Health Minister Mbowe Fired At Last!!

Gambian Aids activists Want the Disgraced Minister Banned from The Medical Field

By Staff Writer Mamat Taal

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has fired his Health Minister Tamsir Mbowe with immediate effect, the Freedom Newspaper can authoritatively report. In a statement issued today, the office of the President announces the removal of Dr.Mbowe, who until recently was Mr.Jammeh’s right hand in his ongoing aids cure discovery. The disgraced Minister received a terse letter before close of business Monday, informing him about his dismissal. Mr.Mbowe, a Russian trained Medical Doctor had been a staunch supporter of President Jammeh’s aids cure discovery . The sacked Minister had earlier claimed that the Gambian President was in the position to cure HIV/Aids. His sacking came as a big surprise to many here in Banjul. Reports have it that Mbowe had a strained relationship with the Gambian leader prior to his unceremonious removal.

No reason has been publicly advanced for Mr.Mbowe’s removal. Mr. Mbowe studied Medicine in Russia and Ireland before returning to The Gambia. He served as a Doctor at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital for couple of years. Mr.Mbowe’s professional ethics was put on the line, when he openly supported Mr.Jammeh’s claims of having cure for aids. To many here, the sacked Minister betrayed Medical ethics by stooping too low to justify Jammeh‘s false aids cure claims.

Aids activists across the country have welcomed Mbowe’s removal. “It’s a welcomed development. The President has long been fooled by this so called doctor, whose pre-occupation is to lie just to secure his job. From day one, we knew that Dr.Mbowe was out to help the President to go astray. Being a trained doctor ,Mbowe ought to have known better, but he decided to compromise his ethics. This is a great day for Gambian aids activists. An agent for misinformation has been fired. An honest Health Minster would have told the President that he was meddling into a wrong area. Mbowe the deceiver is gone. We are happy today. We hope the President would consider stopping his aids treatment. He cannot treat aids, he is rather aggravating the situation. Many youths are engaged in risky behaviors thanks to the President claims for having cure for HIV/Aids. Jammeh got to stop his false claims.” said an aids activist in Banjul.

Another aids activist said” We knew that it was a matter of time for Mbowe to be fired. Folks like Mbowe believe that the President is mentally unstable and as such they can use their profession to deceive the President and Gambians. After been used, he has been discarded like a trash. We are calling on Health institutions within and outside the Gambia to deny Mbowe license to practice because he is capable of endangering the lives of patients. He lacks secrecy, ethics and principles. Dr.Mbowe should be banned.”

Attempts to reach Dr.Mbowe for comments proved futile at press time. Family sources said the former Minister was resting and had asked callers to leave a message. This reporter was asked to identify himself, which he did. Up to the time of filing this story, Mr.Mbowe had not returned my call. A sizable crowd of sympathizers were seen at Mbowe’s residence, where they prevailed on the sacked Minister continue to put his faith in God.