Africa-Press – Gambia. The National Assembly Select Committee investigating the sale of former President Yahya Jammeh’s assets has given Alieu Njie, Secretary to Cabinet at the Office of the President, a 72-hour deadline to produce documents requested by the committee.
Mr. Njie had initially responded in writing to the committee stating that his office held no records relevant to its inquiry. However, during his appearance before the committee this week, he admitted that certain documents had since been located.
“Now I have it. The first time (when the committee sent a summons), I concluded because I don’t have it, and I didn’t see it anywhere, and even my team told me we didn’t have it.” Njie told the committee.
He said that after receiving the summons, he and his team spent two consecutive weekends—four days in total—searching for the documents but found nothing.
“So at the time, the conclusion was we didn’t have it, but we didn’t stop there; we also said Let’s check. I later found it in a closed file called Private and Confidential (PRC),” he added.
When questioned whether all seven documents requested by the committee were found in the PRC file, Mr. Njie clarified, “Not everything in the letter is in a closed file; what I am able to provide is what I found in a closed file. When the task force was created, it was under the Ministry of Justice, so obviously we don’t have the records of that (the rest of the document).”
Among the recovered documents were Cabinet minutes establishing the Ministerial Committee linked to the Janneh Commission, records of its membership, correspondence from the committee, and reports it submitted to Cabinet. However, Mr. Njie said that minutes of the Ministerial Committee’s meetings and reports from the associated technical committee could not be found.
Pressed on whether he had deliberately concealed the documents, Mr. Njie firmly denied any wrongdoing. “That will be very disrespectful; at the end of the day what will I gain out of it?” he said. “I will not gain anything out of it except to help the system,” he added. “There’s no way I can conceal them.”
Mr. Njie, who has served as Secretary to Cabinet since 2023, told the committee that he had not seen any documentation related to the Janneh Commission during his tenure until the recent discovery.
Following his testimony, the committee, led by Hon. Abdoulie Ceesay, ordered Mr. Njie to submit all relevant PRC files within 72 hours.
“In effect, I am asking for a series of all files relating to the PR series,” the lead counsel declared. The committee chair, Hon. Abdoulie Ceesay added “We will want you to produce that file, perhaps in 72 hours.”
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