A former secretary to the Janneh Commission, Alagie Mamadi Kurang has stated that his acrimonious dismissal from the commission probably cost the country “almost half a billion dalasis”.
Mr Kurang was dismissed in July 2018 after he reportedly made accusations in a 7-page petition addressed to President Barrow.
In it, he accused Counsel Amie Bensouda of ‘shady’ attempts to negotiate the sale of former president Jammeh’s luxurious cars and other properties and demanded her resignation, saying she has lost the “moral authority” to continue serving in the position.
But the then Attoney General, Abubacarr Tambadou told journalists that the Kundang-born economist was hired to follow the instructions of those above him, “and not to question their wisdom”. Dismissing Mr Kurang, he said the Jollof Tutors owner made a torrid of “unsubstantiated” allegations and that is why his position at the Janneh Commission “has become untenable”.
However, reacting some three years later in an expanded interview with The Standard at his residence in Brusubi yesterday, Mr Kurang, a chartered accountant, was asked to explain how his dismissal could have led to such a colossal loss to the state.
“Gambians would like to know what happened to all those tractors that were disposed when the commission took over; some 600 or 500 Mahindra and John Deere tractors were recovered from the people who had them. A whole rainy season came and gone, and these tractors were left idling. If you ask me an estimation, I will tell you the country lost hundreds of millions of dalasi simply because of the Commission’s decision. It was not until October when they decided to dispose the tractors, possibly, logically, so many of the machines lost value because of the commission’s indecisiveness, which cost the country hundreds of millions. So, this is why I said my dismissal cost the country almost half a billion. These are the big issues that our journalists need to be following. The attorney general and the commissioners need to be asked how much we lost in that. The landed properties of Jammeh, I don’t know anything about it. Maybe we have to ask the Attorney General’s office – what happened to hundreds of landed properties that were owned by Jammeh?”
Read and watch the full interview on Bantaba soon.
