Three more people have been appointed to Cabinet, as disclosed by apress release from the Office of the President Wednesday. According to the release, His Excellency the President, Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh has appointed Fatou Lamin Faye as minister of Basic and Secondary Education, Fatou Gaye as minister of Forestry and the Environment, and Teneng Mba Jaiteh as deputy minister of Petroleum.

The release reads:

His Excellency the President of the Republic of The Gambia, Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya AJJ Jammeh, acting under the provisions of Section 70(1), 70(3), 71(1) and 71(3) respectively, of the Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia has made the following Cabinet appointments with immediate effect:

1. Fatou Lamin Faye as Minister of Basic and Secondary Education;

2. Fatou Gaye as Minister of Forestry and the Environment;

3. Mrs. Teneng Mba Jaiteh as Deputy Minister of Petroleum.

Background

Fatou Ndeye Gaye, who is in her 50s, was born in Kaur in the Central River Region. She bagged her Higher National Diploma in Animal Health at the Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya. She also obtained both her Post-graduate Diploma in International Animal Feed Production and International Poultry Husbandry at the Barneveld College in The Netherlands.

Gaye who has been working for the government of The Gambia for over 30 years, has served in various capacities in the agricand environment sectors. From August 1979 to November 2008, she has served as Principal Livestock Officer and rose through the ranks to Senior Livestock Officer, Livestock Officer, Senior Livestock Assistant and Livestock Inspector at the Department of Livestock Services at Abuko.

On the 6th November 2008, she was appointed Principal Climate Change Officer at the Ministry of Forestry and the Environment, the position she held until her Cabinet appointment. In October 2009, Fatou Ndeye Gaye was also appointed as candidate for Independent chair of FAO Council.

Fatou Lamin Faye joined the Cabinet in 2004 as then minister of Education, the position she held until 2007. She later became minister of Basic and Secondary Education, following the creation of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology. Faye, a career educationist, is the second longest serving ministerin the Cabinet after VP Njie-Saidy and has at one time served as the director of the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI).

Teneng Mba Jaiteh’s first Cabinet appointment was in 2009 as Deputy Minister of Petroleum, the position she held until the previous Cabinet was dissolved last Thursday, February 2nd, 2012.. She gathered a wealth of experience in the Civil Service having served as Principal Assistant Secretary, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Permanent Secretary, Secretary to Cabinet and later as Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service.