By Sirrah Touray
A former minister of justice and attorney general Abubacarr Tambadou yesterday returned to the parliamentary enquiry in to the sale of former president Jammeh’s assets to shed light on the situation of assets being claimed by third parties.
During his testimony, Tambadou outlined five main categories of third party claimants asserting ownership or grievances over properties linked to Jammeh’s tenure. He said these include properties involved in ongoing court cases, claims of judicial sales believed to be undervalued, allegations of forced sales, claims from former ministers of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), and claimants identified by the Joint Commission.
Mr Tambadou revealed that while the initial plan was to create a dedicated commission to handle third-party land claims, this was abandoned due to the unexpected establishment of the Faraba- Banta Commission, increased costs and commission fatigue. “Consequently, a ministerial task force was formed to handle these claims more efficiently and at lower cost, with the president’s approval,” he said.
Tambadou said the task force prioritised resolving the most straightforward claims first, such as those pending before the courts, judicial sales disputes, and forced sale claims. “Notable cases included the owners of FutureLec Building, and the Jack Faal family, owners of Ndemban Clinic among others,” he said.
Regarding specific property disputes, Mr Tambadou highlighted the case of the Lowe family, owners of the Barra Coconut Plantation, stating that the claim was that the family was initially forced to sell the property to Jammeh. He said in handling this issue, the ministerial task force, in the absence of conclusive evidence, did not immediately restore the property but instead offered the family the option to repurchase it at the price Jammeh paid.
Mr Tambadou also underscored the constitutional and legal challenges inherent in these claims, noting that findings from previous commissions were entrenched in the 1997 constitution, limiting the government’s ability to overturn or interfere with those earlier decisions.
He concluded by stressing the broad discretion granted to the ministerial task force in resolving third party claims and acknowledged that while some progress has been made, many claims remain unresolved due to the complexity of evidence and legal barriers.
