Madame Speaker

Me with the Speaker of the House, the Honorable Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay
and MP member, Seiko Susso, who arranged the meeting.

Madame Speaker

On Wednesday I had the honor of spending about an hour with the Gambia’s Speaker of the Parliament (House), Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay. She’s set the record for many firsts in her country, starting with being the first woman to be deputy mayor of Banjul in 1989. There have been other female Acting Speakers of the House, but she’s the first permanent one. This is a Presidential appointment in the Gambia and Mrs. Jahumpa Ceesay cited a long list of initiatives that President Jammeh has taken to advance women, from appointing more female cabinet secretaries to making primary education for girls free of charge for the first time in the nation’s history.

She spent twenty years working in journalism and as an activist for women and children’s rights. Today, she’s considered one of the best managers of the work of the House, where the membership is comprised of 49 men and 5 women. She’s passionate about her mission and also is a grandmother, like our own American first female Speaker of the House.