The Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubacarr Ba Tambadou has distanced himself from recommending the pardon of a Norwegian citizen convicted of child abuse in The Gambia. In a statement published below, Minister Tambadou said he was not aware of how the said Norwegian convict was granted presidential amnesty.
I am learning with utter dismay reports circulating on social media that I recommended to the President for the exercise of his prerogative of mercy on one Norwegian citizen convicted of child abuse in The Gambia.
I want to make clear that I was not aware of this matter neither did I make any such recommendation to the President. In fact, I am currently out of the country on the hajj in Saudi Arabia. This matter was not brought to my attention for advice and I have consistently taken a hard line position on homicide and sexual offences convicts as reflected in all previous pardons in which I have participated as a member of the Prerogative of Mercy Committee which also includes the Honourable Minister of Interior, the Inspector General of Police and a religious leader.
I therefore reiterate that I was not involved in any decision to recommend for pardon the said Norwegian citizen contrary to reports that I made the recommendation. Upon my return from the hajj, I will get to the bottom of this matter and find out how the MOJ came to be associated with the purported conflicting statements released on our twitter page.
Meanwhile, it is also disheartening to note that some people see this incident as an opportunity to attempt to further tarnish my reputation by associating this incident with a previous one involving my brother last year. I want to state that I am not my brother and I am not responsible for my brother’s actions as a private legal practitioner. I would like to be judged on my actions alone regarding my professional conduct and not constantly get associated with the actions of my brother who is a private legal practitioner.
I will not allow anyone with any kind of agenda whatsoever to distract me from my objective of establishing strong foundations for democratic practice, respect for human rights and upholding the rule of law in our country. The challenge is hard enough without the pettiness and personal attacks from some quarters albeit limited.
Ba Tambadou
Ends
With sympathy & respect to Minister Ba Tambadou, he is defending himself against “pettiness and personal attacks” rather than clarifying the two key demands about the Norwegian paedophile’s “pardon”. The “objectors” to the “pardon”, led by the vociferous Madi Jobarteh and the serene Njundu Drammeh, state their demands as follows:-
1. A serial child abuser should not under any circumstances be a subject of the Gambian President’s “Prerogative of Mercy” and should never be “par…
See more @ Sambagate Snr of FB – too long for here.
I agree. I think people have every right to assume that the Attorney General is connected to the decision because he is a member of the advisory committee that advises the president on this kind of issues. All that the Attorney General should have done is to explain how he is not connected to the decision and rest his case. Taking it personally is unwarranted and very much unhelpful.
I think his statement exposes the president more to coarse questioning than he had hitherto been. I just couldn’t understand how on earth the president would exercise his prerogative of mercy to release any prisoner let alone a dangerous prisoner, without consulting the Attorney General for advice. That sounds irresponsible to me.
Barrow has taken control of the government away from the UDP and put it back into the hands of APRC people, and now we are all being humiliated. Many more things will go wrong guys. I do not believe there is even an iota of UDP influence in this government let alone over President Barrow.