By Omar Bah
The Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) has welcome calls for its leader and former Interior Minister Mai Fatty to be called before the National Assembly over a forensic laboratory project he signed in 2017, that the current minister said there is no trace of.
A statement signed by the party’s Organising Secretary Amadou Byforce, said what was signed was a framework agreement signed by then-Minister Fatty with an investor led by Dr Cheikh Tidiane Sy, trading Centre for Diagnostics and Research in Molecular Medicine, an FBI-certified forensic company.
According to GMC, the investor’s projection of the development’s total value — reported at US$48 million — was described by the party as the developer’s own estimate and “not a sum committed, disbursed, or held by the Government of The Gambia.
“Not one dalasi of public money was paid, lost, or placed at the disposal of any party,” the statement said, adding that the project stalled after Hon Fatty left the ministry.
The GMC’s rejoinder emphasised that Fatty had already addressed the matter publicly and proactively, voluntarily disclosing the details now being contested. The party said there is “no fact left outstanding, no figure left unexplained, and no question of personal benefit.”
The statement also addressed reports that Minister Sanyang was unable to locate a related file, describing the missing file as an institutional record-keeping issue for the current administration to resolve, and not evidence of concealment by the former minister.
“So calling for the summoning of a man who has already, publicly and unprompted, answered every material question, serves no further forensic or accountability purpose,” the GMC wrote, referring to Mr Madi Jobarteh’s demand. The party accused critics of seeking “populist headline” rather than facts.
The Office of the Minister of Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the GMC’s rejoinder or to clarify whether efforts to retrieve the 2017 file are ongoing.
