During cross-examination, Dawda Fadera said he reviewed the proposal of Ms Jobarteh’s posting before she was sent to the UN office in New York. “As soon as we received the proposal, we verified it in our file, formalised the request and forwarded it to the Office of the President,” he said. But when asked where the file is, he said: “I cannot remember if we have also submitted the file to the NIA.”
When lawyer Lamin Mboge asked him: “Would it be correct that Ms Jobarteh’s posting emanated from the Foreign Affairs Ministry?”
In reply, the state witness said, “the proposal of posting of Ms Jobarteh was taken up with me and the PS of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Yusupha Dibba.”
On being asked if it was correct that the procedure adopted in posting Ms Jobarteh was normal, PS Fadera answered “Yes”. However he said he was not aware of the circumstances of her posting to the UN office.
The witness was further asked if he was aware that the Gambia UN office was handicapped due to lack of man power, he replied: “I was informed by the Foreign Affairs PS that we have some vacancies in the UN mission in New York.”
But when told that Dr Njogu Bah in fulfilling those primary functions approved the posting of Ms Jobarteh, Mr Fadera replied, “I should think so.” The matter was then adjourned to September 17 for continuation of cross-examination.
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