By Amadou Manjang
Around thirty of police officers entered the headquarters of the National Audit Office on Monday, forcing Auditor General Modou Ceesay from his post in a dramatic escalation of a dispute between the presidency and the country’s chief public finance watchdog.
The officers of the Gambia Police Force, including members of the Police Intervention Unit, surrounded the Audit Office compound shortly after 9 a.m., according to eyewitnesses. Ten officers blocked the entrance gates, with at least two standing guard with AK-47 rifles, while others took positions around the perimeter. Inside the yard, officers pressed Ceesay to leave, as journalists and staff watched a tense standoff unfold.
Some reporters who had arrived earlier were permitted into the building with the Auditor General, but others were barred from entering. Staff members shouted at the officers not to arrest their boss. After a series of heated exchanges, Ceesay was escorted out of the compound by police and Audit Office employees. Several employees were in tears as they accompanied him to a waiting vehicle, which drove him to the office of his lawyer in Sukuta.
“This was not a resignation. I went to my lawyer to seek guidance,” Ceesay told reporters at the law office. His attorney, Lamin J. Darboe, said he would challenge the government’s move before the Supreme Court, calling the removal “unlawful.”
“We will file the necessary process before the end of the week so that the Court can determine whether the president has the power to forcibly remove the Auditor General,” Darboe said. “We believe the law does not allow it.” He added that while his client could not immediately obtain an injunction, a favorable ruling would reinstate Ceesay and entitle him to compensation. “We will push for an expedited hearing,” he said.
The confrontation came after days of controversy surrounding a reported offer by the government to appoint Ceesay as Minister of Trade, Regional Integration and Employment. The Auditor General issued a press release rejecting the position, but officials insist he had verbally accepted it and therefore relinquished his role as head of the Audit Office.
Later in the day, the State House issued a statement confirming that Ceesay had first accepted and then rejected the cabinet appointment. The statement stopped short of clarifying his status at the Audit Office but announced that Cherno Amadou Sowe had been appointed Auditor General with the government’s backing.
By early afternoon on Monday, police had vacated the Audit Office compound, but many staff had left the building before the close of work, according to reporters who visited the site.
Foroyaa is following developments.
