Defence Minister Sering Modou Njie has said the removal of a number of senior officers from the army was done under the authority granted to the commander in chief, in this case, the president.
Minister Njie, himself a former army officer, was asked by Foni Kansala NAM Almameh Gibba yesterday to inform the Assembly why the following military officers, General Musa Savage, Major Kebba Gibba, Major Karamba Jammeh, Captain Gibril Jammeh, Major Lamin Manneh, Major Alieu Sowe, Captain Abdou Badjie ,Captain Sulayman Jammeh and General Modou Sowe, were ‘forcefully’ retired from the army, while other soldiers alleged of coup attempts, were reinstated.
Responding to Gibba, the minister said: These officers and other ranks mentioned were discharged from the Gambia Armed Forces under the authority granted to the Commander in chief who is also the president and all of them were paid their full benefits”.
However, Hon Gibba came back to argue that some of these officers have never been found wanting and there was no mention of them committing any anomalies in their discharge letters.
“But we have seen alleged coupists being reinstated and repaid,” Hon Gibba put it to the minister, who again insisted that the “powers or authority granted in this provision for a member of the armed forces to be discharged from service is purely under the authority of the commander in chief.”
“I was discharged under the same provisions and many of my other colleagues were also discharged. So, Hon Speaker, I am not in position to deliberate on why coupists as mentioned by the member were enlisted or reinstated. What I do know is that the officers were discharged according to the provisions that have been provided in the GAF Act on the powers of the commander in chief,” the minister concluded.
Source: Standard
