By Mama A. Touray
The Gambia’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dawda A. Jallow, has revealed that his ministry received 619 case files for potential prosecution between 2021 and the present.
Jallow disclosed the figures on Wednesday while responding to lawmakers’ questions in the National Assembly about the number of cases referred to his office for legal advice.
“A total of 619 case files [were] received from various institutions, most notably the office of the inspector general of police, between 2021 and the present. These include files relating to murder, rape, robbery, fraud, and other offenses,” he told parliamentarians.
He cautioned, however, that the data was manually compiled within a short timeframe, meaning the numbers should be considered indicative rather than definitive.
“Due to the limited time given for the submission of this answer, I am not able to provide detailed information regarding the status of all these cases,” Jallow added.
The Attorney General explained that not all files sent to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) end up in court. Some are returned to the police for further investigation due to insufficient evidence, while others may be prosecuted directly by law enforcement.
“In other instances, matters may commence before the court but [be] withdrawn by the prosecution in the interest of justice or [be] struck out at preliminary stages following judicial determination,” he said.
Jallow highlighted significant challenges in tracking cases, particularly the lack of a digital case management system.
“The ministry recognizes the urgent need for a digital case management system to ensure real-time access to accurate case data,” he said. “It remains a serious concern that the Attorney General cannot, in this digital age, generate such information instantly from his desk.”
He revealed that the MoJ currently has an IT officer working on an in-house digital solution to monitor cases. Additionally, he has sought support from development partners to modernize the system.
“I have raised it with a lot of development partners, and I have seen some interest in support coming—I don’t know how soon, though,” Jallow said. “This is one legacy that I want to leave behind. In this day and age, I don’t need to call for a physical file to know the state of my files; I should be able to do that from my laptop. So, it remains a big challenge and a priority for the ministry.”
When asked about the timeline for reviewing case files, Jallow admitted there was no set deadline until recently.
“We don’t have a timeline—then, until recently. I am developing a policy in terms of trying to help us [determine] how we expeditiously deal with these files, but it remains a challenge,” he said.
He noted that reviewing investigation files is an additional burden for his lawyers due to staffing shortages, often requiring them to work outside office hours.
“Some of them have to carry these files home or come to work during weekends,” he said. “So, that is one of the reasons why evaluating investigated files and coming up with a legal opinion takes time.”
