Assistant Secretary of Janneh Commission Attributes Tractor Auction Revenue Gap to Equipment Condition
Photo Caption: Fatou Drammeh, Assistant Secretary, Janneh Commission
By Fatou Sillah
Fatou Drammeh, Assistant Secretary of the Janneh Commission, on Wednesday testified before the National Assembly Select Committee probing the sale and disposal of assets belonging to former President Yahya Jammeh. Her testimony focused on the auction of tractors conducted under the commission’s mandate.
Committee member Hon. Kebba Lang Fofana pressed Drammeh to clarify inconsistencies in the auction proceeds. According to her account, as head of “Team Two,” she supervised the sale of 59 tractors for a total of D5,819,000. By comparison, another team led by Mamadi Kurang, the commission’s former Secretary General, sold 43 tractors for D10.5 million.
“I sold 59 tractors for Team Two; the total was D5,819,000. When I was part of Mamadi Kurang’s team, we sold 43 tractors and realized D10,500,000,” Drammeh explained.
Hon. Fofana questioned why a larger number of tractors yielded significantly less revenue. In response, Drammeh attributed the difference to the varying conditions of the equipment at the time of sale.
“During Kurang’s tenure, the tractors that were auctioned were in very, very good condition. They were John Deeres, the green ones. Some of them were new, some next to new, and those attracted a lot of money,” she said.
She added that the second auction, conducted in October 2018, followed the rainy season and featured tractors in far poorer condition.
“The majority of those tractors were not roadworthy. They were scrap, most of them; so many parts were stolen, they were cannibalized by the time we got to the auction site, and the ones left were not in good condition,” Drammeh testified.
When asked why her written statement noted tampering without specifying the exact number of affected tractors, she replied, “If I want to quantify the tractors that were affected, I would say all of them were affected because they were all in the open area during the rainy season, but I said most of the tractors were tampered with,” she said.
Hon. Fofana noted that the stark contrast between the two sales underscored the importance of equipment condition in determining value. He noted that while the June 2018 auction realized D10.5 million, the subsequent October 2018 sale of even more tractors generated just D5.8 million.