The Open Gambia platform has received information from contacts within Senegalese administrations confirming the statement made by the Minister for Presidential Affairs Modou Ceesay to be accurate that Senegal shoulders the responsibility paid for President Barrow’s mother’s medical bills, which was a long standard conventional protocol arrangement.
A senior staff member at the Gambia High Commission GHC, who wishes to be anonymous in Dakar, collaborated on the information and explained what had transpired, leading to the Senegalese authorities paying for President Barrows Mum’s medical Bills.
The GHC officer narrated that since President Barrow assumed office, former Senegalese President Macky Sallah granted President Barrow favour by making the Senegalese state take responsibility for President Barrow Mum’s first medical expenses in Dakar. Later, it continued that the Senegalese government paid the medical bills whenever Barrows’s mum came for a medical trip, making it a standard protocol between the two leaders.
The GHC officer revealed that on this last trip that ignited the controversy from the leaked letter, the New Senegalese administration initially refused to honour the nonconventional protocol for their administration to pay President Barrows Mum’s medical bills; the Gambian High Commissioner has to appeal ferociously to the office of Senegalese Prime Minister through the Senegalese Foreign Affairs Ministry for them to help with the authorisation of Senegal paying for President Barrow Mum Medical bills payment as per usual protocols establish by Former President Sall.
According to our Senegalese contact, the Senegalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to intervene for the Prime Minister’s office to authorise the payment for only this one last time. The Senegalese Prime Minister’s office’s decision to honour making the payment emphasises that they no longer must honour such unconventional protocol as it’s unjustifiable to the Senegalese taxpayers.
The GHC officer expresses deep sadness and humiliation to the embassy staff who are witnessing the degrading of our Sovereignty, begging a foreign nation to pay our President Mum’s Medical bills. The GHC emphasises that the Barrow administration is undermining our sovereign integrity toward its strategy partners at every level—no wonder we hold no leverage to negotiate anything to our advantage.
