On 29 May 2009, Jaiteh was appointed Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources by President Yahya Jammeh. She was later appointed Minister of Energy, but was relieved of that appointment on 17 February 2014 when Jammeh said the portfolio would come under his office. She became one of nearly 200 cabinet ministers and government officials to be hired and fired by Jammeh since he came to power in a 1994 coup. She was reinstated three days later.