By Tabora Bojang
Two senior lecturers of the University of the Gambia Dr Alieu Gibba and Dr Matarr Njie, invited to a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday over allegations they made against management, walked out of the process citing conflict of interest which they say may prevent the committee from acting impartially.
“We objected to participate and left the disciplinary session because we believe the UTG issues we have raised are dealing with the Council and Senate and those are the very people who comprises the disciplinary committee. One cannot be lawyer and adjudicator at the time or a player and referee simultaneously. In other words, we were being investigated by the same people who accused us of making allegations against them and so we were skeptical of the outcome,” Gibba and Njie said in a statement.
“This is against the principle of natural justice and fair hearing in law. We then decided not to participate in the hearing. We further argued that “the one who alleges must prove”. After cautiously exercising our constitutional rights of freedom of expression and thought concerning UTG’s bad governance and other malpractices, also in exercise of our academic freedom, now the burden is on the UTG to counter our genuine claims publicly with tangible evidences which they will never be able to provide,” they said.
The senior lecturers said they are now waiting for the outcome from the committee.
