08/07/2026
PUBLIC STATEMENT
The Constitution Has Been Vindicated, but the People Have Been Left to Pay the Price
Gambians Against Looted Assets (GALA) welcomes the Supreme Court’s declaration that the removal of Auditor General Momodou Ceesay was unconstitutional. However, we firmly believe that justice was only partially served.
A constitutional violation demands a constitutional remedy. Declaring the removal unlawful while refusing reinstatement leaves the Constitution vindicated in principle but weakened in practice. The proper remedy should have been the restoration of the Auditor General to his office.
Even more disturbing is that the financial consequences of these unconstitutional actions will be borne not by those responsible, but by ordinary Gambians. It will not be ministers, senior officials, or those who abused state power who pay the millions in compensation. It will be the market woman, the farmer, the taxi driver, the teacher, the struggling youth, and every taxpayer already crushed by the rising cost of living.
This is the cruel logic of a system that privatizes power but socializes the cost of abuse. Those who violate the Constitution escape personal responsibility, while the working class is forced to finance their failures.
Every dalasi spent compensating for unconstitutional conduct is a dalasi taken away from hospitals, schools, agriculture, youth employment, and essential public services. This is not merely a legal issue it is a question of economic justice.
GALA maintains that the Auditor General should have been reinstated to reaffirm the supremacy of the Constitution and safeguard the independence of institutions established to protect public resources. Accountability cannot end with declarations; it must include meaningful consequences for those who abuse public office.
The Constitution belongs to the people not to those who temporarily occupy positions of power. The people must never be made to pay for unconstitutional governance.
No justice without accountability.
No constitutional democracy without consequences for constitutional violations.
The burden of elite misconduct must never be placed on the shoulders of the working people.
All power to the People!
Signed
Central Committee
GAMBIANS AGAINST LOOTED ASSETS, (GALA)