By Yankuba Jallow
Muhammed Jah, on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, testified on the truck deal his company had with the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) for the procurement of 19 trucks. The contract was worth $2.1 million, equivalent to D105 million.
Jah began by saying he welcomed the commission’s inquiry because he believes that transparency is essential, as it enhances public confidence.
“I am a shareholder and ultimate owner of both AGIB Bank and Espace Motors. However, I do not manage their day-to-day operations,” Jah said. He added that the board of directors and the professional management teams are responsible for commercialisation, risk assessment and contract execution. He stressed that for the past 10 years, he has neither sat on the management board of AGIB Bank nor Espace Motors.
The commission, established to investigate financial and administrative activities of local councils from 2018 to 2023, zeroed in on a 2019 procurement by the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC). Espace Motors, a subsidiary of Jah’s group, supplied 19 trucks for waste collection in the sprawling municipality.
“I was very much aware, as everybody knew, that during the mayoral elections, almost 90% of the issues or the concerns raised by the public were waste management,” Jah explained. He said this was a concern to the other area councils. “All the municipalities contacted us after the mayoral election – not only KMC, and we discussed and negotiated with all of them.” He said his company began contacting the manufacturers on how to solve the problems even before the municipalities contacted them. He added that they went around to see how waste is collected in the country and how it is dumped or processed. “So obviously, as a company, we also took note because we are living in the country and we started investigating, talking to our manufacturers on how to solve this problem because we are citizens and we were the ones giving these concerns to the municipalities.”
He said KMC contacted them that they wanted to procure 19 trucks for each of the 19 wards. He added that the KMC requested a discount, but when this was granted, the mayor and his team were not happy about it. Jah recalled that in a meeting he attended with the KMC officials, he discounted D10 million, which was 10% of the full amount. Jah then clarified that he sometimes participates in meetings “in one way or the other.”
By law and practice, contracts of this size usually require an advance payment of 20 per cent — nearly 24 million dalasis. KMC did not pay it.
Gomez said KMC first approached AGIB before approaching Espace Motors. Jah clarified that the contract was between Espace Motors and KMC and not the wards.
The contract said there should be an advance payment and security. The contract further stated that the trucks themselves will serve as guarantors, while the procurement will be done by the wards, and the KMC will facilitate the procurement. Jah said the KMC should have made a 20% down payment and then paid the rest within 3 years.
“Unfortunately, KMC at the time couldn’t pay the 20%.” “They said they don’t have the money to pay 20%,” Jah admitted. “So I took the risk. We took the risk.”
That meant Espace Motors began the process without security. Trucks were ordered from manufacturers abroad. Shipping documents and invoices, later presented to the commission, confirmed that the company had committed to delivery long before receiving a dalasi from KMC.
He explained that the company’s team consulted KMC to give a guarantee as security, but it was not possible. He added that they then decided to use the trucks as the guarantees, with the idea that if the KMC cannot provide the advance payment, the trucks will be used as security, and if the company fails to pay, the company can take back the trucks.
“The only way to get this project moving is to use the trucks, which we own and purchase, as a guarantee. It is not a normal thing.” He explained that it was one of the socially impactful projects. “We did some special consensus on this project. So we used our own trucks, which we own, as a guarantee instead of the KMC bringing a guarantee.”
Gomez restated that the contract term indicated that the procurement was for the wards, while the KMC only facilitated the process. Gomez asked if it was feasible for the wards to pay the amount. Jah said he was not privy to the contract before it was signed. He added that his company signed an agreement with the KMC and not with the individual wards. Jah testified that the issue of the wards was an internal arrangement between the KMC and the wards.
Lead Counsel Patrick Gomez pressed: “If the first payment could not be made, you would probably be investing, pre-financing 105 million dollars. And the first payment of 24 million dollars could not be met by the purchaser. What would that tell you as, as a contractor, as Pass Motors?”
“I have gone into this contract and used my trucks as a guarantee,” Jah replied. “So what that means is that at any point in time during the contract, if KMC fails to pay me, I will just retrieve my trucks.”
The commission’s deepest concern was not the missing advance, but the role of AGIB Bank — also owned by Jah.
