10/03/2025
Good morning, Gambia!
We spent most of this past weekend reviewing various audit reports on government institutions. Billahi, many of our civil servants are corrupt, greedy, and utterly selfish. Instead of serving the nation, they go to work with one objective—to steal public funds.
In 2007, former President Yahya Jammeh introduced the Fisheries Act to regulate and conserve the country's fisheries resources. The Act established general licensing requirements and specific conditions for foreign fishing vessels.
One of its key provisions required all foreign trawlers—whether European, Senegalese, or Chinese—to land 10% of their catches in The Gambia. This policy was a major reason for the establishment of the Bakoteh and Brikama fish markets by the former regime.
However, when President Barrow took office, everything changed. The Ministry of Fisheries became one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. In 2019, an insider even set fire to the ministry, destroying dozens of critical files.
Following the 2021 presidential election, Fisheries Minister James Gomez was removed from his position without any official explanation. His permanent secretary was the first senior government official to be jailed for corruption under Barrow’s administration.
Not long ago, one of our followers in the construction industry sent us photos of waterfront apartments in Cape Point, allegedly owned by former Minister Gomez. These are multimillion Dalasi apartments.
Now, let’s go to the audit reports on our desk. Under Barrow’s administration, the requirement for foreign vessels to land 10% of their catch was completely stopped. Instead, foreign vessels were allowed to make cash payments. The ministry justified this decision by citing a lack of adequate storage facilities in the country.
Here’s what the auditors discovered:
~ In early 2020, from January to March, a foreign vessel named Cinar Ibrahim paid D2.2 million instead of landing 289,100 kg of fish. Of this amount, only D950,000 was deposited into state coffers (receipt number 25CR20000152), while the remaining D1.9 million was embezzled.
Now, let’s simplify it: the full D2.2 million was meant for over two million Gambians. But the Fisheries officials said no. They decided to deposit only D950,000 for Gambians and pocketed the remaining D1.9 million.
~ On April 17, 2021, a Chinese fishing vessel, Jin 01, was caught operating in a prohibited zone and fined D1 million. But only D250,000 was deposited into state coffers and the remaining D750,000 vanished into private pockets.
~ On April 6, 2022, another Chinese vessel was fined D1.5 million. Of that amount, D700,000 was deposited, while D800,000 was stolen.
To be continued!
