Mr Drammeh was dragged to court by police prosecutors a fortnight ago for giving false information to the office of the secretary general and head of civil service. He pleaded not guilty to the four-count indictment and was consequently accorded bail in the sum of D200, 000 with two Gambian sureties.
He accused his rival and the current president of the Gambia National Transport Control Association, Mumine Sey and the secretary general, Sheriff Dibba of conniving with some senior police officers to forcefully remove Fillijeh Nyassi as the president of the association. He further accused his rival president of financial misappropriation and prioritisation of foreign trucks over Gambian-owned trucks, allegation the prosecution describes as ‘unfounded’ and ‘misleading’.
“Fillijeh Nyassi was removed from power after an independent exercise by a private firm contracted by the office of the auditor general and Mr Nyassi was found guilty of financial mismanagement which was communicated to the members of the association country wide. The members then decided to call for his resignation and his vice president assumed power as the interim president before Mumine Sey was elected as the president in a election held at Atlantic Hotel in 2001,”SG Dibba told the Banjul Magistrates court presided over by Magistrate Fatou Darboe.
Prior to the testimony of Mr Dibba was that of Yoro Saidy, a police officer attached to Major Crime Unit at police headquarters in Banjul .
He told the court that he was instructed by his boss to investigate the matter upon receiving a letter from the offices of the president ordering the office of the Inspector General to investigate the matter. In the course of their investigations, they embarked on nationwide fact finding mission and found that the allegations are ‘unfounded’ and ‘misleading’.
Rebutting allegations made by the accused that monies collected by the president of the National Transport Control Association from various car parks within the Kanifing Municipality for fifteen years without accounting for them, Mr Dibba clarified: “Each and every garage in the country is responsible for its own financial transactions and the two unions, that is my association and the Gambia Transport Food and Agriculture Industrial Workers Union which I know the accused as the president have no relationship.
“Who was the founding father of the Gambia National Transport Control Association?” Mr Drammeh enquired from the witness. “I do not know the founding father of the association but it was formed by the first executive of the association,” the witness replied.
At that point, the accused applied for an adjournment citing the need to produce some documents which he needed to discredit the prosecution witness.
Hearing resumes March 16.
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