In February 2025, we welcomed the Gambia Government’s nomination of former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubacarr M Tambadou as a candidate for the position of Judge in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Our endorsement was based on the role and contribution made by Tambadou in setting up of the transitional justice program and legal reforms in the Gambia.
Today, we regret to state that we are withdrawing and withholding our endorsement of his candidature following the damning report (The assets of Gambia’s former dictator go for a song) published by the investigative journalism outfit, The Republic on April 30, 2025.
The report has exposed decisions and actions in the sale of the assets of former dictator Yaya Jammeh that in our review and conclusion tantamount to acts of corruption, abuse of office and unethical conduct. Mr. Tambadou has been severely implicated in the report.
While the Government is yet to issue any public reaction to the Republic’s story, we note that Mr. Tambadou issued a statement on May 3 denying any wrongdoing (Rejoinder to the Article published by The Republic on 1 May 2015 titled “The Assets of Gambia’s former dictator go for a song”). A review of his statement has raised more questions than answers.
Considering the circumstances, and as organization dedicated to transparency and accountability EFSCRJ has decided to withdraw and withhold its decision to endorse Mr. Tambadou’s ICJ candidature until there is an impartial public inquiry to establish the facts which would determine if we would re-submit or cancel our endorsement of his candidature. For that matter, we hereby demand the following:
- The President to institute a presidential inquiry as per Section 200(d) of the Constitution to investigate and establish the legality or otherwise of the sale of Jammeh assets,
- The National Assembly to institute a parliamentary inquiry in line with Section 109(2) to investigate and establish the legality or otherwise of the sale of Jammeh assets,
- The Minister of Justice to release the full report of the auctioning of Jammeh assets including the list of buyers, the revenue generated for each item and the status of the rest of the assets that were neither sold nor bought,
- The release of the reports and minutes of the ministerial committee (at the time comprising Ministers Abubacar Tambadou, Hamat Bah and Musa Drammeh) on the sale of Jammeh assets,
- The Minister of Finance to disclose the total revenue generated from the sale of Jammeh of all the assets, and the status of the funds generated thereof.
Further, EFSCRJ will submit a request for information to the Ministry of Justice on the sale of Jammeh assets as per the Access to Information Act 2021.
We wish to commend the Republic for its quality investigative reporting on this matter.
2025 – The Year of Transparency and Accountability
