Gambiaj.com – (Banjul, the Gambia)- The Special Select Committee investigating the Janneh Commission was thrown into controversy on Thursday after former Secretary to the Commission, Ramatoulie Sarr, openly accused her two former assistants of lying under oath.
Appearing for the fourth time before the Committee, Ms. Sarr dismissed testimonies from Fatou Drammeh and Kebba Bojang, both of whom had told Parliament they received verbal directives from her regarding the controversial sales of tractors and vehicles.
“They can say that to me, but that’s not the case,” Sarr told the Committee under tense questioning. Pressed by Counsel on whether her assistants lied to the Committee, she shot back: “That’s what I want to believe. They are both wrong. They lied on their own.”
The remarks directly contradict the detailed accounts of Drammeh and Bojang, who separately testified that Sarr interfaced with the Commissioners and relayed instructions to them. Bojang had gone further, insisting that “most of the instructions were verbal, and they came from Madam Ramatoulie Sarr.”
But in her testimony today, Sarr refused any responsibility, portraying herself as a mere messenger who only carried out instructions from the Commissioners. She denied convening meetings or issuing directives, even when confronted with documents suggesting otherwise, including letters on tractor sales and inconsistencies about the $13 million proceeds.
The standoff reached a point when Counsel suggested that either Sarr or her assistants may have committed perjury. “Lying to this Committee is an offense,” Counsel warned, reminding the witness that contempt proceedings could land anyone found guilty “a couple of nights in the former president’s hotel.”
Yet Sarr remained unshaken, insisting she had no hand in the tractor and vehicle sales, and that her subordinates were fabricating claims.
The Committee is now grappling with three irreconcilable versions of events. Two junior officials point the finger at their boss; the boss points the finger right back. Someone, members noted, is not telling the truth.
The high-stakes clash has fueled suspicions of a cover-up within the Janneh Commission’s administration, casting doubt on the credibility of its record-keeping and raising the specter of perjury charges against senior officials.
With the controversy deepening, members are expected to recall all three witnesses as Parliament seeks to unravel a case now defined less by missing tractors than by missing truths.
