By Kebba AF Touray
The Vice Chairperson of the legislative Select Committee investigating the sale and disposal of assets identified by the Janneh Commission as properties of former President Yahya Jammeh, Hon. Madi Ceesay, issued a stern warning to a witness on Monday, 26 August 2025, declaring that the committee would not accept any excuses.
The caution came during the appearance of Ms. Marie Therese Gomez, Registrar of Companies, who was summoned to provide testimony before the committee. Lead Counsel Aji Saine Kah had requested that the session be adjourned to allow the witness additional preparation time.
“Honorable Chair, I’m applying that today’s sittings be adjourned and the witness can come back at a later date, hopefully more prepared,” Ms. Kah said, urging that the Vice Chair offer “a few words of advice, or perhaps, should I say a warning, so that the witness can come more prepared and be able to answer the questions.” She added that prior to the break on Tuesday, “it’s like we were going in circles and it was definitely wasting the time of the committee.”
Vice Chair Ceesay responded sharply, noting that the witness appeared to be inadequately prepared. “Apparently, it looks like the witness has not gone through the documents properly, and as a result, you are ill-prepared for this session,” he said.
“Just to let you know that this committee is set up by the National Assembly with a time limit, so we would not take any excuse from any witness that would, one way or the other, be an obstruction for us to accomplish our duties, and report back to plenary,” he continued.
He advised Ms. Gomez to familiarize herself with her submitted documents ahead of her next appearance. “We will let you go for a later date, and I would advise you to acquaint yourself with the documents that you have submitted, so that when you come back here, it will be a straightforward session with you,” he said.
Vice Chair Ceesay also announced that the committee’s sessions would not follow the usual public hearing format next week, explaining that some activities would be conducted outside the conference hall.
The hearing was subsequently adjourned to Thursday, 28 August 2025.
