The
Minister of Justice has disclosed that additional landed properties belonging
to the former president, Yahya Jammeh, have been discovered.
The
latest discovery has increased the number of known landed properties owned by
Jammeh to 180 in the country.
Justice
Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou made this disclosure yesterday at a press briefing
held at the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice building at
Marina Parade in Banjul.
The
minister also highlighted issues relating to his brother, S.M. Tambadou’s
withdrawal from the NIA 9 case, the truth, reconciliation and reparation
commission, the constitutional review, the commission of inquiry, the criminal
case and detention review panel, and the criminal justice and media law reform.
Below
we reproduce the full text of the Justice Minister’s statement:
NIA
9 CASE
I
welcome the decision of my brother Sheriff to withdraw from the prosecution
team in the NIA 9 case. It is the right thing to do under the circumstances.
His withdrawal, therefore, will allow the prosecution team to focus on the more
important task of establishing criminal accountability for the unfortunate
death of Solo Sandeng.
Let
me however make clear that the selection of Sheriff as co-prosecutor was the
exclusive decision of the Special Prosecutor Mr Antouman Gaye. As
Attorney-General, I have strictly limited all my communications on the case to
direct contact with Mr Gaye exclusively. But appointing Mr Gaye as Prosecutor
also comes with allowing him a margin of appreciation in his management of the
case including his selection of a prosecution team and a prosecutorial strategy
of his choosing. For the record, I was made aware of the defence’s proposals to
commence negotiations towards a plea bargain and I gave my approval in
principle for this.
Notwithstanding,
I have come to the conclusion, in view of the entire circumstances of the
meeting between Sheriff and the representative of the 1st Accused, and having
listened to the audio recording, that the said meeting could reasonably be
interpreted as creating the impression that my decisions as Attorney General
could be influenced by extraneous factors.
I
wish to state for the record, that all the decisions that I have taken since my
appointment as Attorney General and Minister of Justice have been based purely
on professionalism and in the best interest of the country without any undue
influence from anyone including family members.
I
wish to state further that my personal commitment to ensure justice for all the
victims of human rights violations and abuses of the past 22 years, is matched
only by the zeal and enthusiasm with which I embraced the call to return home
and serve my country.
I
have demonstrated my commitment to justice in the Solo Sandeng case in
particular by appointing a senior and very experienced criminal law attorney as
Special Prosecutor in the person of Mr Antouman Gaye and I continue to give him
all the support necessary to enable him conduct an effective prosecution. I
re-iterate my full confidence in Mr Gaye’s ability to prosecute this case with
diligence and professionalism as the case for the prosecution remains strong.
I
have set myself the goal of restoring public confidence in our justice system
and setting the highest standards of integrity in public office. I remain fully
committed to these objectives.
These
are very difficult times for my family and I thank all those who reached out to
show support.
ASSETS
FREEZE
On
the freezing of the assets in the country of former President Yahya Jammeh, we
continue to receive additional information in respect of a significant number
of assets purportedly belonging to him and his close associates. We however
want to make sure that the reports we are getting about ownership of these
latest assets are factual and accurate. We have now filed a supplemental list
of assets before the High Court in Banjul for the inclusion of these newly
discovered assets in the freezing order. So far, this new list includes 49
additional landed properties located in the greater Banjul area bringing the
total number of known landed properties owned by former President Yahya Jammeh
to 180 in the country.
TRUTH,
RECONCILIATION & REPARATIONS COMMISSION
The
Ministry has now concluded the first review of the draft TRRC bill. We have
also now shared this draft bill with international experts who have acquired
experience on the establishment of truth commissions from around the world. Let
me emphasize that while we will seek the views of outsiders on our truth
commission process, our TRRC will be designed by the people of The Gambia based
on a model that fits the particular social, cultural, political and historical
context of The Gambia.
Consequently,
the Ministry intends to lead a team on a tour of all the administrative regions
of the country to engage the people in discussions about the TRRC process. The
touring team will be selected from a cross-section of Gambian religious,
political, ethnic, civil society, professional, youth and women communities who
shall themselves undergo a one or two day workshop about the methodology of the
public consultations on the TRRC before embarking on the tour. The different
groups will be requested to nominate members for the touring team.
We
hope to start this public engagement tour in early August 2017 so that the
finalized draft bill will be tabled before the National Assembly in September.
If the bill is passed into law, the recruitment exercise for positions in the
TRRC will commence soon after to ensure that we remain on course to start
hearings by the end of the year as planned. Recruitment will be done through an
open competitive process for most of the posts with a few exceptions such as
direct appointments by the President of the Republic.
We
shall soon start radio and television discussions about the whole TRRC process,
its objectives and rationale so that there will be better understanding about
the process for both perpetrators and victims and the public at large. The
Ministry has already started reaching out to Christian and Islamic religious
leaders to engage with and encourage their communities and congregations to be
open and truthful about our dark past as a way to sustainable peace and genuine
reconciliation in the country. This is particularly important as perpetrators
and victims of abuses continue to live together in small communities with
mistrust and suspicion hovering over them and that this needs to be addressed
in an open, transparent and truthful manner.
