Gambia: Govt Rejects TRRC's Recommendations to Ban Sowe, Sonko From Holding Public Office

TRRC hall (file photo).

According to the government's White Paper on the recommendations of the TRRC, The Gambia government rejected the recommendations to ban the Director of State Intelligence Agency (SIS) Ousman Sowe and the former Minister of Interior Yankuba Sonko from holding public office due to illegal findings of the commission.

As the TRRC recommends Yankuba Sonko and Malamin Ceesay be banned from holding public office with the Gambia government for 10 years for their roles in covering up the killings of the West African migrants, the government partially accepts this recommendation and refers to it for further investigation in light of potentially exculpatory evidencing submitted in favour of Yankuba Sonko.

The TRRC also recommends that the government ban Ousman Sowe, the current SIS Director General, from holding public office with the government of The Gambia for a minimum period of 10 years for the destruction and concealment of evidence at the NIA.

However, the government notes that while the actions alleged above are said to have happened in May 2017, The TRRC's mandate covers the period from July 1994 to January 2017. The paper further indicates that the government is therefore of the view that the recommendation goes beyond the scope of the TRRC's mandate.

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