Mambanyick Njie freed (story courtesy of the Standard)
Mambanyick Njie yesterday walked home a free man as the magistrates court in Banjul acquitted and discharged him after two years of legal battle.
Mr Njie was in 2012 relieved of his position as permanent secretary, ministry of Youth and Sports, and had since been on trial on a false information charge, which he denied.
The indictment emanated from a petition he sent to the Office of the President, accusing the then Gambia Football Association executive of financial malpractices, seeking to dissolve that body.
In his judgment in a half-packed courtroom yesterday, the trial magistrate, Dawda Jallow, held that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient proof, as required by law, to convict Mr Njie despite the testimonies of six prosecution witnesses.
Jallow said: “There is no doubt that the accused did give information contained in a letter, which is addressed to the Secretary General, Office of the President. This court takes judicial notice that the secretary general is the head of the civil service and as such a public servant. Issue one is therefore resolved in favour of the prosecution.
“On whether the information given by the accused as contained in the said exhibit is false, I will have to evaluate the entire evidence adduced by both the prosecution and the accused. To begin with, exhibit A is a long letter but from the particulars of offence on the charge sheet, the prosecution is only interested in the allegation of financial malpractice and non-retirement of imprests.”
Jallow however noted that Njie in his defence proved that there had indeed been financial malpractices by the then GFA executive to give credence to his petition and in that regard freed himself from the charge in the trial.
He continued: “The evidence before this court shows that over one million dalasis has been issued out by the executive of the then GFA as personal loans to the staff. And, according to their own auditors, out of 24 recipients of this loan, only application forms could be produced which even bear no repayment periods. The third prosecution witness while being cross-examined also told this court that he did receive the loan, but he never applied for it in writing nor did he orally. Clearly where any system or management allows the issuance of huge sums of money as loans without any clear cut procedures on how to access and repay such loans, such system or management cannot save itself from being regarded as negligent.
“It is not in dispute that the GFA had not held annual general meetings in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. And it was also in the accused person’s defence that expenditure done during these period were done without authority, the court also agrees with that argument since the forum vested with the legal authority to authorise the budget was not called upon to do so and the prosecution failed to provide the court with any evidence to show that there was any other valid authority for this purpose and therefore resolved the second issue in favour of Mr Njie that the content of his petition letter was not false.
“Finally, the letter that formed the subject of this charge was written by the accused in his official capacity as the permanent secretary Ministry of Youth and Sports and it is his defence also that the content of the letter represents the views of the ministry and not his personal views. Neither the panel of investigators nor the prosecution called anyone from the said ministry to confirm or deny that statement. This court is convinced that unless the prosecution can show clearly that the accused had acted in bad faith, which has not been proven, the law sees his authorship of the letter as merely carrying out his official duty.”
Luntango Suun Gann Gi: A simple but truly principled inspiring judgement from a Gambian judge)
Ends
There is no doubt that his post graduate training in UK is paying off but he will be sacked soon if he goes on like this. Very unfortunate.
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Lafia, actually Africa’s own judicial processes (when un-corrupted) are far superior to those of the West – just think of the US “Grand Juries” in the news this week. But most of our traditional systems have been corrupted and destroyed. By the way, Mr Justice Collins ruled in the UK High Court today that our Justice Minister acted unlawfully when denying prisoners books.
“, Mr Justice Collins ruled in the UK High Court today that our Justice Minister acted” – Dida
That means the UK court system does work and independent of the government.
The decision to ban books in prisons was an executive decision that was reviewed by the courts and found to be illegal and accordingly quashed. That shows that the Uk government is not above the law and have no control over what the judges decides in the court rooms.
You can start your anti western rambling again. That is not for my listening.
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Whether it be in the USA or in the UK or in the Gambia justice is universal. When it is done (apparently in the case of Mr Njie) it will be obvious to all; and when it’s denied (such as in the case of Lang Tombong & Co or the executed 9 prisoners or in Ferguson or Miami or New York) the rot stinks and chokes the conscience of decent and right thinking people.
In general when it’s not done in the USA or in the UK the failings are identified and fixed as it was done in Stephen Lawrence’s case in the UK. Nothing remote like this is possible in the Professor’s Gambia today. Instead we see people who supposed to defend the rights of the accused persons and stand up for the rule of law (such as Moses Richard, LK Mboge and the President of the Gambia Bar Association) shamefully capitulating by legitimizing the illegitimate.
In light of the humiliating public prostration to the Professor, as if he is a god with out of context quotes from the Quran, by Mr Tembedou, President of the Gambia Bar Association and defense counsel for Lang Tombong & Co, it will be hard to see how people in the Gambia can have any confidence in the justice system.
I am thus seriously concerned as to whether Lang & Co had adequate defense in the first place. There was a clear conflict of interest. This nonsense must stop.