By Arret Jatta
The Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations popularly known as Victims Center, has slammed former Chairman of the Board of Directors DembaAli Jawo over his resignation interview granted to local media recently.
It could be recalled that Mr. Jawo recently tendered his resignation as the chairman of the Victims Centre for Human Rights Violations on 12 June 2024, saying when he was unanimously elected as chair in September 2023, he had specific ideas about his role but that over time, he realized the situation was different from what he anticipated. D.A. said despite his efforts, he couldn’t align with the existing dynamics.
On Thursday, Adama Jallow National Coordinator for Victim Center said every institution has its policies, and as appointed board chair DA didn’t share or discuss with them what he wanted for them as a team.
“So if he had informed the board that he wanted the victim center to move this way or that way, we could see how best we would align with his ideas but we did not have that opportunity,” Jallow told journalists in a press conference.
He stressed that Mr. Jawo was the chair and he oversaw meetings of the board and even drafted agendas for the meeting so he could have raised this at one of the meetings.
“In normal practice of governance, it must have internal controls, and even with the donors and partners, you cannot use the funds in your way, it has to be according to the institution’s law and the bylaws. And all the cheques that were to be signed are activity related and each of those chequeswent with supporting documents,” he further explained.
He commended Mr. Jawo for serving at the center as the board chairman and acknowledged the work he did during his tenure as board chairman.
Lamin Ceesay, secretary to the board also said that what Mr Jawo said to the media was not what was written in his resignation letter, he only highlighted that he was resigning due to personal reasons.
He added that he received the resignation letter a few days before the Tobaski and the former board chair wanted him to inform other board members “but at that time everyone was busy with their Tobaskiactivities and I told him to be patient with me till after the Tobaski for me to inform other board members.”
