The wife of Bakary Badjie, minister of Youth and Sports, was paid travel allowance to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham even though she was denied a UK visa.

The minister is facing backlash for paying his wife nearly £3000 travel allowance to attend the Commonwealth Games in the UK and the Islamic Games in Turkey. 

A letter from his ministry leaked yesterday on social media showed that Mr Badjie and his wife Awa Jobarteh were paid £300 and £200 travel allowances per day for two weeks. 

Mr Badjie has confirmed that he authorised the payment but maintained that he didn’t do anything wrong. 

He told Gambiana that the the payment was “allowed because it is not done behind back doors. This was done through a normal process.”

Mr Badjie added: “There was an invitation from the Commonwealth Secretariat and the GNOC. Both letters came through Foreign Affairs. GNOC came directly to us and the invitation is for the Commonwealth Games. The minister is accorded what is called accompanying guest.”

The minister also disclosed that his wife didn’t travel to the Commonwealth Games because she was denied a visa.

He said his wife was part of the official Gambian delegation to the Islamic Games in Turkey. 

However the leaked letter revealed that the wife was paid travel allowance for the two weeks visit that included the Commonwealth Games which she didn’t attend.