As DDG Hulay Jallow-Cham Takes Backseat
By: Momodou Justice Darboe
Hopes for a female leadership at the Gambia Immigration Department (GID) were riding high until January this year when the department created a new Assistant Director General (ADG) rank, which better positioned the current GID DG as one of the most ideal candidates to replace Seedy Touray, sources in the GID hinted The Voice.
Hitherto the creation of the Assistant Director General (ADG) rank, the Deputy Director General (DDG) of the GID, Madam Hulay Jallow-Cham, was the “natural” successor to Seedy Touray as the GID’s No.2 but the new ADG rank pushed her further down to No.5 on the GID’s pecking order.
Barely two months before his redeployment as the Gambia’s police chief, Seedy Touray was frantically working behind the scenes with the PMO and the interior ministry to introduce the ADG rank. The introduction of the new rank has emasculated DDG Jallow-Cham, dimming her prospects for rising to the top of the GID hierarchy.
“DDG Hulay Jallow-Cham is a victim of toxic masculinity, toxic workplace politics, and misogynistic tendencies of her male counterparts. They wanted to frustrate and anger her by appointing Bai Ebrima Mboob as the DG,” one of our sources said.
“The reason why Seedy was eager to create the new ADG role was to ensure that he was replaced by someone more pliable and of course, subservient to him. And he got that in Bai Ebrima Mboob. Mboob is not more competent than the DDG but Seedy brought in Mboob because he felt he could manipulate him unlike the DDG,” another source said.
Many of our interlocutors described yesterday as a sad day for women’s empowerment in The Gambia as Seedy Touray handed the baton of leadership to Bai Ebrima Mboob.
“Some women officers have had their spirits dampened today as the taking of the mantle by Mboob is a clear message that no matter how high they rise on the GID’s pecking order, they’ll never be on top,” one female officer lamented as she spoke to this medium on condition of anonymity for fear of a backlash.
Sources informed this reporter that DDG Hulay Cham was competent enough to provide that strategic leadership for the GID.
Before her elevation to the DDG role, Madam Jallow-Cham served in key roles both in The Gambia and in conflict situations.
When contacted, the former GID DG Seedy Touray said if anyone wishes to ask him job-related questions, it must revolve around the Gambia Police Force (GPF).
The Public Relations Officer of the GID, Chief Superintendent Mamanding S. Dibba, described reports about the sidelining of DDG Jallow-Cham as rumors.
Meanwhile, some GID officers said the inability of DDG Cham to make it to the top even though she was sufficiently competent would send a wrong signal to female GID officers that no matter how hard they try, the DG role remains elusive for them.
