EXCLUSIVE: The Minister of Youth and Sports Bakary Badjie “will repay” the nearly £3,000 travel allowance paid to his wife, Hawa Jobarteh for a two-week trip abroad, to the government on Monday, Gambiana has learned.

Mr Badjie’s decision comes amid public backlash against him after a leaked letter showed that he paid his wife, who is a non-government official, £200 per day travel allowance to attend sporting events in UK and Turkey last month. 

It also emerged that the wife was paid for the trip to the UK despite not attending the Commonwealth Games after being denied a visa. 

Mr Badjie’s supporters have launched a campaign to protest his innocence.

Matarr Saine, mobiliser general for Team Bakary, told Gambiana exclusively that “Bakary and his team have decided to return the per diem paid to his wife Hawa officially to the government on Monday because Bakary feels that Hawa didn’t go to England and the mission was for England delegates.

“This will be the third time Bakary will return the per diem paid to him on missions he had not gone to complete officially. 

“Last year, he was paid a per-diem for a 7-day trip but he had only spent four days and he returned the money to the government and he has done the same this year, and this one will be the third time Bakary will prove the critics wrong,” Mr Saine added.

Meanwhile, Mr Saine said the per diem was paid in-line with government rules regarding overseas travel allowance for government officials.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba