11 Facts About Hamat Bah

Hamat Ngai Kumba Bah is a Gambian politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and Culture in President Adama Barrow's cabinet.

Hamat Bah is the leader of the National Reconciliation Party and has been a presidential candidate in 1996,2001 and 2011.

Hamat Bah was the National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum from 1997 to 2005.

Hamat Bah worked as a teacher at the Gambia College before becoming a manager at Novotel Hotel in Kotu Strand.

Hamat Bah entered politics in 1996 when he stood as the newly-formed National Reconciliation Party's candidate in the first president election since Yahya Jammeh's coup d'etat in 1994.

Hamat Bah became a leading critic of the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction in the National Assembly thereafter.

Hamat Bah withdrew the NRP from NADD early in 2006 and endorsed the United Democratic Party's candidate, Ousainou Darboe, in the 2006 presidential election.

Hamat Bah contested Upper Saloum again the 2007 election but again lost to Mbaye.

In 2011, Hamat Bah was elected leader of a new opposition alliance, the United Front.

On 1 February 2017, Hamat Bah was sworn in as Barrow's Minister of Tourism and Culture.

Hamat Bah said that his priority would be to "work hard with stakeholders" to develop the tourism, and encouraged members of the press to show that the Gambia "is changing for the better".