By Tabora Bojang
The National Assembly yesterday resolved to set up a special committee to investigate the sale and disposal of the assets seized from former president Yahya Jammeh, with several members demanding that the probe be extended to cover assets not covered by the Janneh Commission.
The motion to establish the seven-member special inquiry was moved by Majority leader Billay G Tunkara and approved by the plenary to look into the list of assets identified by the Janneh Commission and determine which assets were sold, transferred, or otherwise disposed of, as well as investigate the legal and administrative process used in the selling and under whose authority.
The committee will also have powers to examine the valuation, pricing, and procurement methods used to determine asset value and identify any discrepancies or undervaluation, identify and profile purchasers of the assets to assess whether proper procedures were followed. It will also evaluate the management and accounting of proceeds generated from the asset disposals and determine whether such funds were properly deposited in public accounts.
The committee will also have powers to recommend to the IGP to open investigation against any individuals or entities wherever discrepancies of a criminal or fraudulent nature are discovered during the inquiry.
However, some NAMs said the committee should not stop at only the assets covered by the Janneh Commission as that will limit its terms of reference, arguing that it should also cover other assets that were not identified by the commission.
Alhagie Darboe of Brikama North said excluding other assets of Jammeh not covered by the Janneh Commission will create a gray area of concern for the public.
Samba Jallow of Dankunku agreed with that proposal saying that the committee should be able to look into everything about the former president’s assets since there is a notion that a lot of other assets were not covered by the Janneh Commision.
Nominated member Kebba Lang Fofana warned that limiting the committee’s scope to only assets identified by the Janneh Commission will impede the mandate of the committee.
He cited the Government white paper on the Janneh Commission which stated that bank accounts were opened using public funds but expended by Jammeh.
He said the committee must establish how much the assets of the former president in total were and determine how much was accounted for.
Assan Touray of Bakau too raised similar concerns about the committee’s terms of reference.
“We should not only limit our inquiry into properties listed by the commission. There were others which were sold and they were never indicated in the commission’s report,” the Bakau representative said.
The NAM for Latrikunda, Yaya Sanyang, questioned the motive of the mover of the motion, Hon Billay Tunkara. Sanyang had said he suspected Tunkara is trying to use the committee as a delaying tactic by his NPP government in dealing with the matter.
Janjangbureh NAM Omar Jammeh accused the Majority leader of wanting to gain cheap popularity by bringing the motion after the protests.
“I believe it was the young people’s protest that forced the government to release the lists of buyers and I also think the Majority leader did this to get cheap popularity,” he said.
Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie informed his colleagues that the idea is not to look at the conduct of the Janneh Commission which had already identified the assets but to look into how the assets were sold, their valuations, buyers, processes taken and conduct of actions that may be injurious to the government and the public.
Bakary Kora, member for Upper Fulladu West, recommended the appointment of a judge to serve as advisor to the committee.
For his part, Lower Fulladu NAM Gibbi Mballow, accused his colleagues of failing to carry out their responsibilities. “That is why my head is down because we could have done better. We have been given a function to do but we failed to do it,” Mballow said.
Sainey Jawara of Lower Saloum said the young people who went to the streets did so because their representatives in the Assembly were toothless and did not do the needful.
