Africa-Press – Gambia. Lamin Manneh, Deputy External Affairs Secretary of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has strongly denounced recent public comments made by The Gambia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Alkali Conteh, in response to statements from Foreign Minister Dr. Mamadou Tangara.
During an interview with West Coast Radio, Manneh characterized the incident as highly unprofessional and reflective of deteriorating discipline within President Adama Barrow’s administration. He emphasized that such public discord among senior officials undermines diplomatic decorum and the integrity of the government.
Reacting to the ambassador’s publicly circulated letter, Manneh expressed dismay, saying, “What we heard today, what Alkali Conteh just wrote to his minister, I was like whoa; dissension within ranks, and I love it. You know this would not happen with a UDP government,” he said.
He emphasized that internal disagreements of such nature should be addressed privately through appropriate channels rather than aired publicly.
“No ambassador would dare say that to a minister; you have something like that you want to say; you will call the president and the ambassador as under the minister, and you talk about private. Not a scathing condemnation like that,” he said.
Addressing Conteh’s claims that Minister Tangara had failed to meet with Gambian diplomats, Dr. Manneh acknowledged that while the minister’s approach may have been flawed, the ambassador’s public response was equally inappropriate. “What he said was unbecoming; he should have said this in another closed-door meeting somewhere, not in public like he did. What he said was nowhere near the scathing remarks we had this morning from Alkali Conteh,” he said.
Mr. Manneh went further, suggesting that Ambassador Conteh’s conduct warrants serious consequences. “Any ambassador who puts out something like that should be recalled immediately because this is so unbecoming of a diplomat,” he said.
He attributed the incident to broader issues of leadership within the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), accusing the government of lacking structure and coordination.
“This is what we see every day in the NPP and the government because you have too many chiefs and fees. It is just so unbecoming of any government. We may agree to disagree, but you don’t have to come out and say this kind of thing in public against each other,” he said.
Manneh concluded by reinforcing that such conflicts are a direct result of what he described as a chaotic and poorly managed administration, drawing a contrast with how the UDP would handle governance.
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