Minister
of the Interior, Mai Ahmad Fatty, has said he did not take any bribe for
awarding contracts to Semlex and did not also award them any contract for the
production of national identity cards.
Minister
Fatty made this declaration at a press conference held at the new offices of
his ministry yesterday.
The
said contract to Semlex is merely being renegotiated by the new government
after it was awarded by the former President Jammeh and later illegally
terminated it shortly afterwards.
“The
Solicitor General at the time advised against terminating the contract with
Semlex. Because there was a clause which states that when the contract is
terminated after implementation began, the Gambia government is obliged to pay
up to $100 million. We do not have such
kind of money,” Fatty explained.
They
were awarded by the former president, according to records. Semlex began importing technological
equipment to implement the contract at the value of $10 million, the minister
revealed. Those machines are still here
in the country, he added.
He
explained that the contracts were awarded subsequent to two processes: A
ministerial committee was to study the feasibility of the Semlex proposal
before it could mature into a contract, while a technical committee was to look
into the dynamics and efficiency of the Semlex proposal.
There
was a conclusion from both the technical body of professionals and that of
policymakers, that it was a good proposal.
Subsequent
to that Fatty said former government signed a contract: “Equipment were
imported worth over $10 million. Just before they could position themselves to
carry out the practicalities of the project, Yahya Jammeh wrote a letter, a
presidential directive, cancelling the contract.”
Fatty
argued that the Barrow administration is a responsible government. “The
official position of the Ministry of Justice said ‘you cannot do that’, Jammeh
went ahead and wrongfully terminated it, against the law,” the president
explained. So Semlex feeling that the
contract was violated, wrote to say, when remedies are not taken, they will
exercise their rights under the contract.”
Fatty
said that, as that transaction was ongoing, a political impasse came and a new
government took over. They continued
writing to him as the minister.
“When
I received the letter, I took it to cabinet.
We realised that it was wrongfully terminated because it went against
the advice of the Ministry of Justice.
There was always a valid contract, it was never cancelled according to
law, and we do not want to go through an adjudication process. We had to
renegotiate: that is what we are engaged in,” he said.
Under
the old contract, government was entitled to 30 per cent, while Semlex 70 per
cent.
“We
felt that was unfair; government shares should be more. That is what is being
negotiated with Semlex currently but we did not award the contract originally,”
he added.
