Africa-Press – Gambia. Abubacarr M. Tambadou, the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, on Monday defended the government’s decision to exclude the finance minister from deliberations over the disposal of properties confiscated from former President Yahya Jammeh. Testifying before the National Assembly’s special select committee on asset sales, Mr. Tambadou said the recusal was necessary to avoid a conflict of interest.
“The minister of finance was recused from the entire deliberation process following the Janneh Commission report,” Mr. Tambadou told lawmakers. “He was a subject of the commission’s findings and of the government action that followed, which is why he was not part of the ministerial task force.”
Mr. Tambadou explained that the task force, led by the Ministry of Justice, was responsible for overseeing the sale of Jammeh’s properties and executing related assignments. The government’s role in the land transactions, he noted, was far from routine.
“It was not your ordinary process of government transactions; it was the government that was selling land,” he said.
He clarified that while the solicitor general signed property assignments on behalf of the state, the solicitor general did not conduct the sales themselves. “The solicitor general was signing assignments as a party to the process, but it was not the solicitor general that was selling land,” he said.
Responding to questions about delays in the registration of deeds for buyers, Mr. Tambadou attributed the lag to the broader bureaucracy of government. “Government processes are slow,” he said. “I doubt if it would be coming from the Ministry of Justice.”
He added that although the finance minister was excluded, the ministry’s permanent secretary participated at the technical committee level to provide oversight. Ultimate decision-making, however, rested with the Ministry of Justice.
Mr. Tambadou described the arrangement as one of practicality. “It was a matter of convenience,” he said. “The Ministry of Justice was the primary interlocutor with the receiver.”
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