By: Momodou Justice Darboe
The Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of The Voice newspaper, Mr. Musa S Sheriff, has been commanded to appear before the High Court in Banjul on October 25th to answer a suitfiled by President Adama Barrow against him.
Mr. Barrow filed the suit against Mr. Sheriff and The Voice newspaper company, claiming damages “on the footing of aggravated or exemplary damages, an injunction to restrain him and The Voice, by themselves or by their servants or agents or otherwise howsoever, from the publication of the said words or any of them or of any similar words or any words to the like effect, damages, costs and such further or other orders as the High Court shall deem fit to make”.
According to President Barrow’s claim, The Voice has a large circulation throughout The Gambia and that “on Monday, 23rdSeptember, 2024, Mr. Sheriff and The Voice falsely and maliciously wrote and printed and published or caused to be written, printed and published, on the front page of the said newspaper dated Monday the 23rd day of September 2024 and concerning the Plaintiff “BARROW CHOOSES MUHAMMED JAH AS SUCCESSOR AS PRES. WORKS ON EXIT PLAN-SOURCES” on the top of a photograph of the Plaintiff and a Gambian businessman called Muhammed Jah.”
The President’s lawyer said by the said words in the story in their natural and ordinary meaning Mr. Sheriff and The Voice meant and were understood to mean: “President Barrow was no longer interested in being President of The Gambia, that the President does not intend to be flag-bearer of the NPP in the 2026 election, that Mr. Barrow’s party cannot rely on what he tells them, that the President is not a man of his word and cannot be trusted, that the Mr. Barrow has chosen Muhammed Jah as his successor, that the President has handed his position as flagbearer of the NPP to Muhammed Jah, that there was a ceremony where this handover took place, that the NPP are unhappy with Barrow’s decision, that Barrow was guilty of choosing Muhammed Jah as his successor without anyconsultation with or knowledge of the NPP and that Barrow and the NPP was not a party that operates in a manner such that the public and the party faithful can have confidence in either Barrow or the NPP.”
The President’s lawyer said “by reason of the premises the Plaintiff has been injured in its credit and reputation and has been brought into public scandal, odium and contempt.” Mr. Barrow’s lawyer claimed that Mr. Sheriff and The Voice newspaper published the said words out of malevolence or spite towards President Barrow.