Initially, KMC went directly to AGIB for financing. The bank’s credit committee, minutes later, tendered in evidence and rejected the proposal. One witness summarised: “All the credit committee declined the proposal because it was said not to be a very viable business for the bank.”
But when Espace Motors signed the contract and came back, AGIB joined as a financier. Jah explained why: “QuantumNet went into the contract with KMC and came to AGIB as a partner in this project, but guaranteeing AGIB’s investment.”
He said the structure was a Musharaka — a partnership under Islamic banking law. “AGIB takes 60 and then we take 40,” Jah testified. “So it’s not a loan. It’s like a partnership agreement.”
Gomez reminded him of the risk to depositors. “AGIB Bank is your bank in the local parlance. But in the eyes of the law, you have obligations. You have a duty of care to the customers who have their money in your bank.”
“At this point, when we signed, it’s my money,” Jah countered. “We have to get the facts out. At this point, it was my money.”
The testimony was not without sharp exchanges. When Gomez implied Jah was careless with details, Jah bristled.
“I mean, it is tying your businesses down financially,” Gomez said. “I mean, I believe the sum is, how much, D105 million?”
“Yes,” Jah answered.
“So you would not know what terms and conditions would be in the contract before they were signed?”
“As I said, counsel, I don’t sit in the management meetings of these businesses,” Jah said firmly. “I have hired very competent professionals to run my businesses all over the world. I am not only running a business in Gambia. I have over 10 businesses standing in Africa and in London. So I don’t go into those small details.”
When Gomez remarked that the amount was “large in your view,” Jah fired back: “Why would you choose to demean my character in that form?”
The tension drew a quick apology. “No, no, no, counsel, I don’t demean your character. I am very sorry if you feel like that,” Gomez said.
“No, I don’t feel like that. I am very sorry. I feel it is unnecessary. I feel your comments were really out of place, but let me excuse that,” Jah replied.
The commission drilled into the numbers, presenting invoices, bid documents, and pricing breakdowns.
“The bid was for 19 trucks, compact trucks, and the price for each compact truck was D121,152.51,” Jah explained. “And the 19 came and we gave a discount of D10,526.32. So, now the new cost after discount is D110,626.”
“We ended up agreeing at 105 million,” he said. “Out of that, our margin as a company was 21 million. Because I heard a lot of people saying they’ve made so much money. So I want to tell you that we did not make as much as we are even supposed to make. Because we felt that this was a project which was essential to the community.”
“I was, after a long deliberation, I remember that day, I was able to give them a discount of 10 million, which was almost 10% of the cost of the project,” he added.
Jah then compared his margins with prevailing interest rates. “If you look at the 21 million, over a period of three years, you calculate it, you will see that if it were a normal bank, conventional bank, you’re talking about 6-7% interest per year. So I’ve done the calculation myself today. If we put 18% interest, and at the time we were doing this, the interest rate was very high… the KMC should have paid close to 36 million, more than 36 million.”
For the commission, the documentary evidence painted a troubling picture: contracts signed without security, trucks delivered without advance payment, and AGIB’s depositors unknowingly tied to the outcome.
“We have to look at what KMC went into,” Gomez said. “Because it has an impact on its work – because it ended up having to utilise funds from revenue because it did not do what it’s supposed to have done in the first place to realise or to be in a position to know whether the investment it is going into is viable or not.”
One commissioner summarised bluntly: “Too much of a risk was taken without any evidence of guarantee coming from KMC in any form. What we see is evidence of unjustifiable risk that was taken.”
“There is no business council which doesn’t take risks,” Jah maintained. “I was ready for this business to take risks.”
By the end of the hearing, the commission had sifted through invoices, financing agreements, and title deeds used as collateral. Jah admitted the risks but insisted the outcome justified them.
“I want to assure the Commission that no wrongdoing has been done on this procurement,” he said. “What we tried our level best as a company was to help solve the problem of waste in the municipalities. And today, because of the success of the KMC project, all the municipalities in Banjul have followed suit. Birkama, we have just supplied two weeks ago and now Kerewan. All the municipalities are coming to us to give them the solution.”
For commissioners, the case revealed a deeper tension in Gambian governance: urgent public needs colliding with fragile financing, and private empires asked to carry risks the state itself could not.
“It is good to come and clarify,” Jah concluded. “I want to show you what we have done for this project.”
