The Gambia parliament has approved the appointments and salaries of the country’s information commissioners. 

The commissioners are tasked with overseeing the commission’s functions to promote transparency, accountability and access to information.

The law setting up the information commission was enacted by parliament two years ago after the president assented to it.

The commission will be led by a Jammeh-era information minister, Nene MacDouall Gaye, and her deputy is John Charles Njie. Other members are renowned journalists, Baboucarr Cham, Bai Emil Touray and Ya Amie Touray.

“The Ministry of Information is pleased to announce that the National Assembly has confirmed the appointments and approved of the salary scale of the information commissioners. This decision marks a significant step forward in the implementation of the Access to Information (ATI) Act 2022, which aims to promote transparency, accountability, and access  to public records and information,” the ministry of information said.

However, some Gambians including journalists and activists have expressed concern over the appointment of commission’s chair, who they said served as an information minister under Jammeh’s repressive regime against the media.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba