By Ousman Saidykhan
The 50 million dalasis civil suit filed by the environment minister against The Alkamba Time’s reporter is set for hearing tomorrow, Nov. 12, at 10:30 am at the Banjul High Court.
The plaintiff, Rohey John Manjang, claims journalist Kebba Ansu Manneh, TAT Chief National/ Investigative Correspondent, wrote an article that contained “malicious and unfounded allegations” about her. She is seeking the court to order the defendant to write and publish an “unreserved apology” on the TAT website and other platforms where the article was published, in addition to a 50 million dalasi compensation.
TAT’s investigative article, authored by Kebbe Ansu and published on June 19, 2024, included allegations of D150,000 being paid to a bank account belonging to the minister. The amount is allegedly from a sum of D200,000 generated from the sale of a Mahogany tree that stood on the outskirts of Kiang Kaif.
However, Minister Manjang, who was the former governor of the Lower River Region, has regarded the allegations as unfounded and decided to take legal action, which she told parliament is “in line with due process and her rights under the laws of The Gambia.”
She is also asking the court to order the defendant to remove from social media platforms all statements pertaining to the plaintiff’s alleged defamation and to grant a perpetual injunction to restrain the defendant from making any further defamatory statement against her, indirectly or through his agents, associates, and contacts.
TAT had contacted the minister before publishing the investigative piece to ask for her response, but she declined. She only threatened to institute legal actions against anyone who participated in the publication if the medium published the article.
After the article was published, a letter from the minister’s lawyers disputed the allegations and demanded an apology and retraction from TAT or risk being sued. However, both TAT and the reporter stood their ground, and neither apologized nor retracted the article.
Meanwhile, while answering questions at the parliament on the Mahogany trees in September, Minister Manjang said the trees, cut down in May 2024, were left in the community’s custody.
According to her, the Regional Forestry Officer (RFO) for the Lower River Region informed the Director of Forestry on July 19, 2024, that the two trees had been removed without their notice or authority.
She told the parliament: “The matter was reported to the District Chief, a native of the village and the Alkalo. They helped in gathering the information in the village to determine who was responsible for the unauthorized removal of the mahogany trees. When no head way was made by the team, the matter was reported to the Mansakonko Police Station for further investigation at Criminal Investigation Division. The investigation is currently going on – we are waiting to receive it.”
