By Mama A. Touray
The Director General of the Gambia Livestock Marketing Agency (GLMA) has told lawmakers that his agency was drawn into the valuation and tagging of former President Yahya Jammeh’s cattle based on a phone call, not a formal request from the Janneh Commission.
Mr Darboe made the disclosure on Wednesday while testifying before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee probing the sale of former President Yahya Jammeh’s assets identified by the Janneh Commission.
Outlining how GLMA became involved, Mr Darboe said the then Director of Technical and Field Services, Ebrima Cham, had a conversation with Ebrima Jallow of the Attorney General’s Chambers regarding a court order — a discussion that ultimately led to GLMA’s participation in the livestock valuation.
“We have not seen any letter with regards to conducting inventory on valuation and tagging,” he stated. “From the records, Ebrima Cham, the then Director of Technical and Field Services, now Board Chair of GLMA, had a conversation with one Ebrima Jallow. That’s when the valuation and tagging came about, and we found the information about the valuation in our 2017 annual report.”
Mr Darboe added that five GLMA staff members participated in the tagging and valuation exercise, despite the absence of a directive from the Janneh Commission.
“We did not receive any report as far as our files are concerned,” he said. “But I understood that it was categorised into small, large, medium, and they bought paint and used a long stick to categorise the animals because they were so aggressive. For example, if they are identifying a small animal, they put a particular colour on the livestock.”
Regarding the criteria used, Mr Darboe said the team assessed age, weight, and body mass index in kilograms.
Responding to a question on cattle market value, he said, “A 200 kilo will be more than D100,000. But I cannot recall how much it cost in 2017 because then I was not in the country.”
The committee also heard that GLMA does not currently employ a veterinarian, and that no formal report was prepared by the agency on the sale.
“We did not have any report on the number,” Mr Darboe said. “Cham stated that the Janneh Commission was with the reports, but GLMA was there only to guide them on how to go about the process. The valuing and tagging were for five days, and GLMA did not provide a report.”
Pressed on whether it was standard practice to participate in activities without compiling documentation, Mr Darboe replied, “For now, we prepare reports on any activity we took part in. I don’t know why, then they did not prepare a report for a five-day activity.”
He also confirmed to the committee that GLMA did not take part in the actual sale of the cattle.
