The Edward Francis Centre for Rights and Justice yesterday issued a statement calling on government to fully implement the recommendations in the report of the National Assembly special select committee report on the sale and disposal of assets belonging to former president Yahya Jammeh.
The centre argued that the report adopted by parliament on Tuesday laid bare a devastating truth, that “The Gambia’s institutions did not fail because of a few bad apples, but they failed because leadership at the highest levels permitted it”.
The statement read: “For months, the committee heard evidence of billions misappropriated, millions in foreign currency vanishing, prime national land allocated to ghost companies, and public assets, from cattle to aircraft, sold for fractions of their value. But the most damning revelation is that: the very branches of government entrusted to protect the people actively participated in, or passively enabled, this betrayal. The numbers are staggering, but they are also a confession of failure: US$302 million, €29 million, and £2.2 million remain unrecovered.; and over D1.7 billion passed through the receiver’s accounts, yet we cannot fully account for where it all went; dozens of properties, including the former dictator’s residence in Kanilai, sit looted and rotting, abandoned by the State like the rule of law itself.
“The findings of the committee reveal a disturbing pattern of administrative irregularities, weak oversight, disregard for financial laws, and lack of transparency in the handling of public assets. In particular, the report highlights violations of the Public Finance Act, the creation of parallel financial arrangements outside established government systems, defective asset valuation and disposal procedures, and poor record-keeping and accountability mechanisms. These failures have undermined public trust and raised legitimate concerns about whether the Gambian people received the full value of assets that were forfeited to the State.
“EFSCRJ is particularly concerned that the report demonstrates a profound failure of leadership and responsibility within both the executive and legislative branches of government. On the part of the executive, the report reveals that key officials entrusted with safeguarding public resources acted outside the law, bypassed established financial controls, and allowed administrative arrangements that weakened transparency and accountability in the management of recovered assets. Equally troubling is the finding that these irregular arrangements were not corrected even after changes in leadership within the Ministry of Justice.”
The centre contended that the report revealed that the Ministry of Justice under former attorney general Abubacarr Tambadou, operated as a parallel government, sidestepping the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, violating the Public Finance Act, and handpicking a private receiver, Alpha Barry, on a chance encounter in Mecca, rewarding him with commissions exceeding D115 million.
“When the former minister of finance Mambury Njie dared to question these illegalities, he was threatened with criminal prosecution by his own colleague. This is not governance but a blatant institutional capture by individuals who placed themselves above the law. While we welcome the committee’s recommendation for criminal prosecution for Tambadou and a permanent ban for Barry, we are concerned that other members of the ministerial committee were left untouched,” it lamented.
It called for the full implementation of the recommendations and that investigations recommended by the committee be transparent and proceed without fear or favour, and all individuals found to have violated the law be held accountable in accordance with due process.
“Public assets belong to the Gambian people, and their management must always meet the highest standards of transparency, legality, and accountability,” it averred.
