Suspicious asset sales during Janneh Commission proceedings raise alarm

The Point Newspaper

Editorial:

May 16, 2025, 12:56 PM

Recent disclosures by the Ministry of Justice, during a cabinet meeting, have revealed that certain forfeited assets linked to former President Yahya Jammeh and his associates were sold while the Janneh Commission of Inquiry was still actively conducting its investigation.

This revelation has sparked serious concerns about the legality and transparency of these transactions.

In a public address, President Adama Barrow acknowledged that sales of livestock, tractors, vehicles, and other valuables took place during the Commission’s proceedings, a period when, according to established procedures, asset disposal should have been suspended until the Commission completed its work and the government formally adopted its recommendations.

Legal experts and anticorruption practitioners have expressed suspicion that these sales were conducted "ultra vires", beyond the legal authority granted, raising questions about whether proper oversight and due process were followed. The government’s own White Paper, published in September 2019 following the Commission’s conclusion, clearly outlined that asset disposal was to be managed by a Ministerial Taskforce only after the inquiry’s findings were accepted.

President Barrow revealed that upon learning of these premature sales, he convened an urgent Cabinet meeting on May 13 to address the issue. While initially considering the establishment of an independent investigative panel, he emphasized that ongoing inquiries by the National Assembly and the National Audit Office would take precedence. The President pledged full transparency and vowed to enforce any recommendations arising from these investigations to hold those responsible accountable.

“The assets recovered belong to the people of The Gambia,” President Barrow stated. “My administration will not tolerate negligence or wrongdoing in safeguarding our nation’s resources.”

 

 

Civil society groups and anticorruption experts are calling for swift and thorough investigations, warning that the premature sale of assets could have deprived the state of rightful value and undermined public trust in the government’s commitment to accountability.

As the investigations continue, Gambians have been urged to remain calm and confident that the matter will be resolved within the bounds of the law.

This report highlights the critical concerns surrounding asset recovery efforts in The Gambia and underscores the importance of transparency and rule of law in combating corruption.

Coroner says Gen Bora Colley died of natural causes

 

May 15, 2025  standard newspaper.com

 By Omar Bah

The Coroner’s Inquest report on the death of Brigadier General Bora Colley has concluded that he died of natural causes. Colley, a former senior military officer implicated in human rights abuses during former President Yahya Jammeh’s regime, died on March 9, 2025, while in state custody. He had voluntarily returned from exile in August 2024 due to deteriorating health and was receiving continuous medical care while detained. The Attorney General requested a coroner’s inquest to determine the precise cause of death, which was conducted under the Coroner’s Act. The report found no evidence of foul play, confirming that Colley succumbed to his medical condition naturally.

Colley’s death has sparked debate about justice and accountability for alleged Jammeh-era crimes, as he was implicated in torture and extrajudicial killings by the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC). The government has expressed commitment to prosecuting such cases, but Colley’s death ended the possibility of his trial. The inquest aimed to provide transparency amid public skepticism about custodial deaths in politically sensitive cases.

CDS Cham gives shoot on sight orders for armed robbers

 

 May 15, 2025    standard newspaper.com

 By Amadou Jadama on tour

The Chief of Defence Staff Lt Gen Mamat O Cham has given an order to his soldiers to shoot armed robbers who are frequently entering the country, attacking innocent citizens and looting their properties.

Speaking at Lamin Koto and Farafeni military posts during his current tour, CDS Cham told soldiers that the most pressing challenge to national security currently is the constant cases of armed robbery, especially along our border villages. “Anywhere we go, or when we invite people, they all tell us they are worried about their lives and the security of their properties from armed robbers, ” CDS Cham told soldiers.

“These idiots will sleep around the border villages and wait for a Lumo day and while everybody is asleep at night, they would come with cutlasses, or hunting guns terrorising people at gun point and taking everything from them. As soldiers your order is not to negotiate. If anybody attacks any Gambian village or shop, either with a cutlass or gun with the intention to overpower them and take their wealth, and you happened to come across that, the order is to shoot to kill, and there is no ambiguity about that,” CSD Cham ordered.

He said anybody who takes up arms to rob people should be treated as an enemy to the people and the country.

‘As soldiers you should be able to use your training, military tactics and apply your skills to get close enough to the enemy and neutralise them,” CDS Cham drilled his soldiers. He assured the soldiers that his office, the government as well as the president will do everything possible to address their challenges within the available means and resources.  The tour continues.

The 1982 crash of Sir Dawda’s helicopter

 Jun 22, 2022, 11:14 AM | Article By: Yunus S. Saliu

 TThe Point Newspaper

It is 40 years down the lane that the helicopter carrying former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara and his delegation crash-landed near Brikama Ba, some 280 kilometers away from  Banjul.

This resulted in the death of former vice president of The Gambia, Mr. A.B. Njie and few others.

Others that survived the crash included the late President’s Press Secretary, Jay Saidy, the Secretary General Professor Jabez Langley, Journalist Sulayman Njie (Saul Njie) and the pilot. But Sir Dawda Jawara’s close friend and confidant A.B. Njie, who was the former vice president and Foreign Affairs Minister at the time died on the spot.

Its worth knowing that most of these occupants of the helicopter, according to The Gambia News Bulleting issue of Friday 23rd April 1982, “suffered minor injuries were flown to Dakar immediately while the rest, including the President, went to Bansang Hospital, then to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul” for treatment.

The day of the incident was described as a “very sad day” by Gambians because the late president just survived a coup seven months earlier before the helicopter crash which was the reason he used the helicopter during his election campaign in the year under review.

According to gathered facts, the former president was advised by the Senegalese security (soldiers) guarding him at the time to travel by air for security purpose taking into consideration his safety after the coup.

“To ensure his safety, the Senegalese army guarding him at that time thought it was unsafe for him to travel by land or in a car to do his campaign and therefore advised him to travel by helicopter as the Senegalese intelligence thought Kukoi Samba’s rebels might still be hiding in the bushes to strike or attack him,” historian Hassoum Ceesay explained.

The crashed helicopter was a borrowed one to the Gambia government then by the former President Abdou Diouf of Senegal “but the helicopter was completely destroyed.”

According to investigation, it was revealed that the crash was due to human error and when it crashed, one of the blades fell off “while the pilot was commended because when the blade fell off, the pilot ran the chopper into a tree to minimise the impact. According to investigation, if he hadn’t done that nobody would have survived the crash, because the chopper would have exploded if crash landed on ground direct” historian Ceesay narrated.

According to the Bulletin, “the helicopter crash-landed between two ancient ‘taboo’ trees on the fence of a compound at the Bantaba of Brikamanding, a village one kilometer from Brikama Ba. It lay in a mess of broken parts, sticks and wires. The door of the cockpit had flung open revealing the smashed dark interior. The main door too was ripped off hinges showing the damage to the passenger compartment. Three fence posts had pierced the underbelly of the helicopter, with one piercing the roof of the chopper.”