Baddibu Chief Denies Intimidating Revising Court Witness

Chief Alagie Jagne of Central Baddibu has denied claims he interfered with a witness who filed objections at the revising court in Kerewan against two persons accused of unlawfully obtaining voter’s cards.

According to UDP Youth President Haji Suwaneh, Chief Jagne summoned the party’s agent Lamin Jawo, threatened him with arrest and pressured him to withdraw his objection against Momodou Kanteh and Balla Kanteh who are believed to be non-Gambians but acquired voter’s cards with the help of the alkalo of Kerr Samba Nyado. He said when IEC officials visited the village to serve the summon papers, the objected persons were no were to be found since they returned to Senegal and so the document was given to the alkalo to serve them. Suwaneh alleged that the alkalo “panicked” and reported the objector, Lamin Jawo, to Chief Alagie Jagne who allegedly coerced Jawo into withdrawing his objection but Jawo refused despite being threatened with arrest.

He said Jawo had previously warned the alkalo and NPP officials in the area against facilitating registration of the two persons during the supplementary voter registration exercise because they were ineligible but he said they did not pay heed to the warning and Jawo then took note of their voter’s cards numbers which he filed at the revising courts.

Reacting to the allegation, Chief Jagne told The Standard that he did not in any way attempted or pressured Jawo to withdraw the case.

He explained that he summoned Jawo following a complaint he received from the alkalo who alleged Jawo had objected to his registration at the court and he wanted them to discuss it because going to the revising courts may escalate the problem.

“I did not ask them to withdraw the objection at the revising court. That is not my business. Am I the judge? Even a mad person will not do that. All that I tell them was that this exercise comes every five years and it is everyone’s right to make objections. So I advised them to go to the court and settle it there. But I did not ask them to withdraw the case. That has never happened since the Jawara era,” Chief Jagne stated.

A member of the chief’s support staff, Almameh Jawo, defended his boss, insisting that he did not ask Jawo to withdraw the case. He explained that the place where the persons in question obtained their voter’s cards was not within the jurisdiction of the alkalo of Kerr Samba Nyado.  “I don’t know where those people got those documents but it was not through this alkalo,” Jawo insisted.