The ongoing inquiry into the disposal of assets identified by the Janneh Commission took a turn this week when Ms. Ramou Sarr, the Commission’s own Secretary, told lawmakers she was sidelined from critical decision-making processes.
Sarr acknowledged that while she was head of the Secretariat between July 2018 and March 2019, her assistants attended meetings about the controversial auction of tractors and other seized assets, yet she herself was neither informed nor invited. “I was not part of it,” she insisted, adding that she only learned of the sales after receiving official memos.
Counsel expressed disbelief that the Commission’s Secretary whose role included convening and recording meetings could be excluded from such deliberations. “How are you not invited to that meeting? In fact, you are the invitee,” counsel pressed.
Sarr admitted the anomaly, conceding that reports were addressed directly to the Chairperson, bypassing her office altogether.
The testimony further revealed confusion and alleged irregularities in her appointment. Sarr admitted she had never received a formal appointment letter from the Ministry of Justice or the Office of the President, even though the law required such an appointment to come from the Head of State. Instead, she was instructed verbally by the then Attorney General to assume the post.
During her tenure, nearly 95 tractors were auctioned in what has become one of the most contentious phases of the Commission’s work. Yet Sarr distanced herself from responsibility, stating that she was ordered by the Chairperson to focus solely on “day-to-day activities” of the Secretariat while others handled the sales.
“Your subordinates walked out of your office for a meeting, and you did not know? You did not ask questions?” Counsel asked.
The revelations fuel long-standing suspicions that the management of assets seized from former President Yahya Jammeh and his associates was riddled with internal power struggles, opaque decision-making, and questionable practices.
