The ambassador of the United States of America to The Gambia has given the Gambian leader a tap on the back, saying that, “he is committed to development and making progress in his country”. 

Her Excellency Pamela White was speaking during an interview with reporters Thursday evening at State House in Banjul, shortly after having audience with the president of the Republic, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh. Ambassador White, who underscored that the Gambian leader has passion, further asserted that he [the president] needs more resources and is looking for those resources. 

She added: “But also it’s interesting, but he is bit of an expert on world affairs and can talk intelligently about a whole long range of issues. Do we agree on all those issues? No! But he speaks intelligently to defend his point of view and I think that is important.” The US diplomat further described President Jammeh as “very open and very honest, speaks from his heart and tells one the truth”. She also revealed that their discussion centered on an array of issues and things that are interesting to the United States.

“We talked about election, the progress that has been made in malaria prevention here and vaccination, schools, his passion for women issues,” she stated. Asked if the US government is looking forward to assisting The Gambia, especially its Independent Electoral Commission in the run up to the forthcoming Presidential Election, Ambassador White said: “Your president and I talked about that and he said they need many things. I said that we will probably be interested in technical assistance. Anyway, one thing that the president did promise me is that no matter what there will be an election this year.”