By Pa Louis Thomasi
Commission. Committee. Commission, Committee. Commission! “Commission, Commission, Commission woy suma ndey Commission. Commission woo the same thing” Just to borrow some few words from Big Faa. Now that some of us are trying hard to digest the shocking disappointment that we were served with for dinner by President Barrow, perhaps it has become clear that President Barrow is still centuries away from taking affirmative action against corruption that has become the hallmark of his government. In my view, the president’s speech in its entirety is a lettered charade, a speech unfit for purpose, an impregnated rhetoric fully of sound but emptiness in content signifying nothing.
Many who knew President Barrow had predicted that the speech will be meaningless, at most it will promise the setting up of a commission or Committee to look into the affairs of the ridiculous sale of the looted assets of the former president. And then nothing. “Nothing, nothing”. Those who predicted the emptiness of the speech were indeed right. There is nothing wrong in setting up a Parliamentary Committee to look into the affairs of any ministry or institution in order to address corruption, but the question is: Do we really need to set up a Parliamentary Committee to look into the affairs of the sales of former President Jammeh’s assets? Do we need to set up a parliamentary Committee when we are all aware that the Barrow Government has a terrible phobia about Commission reports and a very poor record in implementing the recommendations of the Commissions that it has set up?
But now that we have the Parliamentary Committee in place, an incredibly gender imbalance committee (a composition of seven men), and information filtering out is that they will need at least 90 days to submit their report with a possibility of an extension if necessary we do not have a choice as members of civil society but to work with them. Ninety days is indeed a very long time for a report that demands much public urgency. However, the ultimate goal is to ensure that the final report will leave no stone unturned in identifying all forms of wrongdoings including the under-valuation of the assets, who sold them, who bought them, as well as the prices they were bought for and what is still unsold.
Noting the voluminous nature of the Janneh Commission Report, considering the revelations of The Republic’s investigative report and what we now know in terms of the properties and sales, there is no doubt that the Parliamentary Committee has a Herculean Task in their hands. It is therefore imperative upon every citizen who has valuable information about the sales of these properties to help the Parliamentary Committee with every valuable information available. Information from the grapevine already has it that Jammeh’s cattle were “Sold without any form of the identification of the buyers and without receipts”. This, if true, is a brutal betrayal of public trust, accountability and transparency.
This notwithstanding, someone somewhere, can have information on people who bought the “cows, sheep, goats, camels and zebras” and such people must be encouraged to come out and help the Parliamentary Committee in their findings. In fact, civil society should insist that every individual who had brought Jammeh’s looted properties should avail themselves to the Parliamentary committee. Failure to do so should be seen as undermining the work of the Parliamentary Committee and if discovered such properties should be forfeited to the state with immediate effect. Any citizen that has any evidence on the sale of Jammeh cattle should therefore help the Parliamentary Committee by providing them with the necessary information to aid them in their work.
If one takes a cursory glance at the reports that have flooded the internet over the past few days, you will come to realise that there are people who have more information on these sales than the members of the Parliamentary Committee. I would therefore like to strongly suggest that the Civil Society should consider putting up a “Shadow Report” that will aid the work of the Parliamentary Committee.
Ninety days is indeed a very long time and there is already fear that credible evidence or documented evidence may be tampered with to discredit the work of the Parliamentary Committee or at least to make it very difficult for them to gather credible evidence. . We all know that credible evidence had been destroyed in this country before through the burning of offices or the repainting or beautification of offices removing implicating materials and equipment. Any attempt from any government official or businessman to tamper with any form of evidence in relation to the sales should be met with equal fury. The Parliamentary Committee should not hesitate to make public any government official businessman who refuse to respond to their request for information concerning the looted assets.
It is the sacred duty of every citizen to come forward and provide whatever tangible evidence that one has in relation to the inappropriate sales of Jammeh’s Looted assets. The Parliamentary Committee will only get it right if there is a collective effort from the side of the citizenry, especially the media and civil society activists who have been working on these issues since 2017. Let us play our part in this call by Mother Gambia to put an end to the endemic corruption in the country. Come and let us do it for Mother Gambia
