By: Fatou Krubally
Former Secretary to the Janneh Commission, Ramatoulie Sarr, told a Special Select Committee on Thursday that the Lead Counsel of the Commission, Amie Bensouda, exercised too much interference in the commission’s administration, sidelining her and directly influencing key operations.
Ms. Sarr testified that her assistants, Fatou Drammeh and Mr. Kebba Bojang, bypassed her authority and reported directly to the Lead Counsel. “They spent most of their time in the Lead Counsel’s office; it was like their second office,” she said, adding that decisions regarding the sale of tractors and vehicles came from the Lead Counsel, not from her office.
She also revealed that some correspondences were sent straight to the Lead Counsel, bypassing the secretariat and undermining her role as custodian of records. Ms. Sarr said she only saw certain reports, including RS34 and RS39, months later while compiling files for the Ministry of Justice.
“Whenever I asked for reports or raised concerns, commissioners told me to focus on my work,” she told the committee, highlighting the difficulty in asserting her administrative role. She admitted that she sometimes refrained from assigning tasks to her assistants, fearing that any mismanagement would be blamed on her.
Two examples she cited illustrate the impact of this interference: meetings on tractor sales in which she was excluded, and the decision to split her assistants into two teams for the sales, which she did not authorize. “The coordination of the whole sales should have come from the secretary, but that was not the case,” Ms. Sarr said.
Her testimony painted a picture of a divided administration, where she maintained formal authority but the Lead Counsel effectively controlled key decisions. “To a considerable extent, my authority was usurped,” she stated.
The committee continues its inquiry to understand the consequences of excessive interference on the commission’s operations and the disposal of assets identified by the commission.
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