By Fatou Sillah
Lamin Manneh, Deputy Administrative Secretary for External Affairs of the United Democratic Party, said this week that a UDP-led government would make The Gambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission fully operational within two months of assuming office, arguing that the current administration’s delay in standing up the institution reflects a lack of political will rather than any practical obstacle.
“When we come to power, we will have this commission up and running within two months. Maybe less than that,” Mr. Manneh said in an interview with West Coast Radio.
He said The Gambia has no shortage of qualified candidates to staff the commission and that assembling it would pose little difficulty given sufficient commitment.
“It is so easy. There are so many people of integrity in this country. You take 20 or 30 of them, you vet them, you screen them, and you get them ready,” he said. “You appoint some to the commission, some on standby, and you get the whole team moving. It wouldn’t take more than two months to do that—it doesn’t even take that.”
Mr. Manneh accused the current government of showing little urgency in operationalizing the commission despite what he described as the country’s pressing need for stronger anti-corruption institutions.
“So one person gets called out for corruption, and it takes so many months to replace that person; it just shows you’re not interested in setting up this institution,” he said.
He argued that the absence of a functioning commission should not be used as an excuse for inaction, noting that existing legal mechanisms already permit the investigation and prosecution of corruption.
“You don’t even need an Anti-Corruption Commission; there are laws, drafts in this country; you can use them to call to order and to call to book the people who are corrupt,” he said.
Mr. Manneh went further, alleging that the government itself was shielding officials implicated in corruption.
“The people who are corrupt in this country are the people who are being protected by this government. They know who is corrupt. They know who is doing what, and they are covering them up—and they are partly involved themselves,” he said.
He also says that repeated audit findings have not led to concrete action against those implicated, thereby encouraging impunity.
“When you have so many cases being called out in every single audit report, and nothing is done to address that, and the president can look us in the face and say audits are opinions, what do you tell the corrupt people? Continue doing it. I have your back; don’t worry, the president is with you?” he asked.
Mr. Manneh said a UDP government would strengthen the country’s investigative and prosecutorial bodies to ensure corruption cases are handled swiftly and effectively, arguing that consistent enforcement—rather than the mere existence of an institution—is what ultimately deters corruption.
“Once you do that, impunity will disappear, and once impunity disappears, the corruption will just fall,” he said. “When people see that there are consequences, that if you go foul of the law you’re going to pay for it, they will start sitting up and doing the right thing.”
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