By: Nicholas Bass
The lawyer for environment minister Rohey John Manjang on Tuesday said his client is ready for an out-of-court settlement in the D50M civil suit that she filed against journalist Kebba Ansu Manneh.
The matter was on Tuesday mentioned at the Banjul High Court Annex but it was adjourned for an out-of-court settlement.
The case was brought before Justice Sonia Akinbiyi but she deferred the matter to 12th December for the parties to the suit to give their settlement report.
The minister of environment, who was attending the COP 29 in Azerbaijan, was absent but her lawyer Modou M. Drammeh acknowledged been served with the defenselawyer’s statement.
Lawyer Drammeh pleaded with the court to give him time to file a reply to the defense’s affidavit. He told the court that his client is ready for an out-of-court settlement with Manneh’s lawyer Junkung Jobarteh.
In his objection to the suggestion of out-of-court settlement, saying Manneh is not interested in that.
Lawyer Jobarteh argued that the environment minister, through her lawyer, is seeking for Manneh to publish a rejoinder to debunk the news story in contention captioned Environment Minister, Former LRR Governor Accused of Involvement in Illegal Transaction of Seized Logs. Jobartehexplained that the minister’s lawyer is also seeking for his client to apologize for “false publication” which, according to him, was not false publication.
Lawyer Drammeh alleged that the serious issues published by journalist Manneh were based on insinuation, stating that such issues should be “shattered” by Manneh.
At that juncture, the presiding judge said that for the sake of justice, the case was adjourned to 12 November 2024, at 10:30 for mention and report of settlement.
Meanwhile, according to defense lawyer Jorbarteh’s affidavit in opposition in paragraph 27, stated that the minister defense lawyer Drammeh’s civil suit is without merit and should be dismissed with cost of the suit , legal , administrative and damages costs.
Defense lawyer Jorbateh’s affidavit in paragraph 25 stated that after a review of lawyer Drammeh’s letter and publication dated 24 June 2024, his client refused to retract the publication and maintained its accuracy and balance in the same letter. He further stated that The Alkamba Times offered space for Rohey John Manjang to make a rejoinder but she refused.
Defense lawyer also stated that his client used “allegedly” in the story in question since the minister refused to confirm or clarify the issue of the money allegedly paid into an account that allegedly belonged to Mrs. Manjang.
”D150,000 was paid into an account allegedly belonging to minister Rohey Manjang…”and ”…D150,000 has allegedly been credited into an account provided by the minister.”
Defense lawyer Jorbarteh, in his affidavit, argued that his client did not write that minister Manjang was directly involved in corruption, regarding the illegal felling of mahogany trees in Kaif village in Kiang East District.