We
therefore continue to call on community leaders and youth and women’s groups to
engage their people in these discussions nationwide in a constructive manner.
In this regard, we welcome the recent initiative of the National Council for
Civic Education on the National Dialogue on Peace and Reconciliation and the
public support given to this process by the respective Chiefs of Foni and the
National Assembly members in the area.
Conversely,
the Ministry of Justice condemns unequivocally all acts or utterances that
encourage sectarianism in this country. Political and community leaders must
conduct themselves with responsibility especially in their utterances and
anything that tends to divide us along political or tribal lines should be
avoided. We encourage everyone to embrace the message of peace in our
communities. The present mood in the country is one of refreshing freedom and
liberty. While we will exercise maximum restraint in the strict application of
the law under these circumstances, this must not be interpreted as weakness.
Democracy must not be equated with lawlessness.
The exercise of any fundamental rights also
come with responsibility to society and respect for governmental authority. No
one should take the law unto themselves lest we undermine the very essence of
our new found democracy which we all fought so hard to achieve.
The
Ministry welcomes the official establishment of the Gambia Centre for Victims
of Human Rights Violations. We encourage them to reach out and include in their
organization all the victims of human rights violations and abuses of the 22
year rule of President Yahya Jammeh and I assure them of my personal commitment
to justice for all. We look forward to working closely with the Centre and
building a strong partnership with them in this entire process. We will not be
able to achieve much without their continuous support and solidarity and that
is why ours will be a victims’ centered approach. We are a traumatized nation
and our people must never be allowed to go through a similar experience again!
CONSTITUTIONAL
REVIEW
At
a national conference on Justice and Human Rights held in The Gambia on 23 – 25
May, 2017 under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, and following
identification of numerous amendments proposed for the 1997 Constitution, there
was general consensus by a cross-section of the participants from Gambian
religious, political, civil society and other communities that overall, the
strategic objective of a return to sustainable democracy, would require the
drafting of a new Constitution as a review by amendments to the 1997
Constitution will be too numerous and may not address all issues
comprehensively. It is expected, therefore, that a new constitution of the
Republic of The Gambia which will usher in the 3rd Republic, shall be adopted
at the end of this exercise.
The
MOJ, in consultation with the office of the Chief Justice, has now finalized a
draft concept note and terms of reference for this constitutional review
process. It is proposed that a Constitutional Review Commission be established
with membership drawn from a cross-section of Gambian political, religious,
civil society, youth, women, professional and other communities. The CRC will
be mandated to engage in consultations with the Gambian public both in the
country and outside. The CRC shall submit its report together with a new draft
constitution based on its public consultations.
The
duration of the Commission shall be for 18 months from the date it will be
established and the entire exercise shall last for not more than 2 years. The
draft constitution shall be put to a referendum for adoption by the people of
The Gambia. The proposed new constitution of The Gambia shall be one that reflects
faithfully and accurately the views of the generality of Gambians both at home
and abroad and from a cross-section of Gambian religious, political, civil
society, youth, women, professional and other communities. Further details
about the entire process will be shared in due course.
The
Commission shall engage in very rigorous public information and outreach
programs about its activities and functions soon.
COMMISSIONS
OF INQUIRY
A
presidential Commission of Inquiry into the financial activities of public
enterprises, bodies and offices as regards their dealings with former President
Jammeh has now been established. The Commission’s Terms of Reference have been
published and are available at the National Printing Office. The Commission
shall sit for 3 months from July 2017 at the Jerma Beach Hotel. The Commission
will soon make public announcements with further details about their sittings
etc.
There
are plans to establish a second Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the
alleged unlawful interference with and/or confiscation of private property by
former President Yahya Jammeh under cover of the State. The Ministry has
received numerous complaints and petitions from individuals alleging unlawful
confiscation of their properties especially land by former President Yahya
Jammeh under cover of the State. It is the Ministry’s view that in light of the
number of complaints and petitions received, it will be for the public good to
establish another Presidential Commission of Inquiry to look into alleged
unlawful interference with and/or confiscation of private property by former
President Yahya Jammeh in the name of the State.
However,
for several reasons including the need to avoid potential overlap in some areas
of inquiry between the two separate commissions of inquiry, the Commission of
inquiry into the alleged unlawful interference with and/or confiscation of
private property is expected to be established after the completion of the work
of the Commission of inquiry into the financial activities of public
enterprises as regards their dealings with former President Jammeh. More
details about the second Commission of inquiry will be shared with the public
soon.
