By Fatou Dahaba
Commissioner Nfamara Saidyba, Vehicle Controller at State House, has fiercely rejected claims that he accepted bribes from soldiers acting on the instructions of Sergeant Adama Jagne during the transfer of government buses.
Testifying for the third time before the Special Select Committee investigating the sale and disposal of assets flagged by the Janneh Commission, Saidyba faced pointed questions on Tuesday about alleged payments of D20,000 and D50,000 handed to him in Banjul.
“Never,” Saidyba declared when confronted with testimonies from soldiers who claimed they delivered cash to him personally. He admitted knowing only one of the accusing soldiers but insisted that no financial transactions ever occurred.
The soldiers, whose identities were withheld during the public hearing, told investigators they used a crane to move more than ten buses from the State House to the military base in Kanifing Municipality. Saidyba clarified that only three buses were relocated and stored at a cement warehouse because they were in “terrible condition.”
“Those three were not distributed to any institution,” he said. “The good ones went to the Gambia Police Force.”
The commissioner explained that the dilapidated buses were later torn apart and sold as scrap, though he could not recall the buyer. When pressed by committee members on why no inventory was taken—a routine procedure he claimed to follow—Saidyba replied that he assumed the Janneh Commission would document the vehicles.
Committee member Hon. Omar Jammeh challenged the inconsistency: “Why with these specific three buses did you not take a record? You gave direct orders to the soldiers to move them instead of going through their command structure. Is it right to say these persons were taking orders directly from you?”
Saidyba initially maintained the soldiers did not work under him, but later conceded it “might be possible.”
The committee adjourned the hearing, with Saidyba expected to return for further questioning as investigators probe deeper into the chain of command and missing records surrounding the disposal of the buses.
