corruption against the people and those who aid and abet them must face consequences for their decisions, positions and actions,” the group said, adding, “Public office has benefits for those who work in it, but it also bears costs for those who flout and abuse public office.”

The three candidates will debate each other at Chatham House in London on 11 September.

The Commonwealth Headquarters did not immediately respond to the petition against Mr Tangara. Instead, it released a statement saying, “The people of the Commonwealth have a direct interest in who will be the next Secretary-General.”

It urged people to submit questions and concerns that could be posed to the candidates during debates.

Commonwealth Heads of Government will elect a new Secretary General in accordance with the Agreed Memorandum on the Establishment and Functions of the Commonwealth Secretariat (revised 2022) and the principle of regional rotation.

The successful candidate will serve as the seventh Commonwealth Secretary-General.

From 1994 to 2016, The Gambia was under an entrenched dictatorship of Mr Jammeh. Mr Tangara was accused of being an ally of Mr Jammeh having served as minister on various occasions and other appointments, including that of Minister for Fisheries, Water Resources, and National Assembly Matters, and Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science, and Technology. In 2013, he was appointed as Gambian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, a position he held up to the end of President Jammeh’s dictatorship.

The group said Mr Tangara supported a dictatorship that was prone to “weakening state institutions and a state security apparatus that committed human rights abuses with impunity to disappear, maim, kill, torture, and harass unarmed civilians, including political figures, civil servants, journalists, activists, students, and communities.”

“Not only was Mr Mamadou Tangara’s silence on the domestic front deafening in the midst of these atrocities, for a significant part of the Yahya Jammeh regime, he managed The Gambia’s foreign and diplomatic relations, providing the international community, including the Commonwealth and its member States, a false picture of the situation in the country,” the group said.

As foreign minister, the group noted that Mr Tangara threatened the safety of Gambians, whom he reportedly perceived “as enemies of the state” in compliance with “Jammeh’s definition.”

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“Between 2011 and 2012, on at least two occasions, he sought the support of the Government of Mali to extradite Ndey Tapha Sosseh, former president of The Gambia Press Union and Secretary General of the Coalition for Change Gambia, Civil Society Associations the Gambia (CSAG), who fled into exile in Mali 3 for her safety. The Malian Government stood firm in their request for proof of the obviously false accusations of treason, sedition, and wanting to overthrow the Government upon which Mr Tangara’s extradition request was based. Ms Sosseh faced imprisonment and death if she was extradited. She made this statement in her testimony at the TRRC, but Minister Mamadou Tangara vehemently denied these charges even though the facts speak otherwise.”