INTERNAL WRANGLING AT ATTORNEY GENERAL CHAMBERS

….As Relations Between Top Officials Turn Frosty

By Senior Staff Writer Ansumana Jammeh, Banjul

Banjul: 7/28/08-Apparently, the Gambia Department of State for Justice has been rocked by an internal dispute over traveling allowances. Reports emanating from the said Department have it that three top officials namely Miss Awa Bah,Jainaba Sambouand Thresa Sarr who all head department of sate for Justice are at logger head.

    The dispute clearly has reached a point where the above mentioned trio do not speak to each other. Miss Awa Bah, the Deputy Solicitor General is believed to be at the very center of the dispute. She is believed to have been grabbing all the traveling opportunities that emerges at the Department with a view to enrich herself. The other two protagonists Thresa Sarr and Jainaba Sambou are also not to be in good terms with each other and Miss Bah.

     As a result of the internal fighting the Department of State for Justice is now in complete turmoil. It no longer functions as it should. The morale of its staff are at an all time low. Operations of the Department have been brought to a virtual halt. Its vehicles have been reported to be totally broken down, while its toilet facilities are in a rather appalling state.

      Recently,  Nigerians who were in the Gambia for a workshop were quite flabbergasted by the shocking state of the Department's toilet facilities.

      Meanwhile, the internal dispute that engulfs the Department of State for Justice has according to our Official sources been reported to the Justice Minister Marie Saine Firdaus.Reports further indicated that the Justice Minister was unable to resolve the matter, as she is reluctant to tell the truth to  Miss Awa Bah who is reported to be a tough character.

       Moreover, Justice Minister Marie Saine Firdaus is herself reported to be not executing her responsibilities. An avalanche of letters from concern International Media Free groups addressed to the Gambia Government have been discovered dumped in a bag. Those letters were sent with a view to demand explanation in the whereabout of journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh who is apparently not been seen for over two  years.

    Undoubtedly the Justice Minister was not submitting those letters to the President Jammeh and to Cabinet meeting.

Since her appointment as Gambia's new Justice Minister Marie Saine Firdaus, whose competence and experience has been questioned in many quarters has not brought anything new to the country's justice dispensation process. More than dozen  Political detainees  including journalists, security personnels live behind bars for over year. This is despite a High court order demanding the release of Kanyiba Kanye and others.

    Still a host of unresolved court cases persist in Gambian courts. With no one having an idea when they shall end. Reports have also disclosed that the Justice Minister does not spend much of her working time at her Department  instead goes to State House, where she spend most of her time with the president.

 Justice Minister Saine is a Malaysian trained lawyer. Many are questioning the quality of law training, provided by Malaysian law schools, as some  of its Gambian graduates had proven to be incompetent. Very few Malaysian Gambian law graduates are excelling well in The Gambian legal system. A good number of them work for the State, whilst others struggled to earn a living in the private bar. They  have not been known as good law advocates. Their chances of making it as a private lawyer is slim, considering the growing number of trained lawyers from the UK and elsewhere across the globe.

      Clearly this lukewarm attitude of Justice minister must have been one of the factors responsible for the crippling and crumbling of Gambia's Department of state for Justice.