The Gambia Armed Forces yesterday lost a civil suit of six million three hundred and thirteen thousand and twenty-five dalasis against one Sarjo Saine of Kono Construction.
The verdict was handed down by Justice E. Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court.
The GAF was ordered to pay the plaintiff, Sarjo Saine the sum of D5, 713, 025.00 (Five Million, Even Hundred and Thirteen Thousand and Twenty-Five Dalasis) being invoice value of monies owed for emptying cesspit pools from various Army Barracks in The Gambia.
The defendant was also ordered by the court to pay the plaintiff legal and administrative fees of D500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Dalasis) incurred in prosecuting the suit.
The court further ordered the defendant to pay an interest rate of 10% until the date of final judgment sum, a statutory interest of 4% awarded in favour of the plaintiff against the defendant from the date of judgment up to the date of the final liquidation of the judgment sum.
The court had also ordered the GAF to award the plaintiff an amount of D100,000.00 for general damages.
Sometimes in 2012, GFA approached the plaintiff through one of their commandants attached to the Fajara Barrack for the emptying of cesspit pools.
According to the plaintiff, when the work was done he submitted a delivery note to confirm the completion of the work. He added that an invoice of any work done would have to be prepared and sent to the chief clerk for a departmental memo to be raised for onward transmission to the chief of defence.
The plaintiff said that based on the arrangement, a pattern contract was established for him to empty cesspit pools from time to time at various Army Barracks within the country after which invoices would be sent.
He said the course of his work done for the GFA was discovered to have piled up over time and in June 2019, he wrote a letter to the Chief of Defence Staff requesting his outstanding payments.
He added that in October 2020, he caused his lawyer to write to the GFA demanding his outstanding payment, stating that the Ministry of Defence invited him to a meeting via a letter in November 2020 to discuss the issue.
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He said he attended that meeting but the defendant failed to turn up for the meeting, noting that he wrote a letter informing them about their absence in the meeting and suggested fair arrangements for immediate payment of the debt.
He said the inability of the defendant to pay for services rendered by him had caused hardship and loss in the cause of his business.
The court therefore entered judgement in favour of the plaintiff, Sainey Saine ( Trading as Kono Construction) against the Gambia Armed Forces.
