By Tabora Bojang
Former Registrar General Alieu Jallow yesterday informed the parliamentary inquiry into the sale and disposal of the assets of former president Jammeh about how some of the occupants of his properties including his relatives at his mother’s residence in Kotu were evicted. “Concerns were raised that some of these people should not be allowed to occupy certain properties based on security considerations. So we evicted them from properties in Kotu, but moved them to another property so that they are not left in the streets,” Jallow said.
He however told the committee that some of them resisted the notice and eviction leading to a confrontation between them and his team.
“In one of the properties the occupant was very angry and started insulting us but we stayed calm knowing it was not an easy thing to be evicted,” Mr Jallow explained.
Asked who made the decision to evict the occupants from that Kotu property, Jallow said it was the former minister of justice Ba Tambadou.
“Sometimes based on security considerations, I will be advised that people need to be moved out from certain locations because it may be used as a place where people can mobilise and do whatever they want,” the witness said.
He disclosed that he also received instructions from the minister to evict some occupants at the Jobe Dollar property along Kairaba Avenue.
Asked if every occupant in the 36 properties served by his team were evicted, Jallow replied: “I would not know whether all of them vacated immediately after our service of notice but subsequently they left the properties because most of these properties have been purchased now.”
Continuing, Jallow confirmed that before his team’s mandate ended, they were able to ensure that occupants of the residence of the mother of the former president in Kotu leave, as well as those in another property occupied by Aisha Jallow, a wife of General Saul Badjie.
Jallow however, stated that she could not secure the cooperation of one Aisha Fatty who was also occupying another frozen property belonging to General Saul Badjie, adding that he had to refer that matter to the Janneh Commission.
Asked why they would refer the matter to the Janneh Commission, Jallow replied: “We wanted to get Aisha Fatty’s cooperation in terms of ownership of that property but when we visited the property, it was mentioned to us that she Fatty was the fiancé of the former president.”
Jallow said it was General Badjie’s wife Aisha Jallow who made them know about the property Fatty was found occupying. “When we went there she [Aisha Fatty] claimed that she owns the property but we insisted on her to prove ownership and at some point she produced a document on a military letter but I told her title deeds cannot be effected on military letter heads and that she needed to prove ownership. There was a back and forth between us and I was subsequently called by the Chairman of the Janneh Commission to his office where we had a meeting with Aisha Fatty. During that conversation I discovered that when we were talking to Aisha Fatty she would put the telephone on and someone would be listening to what she was saying, but I was not bothered by that because I was only doing my job. So I did not know whether Aisha Fatty ended up vacating that property,” Jallow told the inquiry.
Asked why would the Aisha Fatty case got to the level of the commission for a decision when other occupants including Jammeh’s relatives were evicted without much contention, Jallow said he believed Fatty had some powers outside in her defence and when things became intense, it was only wise for them to refer it to the Janneh Commission.
“I also had a meeting with the minister on this issue and the understanding was that the property belongs to General Sulayman Badjie but at one point even the minister [Tambadou] himself had asked me to stand down since I was not able to prove ownership of the property,” Jallow said.
