Ex-Superintendent Manlafi Sanyang, former State House Logistics Officer, is expected to begin testimony in his defence today before Magistrate Kayode of the Banjul Magistrates’ Court. The case in question, which was scheduled for the beginning of defence yesterday, could not proceed due to a scheduled meeting Gambia Bar Association was supposed to hold.

Ex-Superintendent Sanyang was alleged to have sold without authorisation a motor vehicle with reg. No. BJL 4591A, a government property, while he was employed as Government Vehicles Controller. He was also accused of stealing the sum of D75,000, being the proceeds from the sale of the said vehicle. He denied the charges.

After almost three months of legal proceedings, the Banjul Magistrates’ Court has finally delivered its judgement in the case of a police officer who ‘aided and abetted’ a remand prisoner to escape from lawful custody.

Modou Cham, a corporal with the Gambia Police Force, was early this week found guilty of facilitating the escape of one Abdou Njie whilst Njie was placed under custody at Banjul police station.

The incident occurred in April of this year between the hours of 21:00 and 24:00.

Magistrate B.Y. Camara on Monday convicted officer Cham to serve a jail term of nine months or pay a fine of D2000.

The FIFA Development officer for West Africa, Sampon J. Kablan, together with Eric Harrison, were expected in Banjul last evening and will today visit the FIFA projects in The Gambia.

The visit will include Gambia’s first Artificial Turf Pitch in Brikama and the first goal project for Gambia and the GFA Centre of Excellence in Yundum. 

The second goal project which is the Football House for The Gambia (Secretariat of the Gambia Football Association) is also under FIFA Goal Project and aimed at assisting National Associations in developing countries.

Modou Lamin Sanyang, a narcotics officer attached to Soma police station in Lower River Region, recently testified at the Brikama Magistrates’ Court as the trial of one Juka Colley on drug charges continues.

According to detective Sanyang in his testimony, it was in December of last year when he and his colleagues went to Sarreh Samba village in Central River Region of The Gambia.

“On arrival at the village, we went straight to Juka’s house where we found him with the wife. We then conducted a search on the house and found a bundle of suspected cannabis therein. Juka was later arrested and escorted to Soma police station and subsequently NDEA Headquarters in Banjul,” added officer Sanyang.

Momodou Gaye, the GFA and FIFA Security Officer and Deputy Inspector General of Police, disclosed on West Coast Radio that some people who forged tickets during the Gambia and Senegal match last Sunday have been arrested and detained, awaiting appearance before justice.

Deputy IGP Gaye urged people to desist from forging GFA tickets, warning that anyone caught in the act would face the full force of the law.

He further revealed that for The Gambia-Algeria match scheduled to be played at the Independence Stadium in Bakau on Saturday, ticket prizes would be reduced as follow: D500.00 for VIP, D100.00 for Covered Pavilion and D50.00 for Uncovered Pavilion.

He added that tickets would be sold at Yiriwa FM in Brikama and at the Independence Stadium at 9am on Saturday. 

Gaye used the occasion to call on Gambians to come out in their thousands to cheer on the Scorpions. He expressed gratitude for the level of discipline shown during the Gambia-Senegal match and expressed the hope that the attitude would continue during forthcoming matches to be played in Banjul.

In the ongoing trial of the government vehicle theft case involving Superintendent Manlafi Sanyang last Wednesday resumed at the Banjul Magistrate Court before Magistrate Kayode. The proceedings saw the testimonies of Prosecution Witnesses (PW) 2 and 3.

In his testimony earlier PW2, Assistant Superintendent Philip Jarju, attached to State House under Government Vehicles Control unit, said he knew the accused person with whom he worked in the same unit. “The accused was head of government vehicle control unit,” he stated, pointing out that the accused had the mandate to control all vehicles owned by the state, as well as the processing of number plates for any vehicle purchased by the government through the Department of State for Works and Infrastructure.  He told the court that in the event of need to repair any vehicle, the vehicle in question would be sent to Kotu Workshop for repair and the workshop would issue a clearance to the Department of State for Finance for approval of the amount involved.

He informed the court that if a state vehicle is up for sale, it is sold in an auction under the Department of State for Finance. “But I was not aware of any vehicle registered BJL4591A.

Also testifying Officer in charge of registration of motor vehicle and number plates, Assistant Superintendent Fansu A. E. Faburay, said that he knew the accused as a police officer attached to Office of the President, State House, as Government Vehicles Controller. He told the court that as officer-in-charge of motor vehicles registration department, the vehicle registration number BJL4591 A is a Mitsubishi pick-up belonging to the Immigration Department. He adduced that the vehicle was later transferred to Youth Development Enterprise and registered as BJL 4591B. He said the said vehicle is the property of the state registered as a private vehicle. He testified that his office is responsible for issuing private, commercial and official number plates. He said the vehicle BJL 4591A and BJL4591B were registered during the time of Baba Jobe, who established the Youth Development Enterprise and the vehicle was meant to assist them in their business.

