By Kebba AF Touray
Warrant Officer Two (WO2) Modou Lamin K. Susso on Tuesday, 21st October 2025, testified before the National Assembly’s Special Select Committee investigating the disposal and sale of assets belonging to former President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh.
The Committee is probing assets identified by the Janneh Commission as part of its mandate to examine how Jammeh’s properties were managed, sold, or disposed of.
Testifying before the Committee, WO2 Susso narrated his military background, stating that he attended Latrikunda Sabiji Primary School and later completed at Pakalinding Primary School before enlisting in the then Gambia National Gendarmerie, which merged with the Gambia National Army in 1994. After military training, he rose through the ranks to his current position and is now posted at State House.
When asked by Counsel Lamin M. Dibba how he ended up at the Military Stores and Assets (MSA), Susso said he was instructed by his former Commandant at State House, Colonel Turo Jawneh, to take an inventory of vehicles recovered by Sergeant Adama Jagne and his recovery team.
He told the Committee that he documented the recovered vehicles in a quire book, which he later submitted to his superiors.
Recalling an incident, WO2 Susso said that while heading to Brufut one day, he received a lift from Mansa Sumareh, former driver to President Adama Barrow. During the journey, Sumareh informed him about a Shalom car he had seen at a private garage in Tallinding, which he suspected was being repainted.
According to Susso, Sumareh said he confronted a mechanic at the garage who claimed the vehicle was given to them by Siaka Jammeh, then in charge of the MSA. Sumareh reportedly drove to the MSA and confronted Siaka Jammeh about the vehicle. While they were discussing, Dou Sannoh arrived at the MSA from Brufut with a group of “coalition boys.”
“I realized that Dou and Siaka were discussing. I don’t know the conclusion, but Dou Sannoh demanded the key to a Pajero parked at the MSA. Siaka then handed him the key, and Dou asked one of the coalition boys to drive the vehicle to Brufut, where the President was residing,” Susso told the Committee.
When Counsel Dibba asked who Mansa Sumareh was and what he was doing at the MSA, Susso replied, “He is the former driver to President Adama Barrow.”
Explaining how he ended up at Brufut, Susso said he moved there out of fear for his safety after refusing to participate in an arrest order. “I was informed that the Military Police were coming from State House to arrest RSM Sarr and WO1 Sangura. When I asked where the order came from, I was told it was an executive order. I refused, and because of fear for my safety, I decided to move to Brufut, where President Barrow was stationed,” he said.
Susso added that his name later appeared on the list of personnel selected to form the new State Guard, which operated wherever the President was stationed. He said he was later moved to State House, Fajara, where Colonel Jawneh instructed him to go to the MSA and take inventory of vehicles recovered by Jagne and his team.
Present during that meeting, he said, were Colonel Jawneh, Sergeant Adama Jagne, the late Secretary-General Dawda Fadera, and Lamin Cham, the President’s Personal Assistant.
WO2 Susso also told the Committee that he later saw the black Pajero recovered by Dou Sannoh and taken to Brufut in the possession of Hon. Muhammed Kanteh, Member for Busumbala, though he could not confirm who allocated it to him.
When asked who was responsible for the day-to-day running of the MSA, Susso said it was Adama Jagne. “In the military, appointment supersedes rank. He was a mechanic, and I had no knowledge of mechanics,” he explained.
Susso added that his role was limited to taking inventory, but when Jagne started issuing vehicles to individuals at State House, he informed the Commandant, who instructed him to record everything. “That is what I documented in the quire book,” he concluded.
