The Ministry of Information has issued a press release indicating that the President had relied on section 71 subsection (1) of the Constitution to appoint Mr Mod K. Ceesay as Chief of Staff and Minister at the Presidency.
It is within the purview of the President to create offices like ministries after preparing the budgetary allocation through normal appropriation or supplementary appropriation and publication in the Gambia Gazette.
The president should explain what is meant by Chief of Staff. The Constitution is very clear. A Minister cannot be a civil servant in the public service. There is a whole chapter on the public service and section 169 subsection (2) states:
“In this section, “public servant” means a person holding an office in a public service, a person in
the service of a local government authority, and a person in the service of a Public Enterprise.
Section 166 subsection (4) further adds
“(4) In this Constitution, an office in the public service does not include –
(a) the offices of President, Vice-President, Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the National
Assembly, minister or a member of the National Assembly;
(b) the offices of a member of any commission (other than a commission the members of which
are hereby or by an Act of National Assembly declared to hold an office in the public service), or a member of the Advisory Committee on the exercise of the Prerogative of Mercy or the Advisory Committee on the conferment of honours.”
It is therefore important for the President to clarify whether the position mentioned in the workforce budget for 2024 and 2025 is being referred to as Chief of Staff.
In the workforce budget for 2024 and 2025 there is ‘Chief of Staff’ serving as a civil servant as a staff of the office of the President. There is also no Ministry in the new estimates referred to in the press release.
We hope the government will give an explanation to clarify matters.
