By Binta Jaiteh
Gambia’s civil society organizations have presented a position paper following the conclusion of a review of the National Assembly Special Select Committee (SSC) Report on the disposal of assets belonging to former President Yahya Jammeh.
The position paper was developed following a two-day civil society engagement convened by Gambia Participates, bringing together civil society actors, legal practitioners, journalists, governance experts and accountability advocates to review and interrogate the findings of the SSC report.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, Aji Fatou Bah, representing the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ), said the report represented a significant milestone in The Gambia’s efforts to strengthen democratic governance, accountability and the rule of law.
“Its findings expose not only procedural irregularities in the disposal of former President Yahya Jammeh’s assets, but also deeper institutional weaknesses relating to legal compliance, transparency, coordination, oversight and public financial management,” she remarked.
Bah said the issues identified in the report went beyond individual responsibility and pointed to systemic governance deficiencies requiring comprehensive reforms.
According to her, the significance of the report lies not only in what it reveals about past actions, but also in the opportunity it provides to strengthen state institutions and prevent similar failures in the future.
She said implementation of the Special Select Committee’s recommendations would serve as an important test of The Gambia’s commitment to accountability, anti-corruption, transparency and constitutional governance.
“Failure to act decisively risks undermining public confidence in state institutions, weakening trust in accountability processes and entrenching the very governance failures that asset recovery efforts were intended to address,” she said.
The EFSCRJ representative stressed that accountability should not end with the publication of reports, arguing that it must ultimately be reflected in meaningful action, institutional reform, effective oversight and, where appropriate, legal consequences.
“Accountability must ultimately be reflected in meaningful action, institutional reform, effective oversight, and where appropriate, the application of legal consequences. The credibility of public institutions depends not merely on their ability to identify wrongdoing, but on their willingness and capacity to respond to it,” she remarked.
She called for political will, institutional discipline, transparency and sustained public engagement in addressing the issues raised by the report.
Bah further said the process required a commitment to ensuring that recovered public assets were managed in accordance with the law, while public officials remained accountable for their actions.
She added that lessons emerging from the process should contribute to building stronger institutions and a more accountable democratic system.
“The management of the Jammeh assets is ultimately not only a question of asset disposal; it is a test of governance itself,” she said.
She argued that the manner in which the government responded to the findings of the SSC report would help determine the strength of The Gambia’s democratic institutions, the resilience of its accountability framework and citizens’ confidence in the rule of law.
The civil society position paper also raised concerns over transparency deficits, conflicts of interest, undue influence, procedural irregularities and broader institutional weaknesses within the asset disposal framework, as highlighted by findings contained in the SSC report.
Gambia Participates said the civil society engagement played a key role in shaping and amplifying the national discourse on accountability and transparency surrounding the management and disposal of Jammeh’s assets.
The position paper, according to the organizers, represents a consolidated civil society response grounded in constitutionalism, the rule of law, transparency, accountability and the broader public interest.
It seeks to provide an evidence-based response to governance deficiencies identified in the SSC report and contribute to the ongoing national discourse on asset recovery, public financial management and institutional reform.