By Mama A. Touray
The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, stated in an interview on Coffee Time on Tuesday that the Janneh Commission submitted a comprehensive report to the government but has not submitted the report regarding the sales of forfeited assets belonging to former President Jammeh.
He emphasised that, until today, the government has not received the list while commending The Republic for the good work done in asking critical questions.
“When the Janneh Commission finished their work, they submitted a nine-volume report to the president. In this nine-volume report, there is nowhere in the report which talks about the sale of the Jammeh assets; it’s not there,” he stated.
When asked whether he read the entire nine-volume report, he responded: “I have not read the entire nine volumes, but the Minister of Justice has confirmed to me, and the reports are on the ministry’s website.”
He emphasised that the commission submitted a report but never submitted a report on the sales of the Jammeh assets: “So you cannot give what you don’t have.”
On the list released by the Minister of Justice following the demand of a youth movement, Ceesay explained: “The list that was released was not from the Janneh Commission; they got them from those who did the sales. So, the Janneh Commission did not do a good job in providing a detailed report of the sales, and they still haven’t done that.”
According to Ceesay, what the government has are the sales of the properties done by the auctioneer Alpha Kapital, and the government has submitted that to the National Assembly.
“There will be accountability. The parliamentary enquiry will help us unearth a lot of these things that are pending on the information gap surrounding Jammeh’s assets. The enquiry will really help us to get an understanding of these issues, and I am hopeful that will happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ceesay stressed that the government has not sold all of Jammeh’s assets: “We have kept some for public use; some have been returned to communities, agricultural use, and some are within the Tourism Development Area for future investment within the TDA. Some are with the government, and they will make sure they are used for public purpose.”
He continued: “The President said it in his speech that the assets of former president Jammeh belong to the Gambian people and will use it to provide services for the Gambian people.”
