By Omar Bah
The National Assembly Member for Foñi Kansala, Almameh Gibba, has said he will write to former president Yahya Jammeh to seek a power of attorney to sue the government for economic crimes and embezzlement.
The Kansala NAM has been persistent in his quest to ensure the government provides full details of Jammeh’s assets, including who bought what and for how much.
In response to his queries, the justice ministry provided a list but Gibba said the information was unsatisfactory.
“Now that they are not willing to be transparent with the full details of how they disbursed Jammeh’s assets and those who bought them, I have resorted to consulting Jammeh for him to give me power of attorney to sue the government for economic crimes and embezzlement,” Gibba told The Standard yesterday.
“I am ready to seek consent from Jammeh and join forces with him to sue this government for illegally taking his assets and failing to account for them. I have made several attempts to get [Justice] Minister Dawda Jallow to provide the full inventory of Jammeh’s assets, but to no avail. I am certain that a lot of Jammeh’s assets, including a good number of his gold collections, have not been accounted for,” he charged.
He argued that while the government “is pushing to prosecute Jammeh”, it should also be prepared to answer for the embezzlement of his assets in court.
Gibba said it is apparent that Jammeh’s cattle and his collection of expensive vehicles “were sold at a very cheap price”, and that the “government could not even give an account” of the sales.
“Now that it is apparent that they have no records of the sales of Jammeh’s assets, we are ready to go to court to ensure the government is put to task to explain how they sold the assets,” he said.
No house for Jammeh
He said it “is sad for a president who served for 22 years to be without a single home or vehicle” alleging that “a cartel” in the Barrow government was responsible.
“Barrow, the former and current ministers of justice, the commissioners of the Janneh Commission, and some members of Coalition 2016 joined forces to make sure they defraud Jammeh, his family, and everyone related to him. When they came to power, they seized all his assets, including compounds sheltering his immediate and external family members. Even his own ancestral Kanilai family home was seized and turned into a military battalion.
“They are telling us Jammeh cannot own a single compound after 22 years in power, but we are seeing ministers building mansions after two or three years. Isn’t that ironic? How about President Barrow? How is he able to build all his mansions? Do you think conscious Jammeh supporters will support President Barrow? It is pathetic. I want to tell President Barrow that he is comfortably watching as Jammeh’s ancestral home is turned into a military barracks, but the same could happen to his Mankamang Kunda residence because what goes around sometimes may come around. You never know what tomorrow holds,” he said.
He said even if Jammeh’s family wants to enter his Kanilai compound, where his immediate family is currently living, they have to seek clearance from the military.
“Jammeh didn’t do this to former president Jawara because when Jawara went into exile, Jammeh brought him back and gave [sic] him a home to live in for the rest of his life, and his family is still there,” he added.