At that juncture the case was adjourned to today for cross-examination by the defence councel.

In its drive to transform the country’s civil service by making it more responsive to the needs and aspirations of the citizenry, the Personnel Management Office (PMO) on Monday commenced a three week induction course for civil servants in the administrative cadre.

The training, hosted by the Management Development Institute (MDI), is being organised by the PMO in collaboration with the host institute. It brought together twenty five participants from different government departments.

In his keynote address at the opening ceremony, Mr.Omar G. Sallah, Permanent Secretary of the PMO and also Chairman of the MDI Board of Directors said that the course is designed for newly appointed cadets in the civil service. It is intended to introduce them to the civil service administrative framework and to the dynamics of government machinery. He added that this will equip them with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them perform their duties effectively and efficiently.

According to him, to ensure a sound public administrative system and rapid economic development there is a need to have a robust civil service with the right caliber of competent people placed in strategic positions. “In this way we can guarantee effective service delivery as well as quality output and productivity,” he stated.

He believes the prime objective of the exercise is to provide a core of efficient staff and a lean, effective and efficient system to deliver goods and services to the public in the most objective, cost efficient and beneficiary manner. “We have come to realise that our development aspirations cannot be realised if the right people (i.e. well trained and competent) are not in the right places (high ranking positions)”.   

The PMO boss revealed that his office intended to fund the course every four months as an invaluable learning process for all patriotic citizens who want to serve the nation. Mr. Sallah further encouraged the participants to take the training seriously for their own personal interest and that of the country as a whole.

Mr. G.O Bright, the Vice Chairman of the Public Service Commission also spoke at the occasion. The ceremony was chaired by the Deputy Acting Director of the MDI, Mr. Yusupha Dibba and it was attended by the Acting Director General MDI Mr. Alieu Jarju. The course will last from May 26th to June 11th2008.

Mr. Kawsu Ceesay, former IEC Chief Electoral Officer, has filed for an appeal against his conviction. The appeal is before the Banjul High Court presided over by Justice M.M. Yemoa.

The case was mentioned yesterday before being adjourned to enable records of proceedings from the Kanifing Magistrates Court to be made available to the court.

It could be recalled that the appellant, Kawsu Ceesay, was recently convicted by Kanifing Magistrates Court and sentenced to a fine of D50,000.00 in default to serve three months imprisonment. He was said to have forged the signature of the former IEC Chairman, Mr Ndondi Njie.

The case was adjourned to 29th May.

Mam Sait Ceesay, former State House Press Officer, yesterday walked out of the court room as a completely free man after he was acquitted and discharged by the Banjul Magistrates Court on all the counts prefered against him by the authority.

Mr ceesay was standing trial before Senior Magistrate Kayode on charges of false publication and broadcasting, contrary to section 181(A) of the criminal code, cap 10 volume 3, Laws of The Gambia . Mr Ceesay was accused of publishing to and through Daily Observer that Alex Dacosta was appointed DPPR, Office of the President.

Delivering the ruling, Senior Magistrate Kayode stated that the ruling was in respect of the defense counsel’s no-case submission made before the court. He said the application made orally urged the court to discgarge and acquit the accused person as no prima facie case had been established against the accused. “On the evidence before the court, I found that there is no doubt that indeed there is evidence of false publication and broadcasting. The issue however is who exactly is responsible,” he added.

“Can it be said that the text message constitutes a publication or a broadcasting or simply a request for information?” the Senior Magistrate enquired rhetorically. He said it is a fact that a question mark at the end of every sentence denotes nothing but a question seeking information or clarification.

“When Dr Taal being the Managing Director of the Daily Observer hurriedly published with the caption ‘JT Kujabi Replaced,’ [he] was publishing a false and distorted version of the request received from the accused,” the Magistrate asserted, adding: “I also found that it is both suprising and shocking that the police, having investigated the case, having read the text message, decided to chase shadows when Dr Taal the substance was there to be chased.”

“ I have no doubt that both Ousman Darboe and Dr Taal who both read the text of the accused and decided to author and publish the said text by removing the question mark at the end thereof are the duo who acted wilfully, negligently and recklessly to make false publication of the accused’s incomplete text message. Based on all the above, I reach the invevitable conclussion that there  is no iota of evidence linking the accused with the alleged false publication.” Consequently the no-case submission of the defence suceeded on all grounds. The accused was therefore accordingly acquitted and discharged on both counts.

Meanwhile this paper has been reliably informed by authoritative sources that Mr. Malick Jones, was yesterday picked up by agents of state security.