The family of former UDP top brass and minister, Lamin Ndambu Dibba, has suggested he was denied clearance by president Barrow’s government to seek treatment abroad for his illness despite spirited efforts.
In a letter dispatched to president Barrow which enumerated reasons for the rejection of his charitable offer of D50,000, the grief stricken Dibba family disclosed.
“Earlier this year, 2020, upon his return from Malaysia where he went to seek Medical Treatment, our father requested assistance for clearance from the Gambia Government to go to senegal to begin treatment. This was necessary at the time because the border was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For a few months, the Gambia Government was engaged officially up to the Foreign Ministry level, but unfortunately no timely assistance was given. The Gambia Government simply failed to facilitate a mere clearance to get him to senegal in a timely manner, a situation we found unacceptable considering his deteriorating health condition at the time. How can the MOFA delay an emergency medical clearance for a former cabinet member who had top clearance serving the Government to the neighboring Senegal?
“The family was promised an ambulance to transport the remains of our father to his home village of Salikenne by Gambia Government officials from the Banjul International Airport. The ambulance never showed at the airport on November 22nd, 2020. Further arrangements were made to have an ambulance at the Banjul ferry terminal, but the family decided to proceed without the ambulance. As such, it was his sons who drove their father’s coffin in his pickup truck from the airport to Salikenne with the support of his UDP family”.