By Isatou Sarr
A prosecution witness in the trial of Kanimang Bajo told the Banjul Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday that he paid D550,000 in instalments for his father’s Hajj pilgrimage, but the trip did not take place and he only saw copies of a Guinea-Bissau passport and visa through WhatsApp afterwards.
PW5, Mbaji Jaiteh of Fajikunda, testified before Principal Magistrate Kurubally that his younger brother, Ebrima Jaiteh, who lives abroad, gave him Bajo’s telephone number in August 2025.
Jaiteh said the number was not a Gambian number and that when he contacted Bajo, he was told that Bajo was a Hajj agent.
“When I called Kanimang, I told him your number was given to me by my younger brother. Are you the Hajj agent? He said yes,” Jaiteh testified.
He said he initially told Bajo that he had only D50,000, but Bajo assured him that payment could be made in instalments.
Jaiteh told the court that he subsequently paid D150,000 in September, D150,000 in October and another D150,000 later, leaving D100,000 outstanding.
He said his brother had advised him to ensure that all payments were documented and that receipts issued in his name totalled D550,000.
Jaiteh said he later saw a message in a WhatsApp group advising people whose payments had not reached D600,000 to complete their payments.
“I called Kanimang and told him, but that was not the agreement. We agreed on D550,000. Then Kanimang said the total should be D585,000,” he testified.
He said he subsequently paid an additional D50,000 under the name of his father, Bai Jaiteh.
According to the witness, after the payments were completed, Bajo instructed them to meet near Africell, where Imam Fatty is located, for training on how to perform Hajj.
Jaiteh said he later received information in the WhatsApp group that “one Hydara” had blocked the visas and that those affected should take their receipts to the police station.
He said Bajo subsequently told them to inform their fathers that everything was in order.
“I informed him. My father was very happy and that very morning he travelled from Bolonkono to Kombo,” Jaiteh said.
He said his father became extremely disappointed when the trip failed.
“When the things spoiled, my father was so sad that he couldn’t even turn the page of the Quran he was reading. For myself, I can’t even explain how I felt,” he told the court.
Asked by the prosecution whether he had been informed that his father would travel through Guinea-Bissau, Jaiteh replied: “No, I wasn’t. It was after the trip failed that they sent me a copy through WhatsApp.”
The passport and receipts were presented to the witness, who identified the documents.
During cross-examination, Jaiteh confirmed that his brother Ebrima had referred him to Bajo.
He told the court that he was seeing the physical passport for the first time in court and that he had only seen the visa through his phone.
Defence counsel M.L. Ceesay applied for the prosecution to produce the visa, but the prosecutor said he did not have it and had never seen it.
Counsel then presented a separate visa document and asked the witness whether he recognised the photograph on it as that of his father. Jaiteh confirmed that it was his father’s photograph.
The prosecution objected to the document, arguing that the witness had not prepared it and that it appeared to be computer-generated without a stamp. The prosecutor further argued that the witness could not authenticate the document and that additional evidence was required.
Magistrate Kurubally, however, ruled that the visa document was relevant after the witness identified the photograph as that of his father.
The witness also confirmed that he was a member of a WhatsApp group created for people preparing to travel to Makkah.
Under further questioning, Jaiteh said he heard in the group that Hydara had blocked the visas.
Asked whether he was aware of an audio recording in which Hydara allegedly threatened to have 53 visas cancelled if the visas were not released, Jaiteh said: “I didn’t listen to the audio. I only listened to Jainaba’s audio.”
Jaiteh maintained that his agreement with Bajo was for his father to travel for Hajj and not merely for the processing of a passport and visa.
Asked whether he would have trusted the visa and passport presented to him to enable his father to travel, Jaiteh replied: “No, I never trusted it.”
The case was adjourned to Sept. 29, 2026, at 10 a.m. for continuation of the trial.