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According to President Adama Barrow, Gambia’s Vice-President Badara Alieu Joof (65) died of illness in India on Tuesday after a short illness. However, he did not reveal any details of his illness. The Vice President was in India to seek medical treatment
According to President Adama Barrow, Gambia’s Vice-President Badara Alieu Joof (65) died of illness in India on Tuesday after a short illness. However, he did not reveal any details of his illness. The Vice President was in India to seek medical treatment. Joof was appointed vice president of the West African country in 2022. Before his short stint as the Vice President, Joof had served as education minister in charge of research, science and technology. He was in India for the last three weeks. He was a career teacher and was known for his pro-poor stand and which was popular among Gambians.
Barrow picked him as vice president after being re-elected in December 2021 for a second term. Since that historic win of Barrow, Joof was the second Vice President to serve under Barrow. Importantly, in June, Joof was critical of the state of affairs in the country. He openly voiced his cryptic remark that Gambians had great expectations and business as usual would not lead to a decisive change.
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The late vice president previously worked in the Gambian civil service and later in the World Bank as an Education Specialist for West and Central Africa, transmitting his experience there to his time as minister of higher education, research, science and technology. He is the first Gambian vice president to die in office. Though there is no mention of the nature of his illness, rumours of his ill health began circulating in December 2022. He reportedly stopped appearing in public shortly after he returned from a visit to the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus in December.
