A former Police Commissioner for Basse in the Upper River Region of the Gambia, Mr. Famara Jallow, recently appeared before the National Assembly Public Petitions Committee where he gave a testimony on the alleged animal theft cases in that region– a subject of probe by the lawmakers of the aforementioned committee.
The ex-senior police officer in giving his side of the story on the matters at hand, as relating to his tenure as a Police Commissioner of URR, told the Petitions Committee he was posted to Basse on two occasions–from 2003 to 2004, and from 2016 to early 2018–after the political impasse, with the objective of mainly tackling the rampant robbery cases and animal theft in the region.
Asked whether his intervention had paid any dividends, to stop the robbery and stealing in the said region, the erstwhile regional senior-cop claimed he succeeded in stopping animal theft completely and minimized robbery. Jallow narrated how he negotiated with his Senegalese counterparts in Tamba Kunda in Senegal Oriental and successfully recovered over 40 ruminants which, he held, was a mark of his success.
He was informed that the reason why he was called to appear before the Committee was for him to shed light on information it received relating to the stealing of ruminants from Sutukoba which he (Famara Jallow) was [allegedly] involved in as the then Commissioner of Police.
It was put to him that there was an animal theft that involved a motorbike that was chased by the people of Sutukoba until the suspect threw away the motorbike he was using to carry three sheep, and ran away; and that he (officer) went to Sutukoba and put pressure on the ‘reluctant community’ to handover the alleged motorbike, which was eventually released to him because of his strong promise that he would do everything (possible) to ensure that the case was properly investigated and prosecuted, and for justice to take its course. That, because of his position, the community trusted him and handed over the bike to him, but since then nothing had been done about it.
In reply, Jallow confirmed that the villagers did not trust the Sare Ngai police and they refused to hand over the bike to them. And when he knew that, he went to the village purposely to calm the tension among the two village groups due to the issue of the motorbike; that he asked them to give him the motorbike because that was the material evidence they could use as an exhibit in court.
According to him, “the accused person [suspect] was not known” and he handed over the case to “the SO [Station Officer] of the Police Station to keep the motorbike in the station and record the complaint in the station diary; and give the complainant a diary reference number in case she or villagers come across the alleged thief. Within one month, I was transferred and that was [in] early 2018”.
When quizzed whether he had tried to enquire as to why the community did not trust the police at Sare Ngai Police Station to the extent that they refused to hand over the bike to them, Jallow’s response was he did not do that.
‘Have you listened to the testimony of Omar Darboe?’ he was asked. Jallow replied in the negative, and was quick to say he did not because he does not watch television. He was also asked if he would be surprised to learn that Amadou Gagigo told that Committee that he indeed dishes out meat at his own volition to the police; that both the police at Sare Ngai and Mr. Darboe accepted that Gagigo indeed gave them meat. Ex-Commissioner Jallow held if they have received it, that’s their problem, but for him, he didn’t accept the meat because it’s not right. He added that his residence was more than a kilometer from the station and he had nothing to do with butchers.
Asked again whether he would not accept that he had made a slight error by not focusing his mind on the lack of trust; that as an experienced officer he should have tried to find out the actual reason for the mistrust and to address the issue right there and then, since without the collaboration with the community, peace and security cannot be maintained in that region.
He averred that he didn’t do that but he was only trying to calm the civilians who might not know the law and to take the bike from them. When reminded by the committee that because of his failure to not enquire about the mistrust of the community, and the fact that the officer being queried had been left to operate and connive with the ring-leader of the thieves in the area, the problem of animal theft persists up to this day.
Jallow countered saying there are things that he could do, but that there are things that he couldn’t do. The officer in question, he explained, was at Bakadagi in Jimara and had a problem with one Sowe–the MP of the area. “I recommended his transfer out of URR, but the authority decided to transfer him to Wuli,” he said.
Asked if he could help the committee with a diary reference number for their investigation or if he could remember the date, the former URR police chief told the NAMs, the police are better placed to look for the reference number. He also claimed not to remember the date, reasoning it would be difficult to help the committee with the reference number because the case was 2 to 3 years back, and normally, in every three weeks if the police station is busy, sometimes the police diary gets filled up and would be changed.
Jallow, however, posited, “The best way would be if the committee can request the diary reference number from the woman who owned the two dead sheep.”
It was put to him that the present Assistant Commissioner at Basse said he does not know anything about this case, and that the Committee should not ask him about this case since he couldn’t ‘investigate him (Jallow) “because you are his boss and he does not know where the bike is; that only you [Jallow] could shed light on that”; so he should help the Committee.
The ex-Police Commissioner in reply, told the Petitions Committee, “The truth is that [police] Commissioners do not keep exhibits, and that only the SO can help the committee regarding the bike since he’s the one he (Famara) handed over the bike to”.
However, he also said the then SO Babucarr has retired from the force and presently, he’s seriously sick and couldn’t even talk.
Before discharging the witness, the Committee asked him to help them with any useful information regarding the issue, and they would call him anytime he’s needed.
Jallow promised the Public Petitions Committee that he would do his inquiries, and would be available any time he is needed by the committee.