CCDRP
I
am pleased to report that the Criminal Case and Detention Review Panel has now
completed the review of all cases under its purview. You will recall that the
Panel was established by the Ministry of Justice and its membership drawn from
this Ministry and various other organs under the Ministry of Interior including
the Gambia Police Force, the Prison Service, the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency etc. The mandate of the Panel was to review and make recommendations to
the Attorney General and Minister of Justice on specified categories of cases
including criminal cases against current or former public servants, or criminal
cases linked to a political activity. I have now received the final report of
the Panel with its recommendations.
Over
the past 3 months, the Panel has reviewed a total of 241 criminal cases
involving 304 accused persons. Recommendations were made to discontinue
prosecutions in 36 cases involving 86 accused persons on the basis of
insufficient evidence. Currently, there are 208 people held in remand awaiting
trial or the conclusion of trial for various offences including murder and
rape. Convicts or remand prisoners with medically certified mental disabilities
will be transferred from prisons to Tanka Tanka psychiatric hospital for
appropriate treatment.
I
wish to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Criminal Case and
Detention Review Panel through the Chair, Ms Oli Danso, Senior State Counsel at
the Ministry of Justice, for all the hard work and dedication shown throughout
this challenging task. They have had to work extremely hard under very difficult
circumstances including on weekends to ensure that the task is completed in a
timely manner.
CRIMINAL
JUSTICE AND MEDIA LAW REFORM
Calls
for expressions of interest from local law firms or counsel for a comprehensive
review of our criminal justice law and procedure to bring it in line with
international best practices shall be announced soon after consultations with
the office of Chief Justice.
Work
on media law reform has already started in consultation with Article 19 and the
Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure. There will be a wider
consultative process with stakeholders following these initial steps.
We
intend to approach the criminal justice and media law reforms in phases bearing
in mind the constitutional review process so that any changes in our criminal
justice and media laws shall take into account the provisions of any proposed
new constitution.
INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS
In
our efforts to ensure that the international community including the United
Nations continues to engage with and support The Gambia throughout this
transition period, we attended the fourth annual session of the United Nations
Peacebuilding Commission in New York upon their invitation. During the session,
we thanked the international community particularly the United Nations, the
African Union and Ecowas for standing by the people of The Gambia during the
political impasse in December and January, and urged them to continue their
engagement with The Gambia as it seeks to consolidate the peace in the country.
Many
speakers, including senior officials of the United Nations, and the Permanent
Representative of the sister Republic of Senegal hailed The Gambia as a shining
model that the rest of the world could learn from about peaceful political
transitions. They urged continued rapid financial and other support to The
Gambia.
On
the margins of the Peacebuilding Commission session, we also held bilateral
meetings with senior UN officials including the Administrator of the UNDP, the
Rule of Law Office, the Office of Legal Affairs, and the Peacebuilding Support
Office which has already disbursed to The Gambia through the UNDP country
office an initial amount of $3M to kick start support for the security sector
reform and our transitional justice processes including the establishment of a
national Project Board under the
leadership of the Ministry of Justice. In all our meetings, we emphasized the
need for continued engagement with the Government and people of The Gambia and
for rapid support in translating this democratic victory of the Gambian people
into concrete economic advancement for ordinary Gambians.
In
terms of strengthening capacity and enhancing resources within the Ministry, I
am pleased to report that, with the assistance of our development partners
especially the UNDP and the Turkish Government through its embassy in The
Gambia, the Ministry will soon be able to provide every State Counsel at the
Ministry with a desktop computer. The Ministry has meanwhile installed internet
service in the whole of the Ministry for all counsel.
These
two latest developments are absolutely essential in the provision of legal
services in the 21st century. It will help to drastically reduce the time for
the preparation of cases, provide counsel with greater and faster access to
legal research tools, and maximize efficiency. Plans are also underway to
introduce modern electronic case management systems, and electronic record
keeping and sharing platforms to facilitate communications and the efficient
management and retrieval of information within the Ministry.
These
developments will be complemented by training inside and outside the country in
the use of these tools. This will ensure that the Ministry provides services of
the highest professional quality to the public and Government and advance our
quest for equality of arms between the public and private bar.
Lastly,
it is important to note that in order to stem the historically high attrition
rate at the Ministry, retain its current crop of staff, as well as attract
other experienced counsel from the private bar, the conditions of service and
remuneration for counsel at all levels must be improved. As a result, we had
set up a taskforce to look into the conditions of service of counsel at the
Ministry.
The
taskforce has now submitted its report and recommendations to me for action. It
is our hope that the conditions of service for counsel at the Ministry will be
improved soon.
Allow
me to add however, that with improvements to the working environment and
conditions of service of counsel at the Ministry, there will also be a
corresponding expectation that counsel will provide services of the highest
professional standard to the public and Government.
In
this regard, we intend to introduce, at an appropriate time, an internal
performance appraisal system within the Ministry to ensure that professional
standards are kept at a consistently acceptable level, and to also encourage
discipline and accountability in public office.
Thank
you!!!
