By Tabora Bojang
The parliamentary inquiry committee on the sale of former president Jammeh’s frozen assets has ordered Secretary to Cabinet Alieu Njie to provide minutes of all cabinet minutes from January 19, 2017 to date.
Lead Counsel Dibba made the application at yesterday’s hearing.
However, in doing so, the lead counsel asked the witness to indicate if there is any sensitivity in the information sought, and the committee will look into it appropriately.
Following the application, Secretary to Cabinet Njie argued that the information requested may be too bulky and voluminous but Counsel Dibba informed him that the committee has time to review all files submitted before it.
Presiding acting chairman Madi Ceesay accepted the application and ordered Mr Njie to provide the minutes as requested.
SG Njie was also ordered to provide cabinet conclusions on reports from the Central Bank, Social Security, Gambia Ports Authority, Gamtel and others, regarding the withdrawal of substantial amount of funds by the former president, in addition to minutes derived from deliberations and conclusions made on them.
Apology
During his previous testimony Njie was issued a 72-hour deadline to provide all cabinet files relating to the sale of the assets for inspection by the committee’s investigators.
He complied with the order and provided the files before investigators yesterday with an apology to the committee for what he called errors made during his previous testimony in which he claimed the cabinet does not maintain a specific record regarding the sales and disposal of assets in question.
“This was an error on my side because I later consulted with my team and discovered that there was indeed an active file in the cabinet regarding the sales. I had also mentioned that there was no specific file on the Janneh Commission but I have also discovered that there is a Janneh Commission file. So my sincere apologies for these errors,” Njie pleaded with the committee.
He further explained that his responsibility mainly focuses on cabinet matters, cabinet papers and taking minutes during cabinet meetings adding that it is the Chief of Staff who is responsible for presidential matters.
Unsold assets
The committee also raised the issue of a cabinet document placing a moratorium on the sale of the assets in 2019 to allow government to properly address and appropriately allocate some of the assets before the finalisation of the sales.
Asked to clarify what needs were those which warranted the halt in the sales, SG Njie replied; “Regrettably I don’t know.”
Njie said he could not also tell whether this moratorium is still in place.
However, according to him, some of the assets of the former president including vehicles are still not sold but he could not tell if they are all road worthy.
“These vehicles were parked since 2016, so you can only imagine their conditions now but I have to check with the vehicle controller about their roadworthiness,” SG Njie said.
He was also shown an order made by the Janneh Commission stating that certain vehicles of the former president should be retained by the government. But he said he was hearing that information for the first time.
