How Dr. Banja sold a ‘flourishing career’ to Chinese for D50,000

It is a D-Day in the Dr Bamba Banja trial. The accused, in his early 60s, is looking impressive. At least in terms of his choice of fashion. Clad in a well-ironed peach ‘khaftan’ with a matching hat and white mule slippers, he enters the courtroom at exactly 9:40 a.m, exchanged a few pleasantries with family, and even allowed himself a smile, before walking calmly to take his place in the dock.

“Oh, that is for judgement, isn’t it?” the presiding judge, Justice Demola Bakre asked when the case was called. He didn’t need to, perhaps. He came prepared. With a 'Yes, My Lord' from his clerk, he opened his laptop. Guilty or not guilty? Enter the verdict!

Dr Banja is a highly experienced and educated civil servant. He has spent a life’s time of service to the nation. But the courts are not a place for award ceremonies. The former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Fisheries stands accused of three-count charges of economic crimes, official corruption, and receiving property to show favours.

Put in simpler terms, details of the indictment reveal as follows: In Sept. 2018, the Navy impounded Golden Lead 1, a fishing trawler found illegally fishing in the Gambian waters. The Chinese owners were summoned before the Fisheries Advisory Committee, a tribunal of sorts, chaired by Dr Banja. If found guilty, the company would be mandated to pay at least D5m – or up to D25m - as per the law. And the Golden Lead did not even claim innocence. They were ordered to pay only D1m fine as a repeated offender, when first-time offenders, as records show, were made to pay twice as much. How did that happen? Because Dr Banja, as had been alleged against him – and now confirmed by the court - has had a secret meeting with the owners of the Golden Lead at his house, and took a D100,000 bribe from them.

He denied wrongdoing throughout the trial. But he could not convince the court of his innocence in the face of a secretly taped audio recording of the transaction and eight state witnesses versus Dr Banja – and only Dr Banja’s words. Not even an alibi in Minister James Gomez who allegedly made away with half of the bribe.

“Mr Bamba Banja,” Justice Bakre calls out Dr Banja’s name without bothering to look at his direction, and declared him guilty as charged.

He said the prosecution had provided sufficient evidence that Dr Banja had 'solicited and received D100,000 for himself and allegedly on behalf of his minister’, James Gomez.

“My Lord, the accused is a father of five and has an extended family that relies on him for their livelihood,” Dr Banja’s lawyer, Joe Sambou, told the court in his plea after the guilty verdict.

He asked the judge to show mercy in handing down the judgement. “He is a first-time offender," Lawyer Sambou said, referring to Dr Banja. "He has served this country since 1981. We ask, My Lord, that the court only give a fine as opposed to custodial sentence.”

Justice Bakre retreated to his chambers to prepare his sentence. For Dr Banja this was a long, painful 20 minutes of wait. He anxiously paced the corridor outside the courtroom. Family and well-wishers, already in tears, gathered around him.

“This case is a very emotional one, I must say,” Justice Bakre said, reading his sentence. “Just D50,000, something you can spend in 24 hours, at the expense of 42 years of your career. My hands are tied. As a judge, no matter how much you want to help someone, I cannot do it at the expense of the law.

“Today, D50,000 is only US$850. Is that all we are worth as a person. For a meagre D50,000, the accused has lost a flourishing career. For a meagre D50,000, he has dragged his doctorate degree in the mud. For a meagre D50,000, he has brought to disrepute a name he built over the years.” 

The proceedings on Wednesday March 8 marks the end of the trial that has been ongoing for over a year at the High Court in Banjul. But for Dr Banja, it is also the beginning of a new journey. The state central prison, Mile 2, will be his home for the next two years, or even five years.

The air of sadness that occupies the courtroom, parked mainly by family and sympathisers of Dr Banja became thicker. Some covered their mouth with their hands to stifle their sobbing. But they were not as successful with their tears.

“They have finally put my son in jail,” said an elderly woman Dr Banja was heard calling aunt. She hugged him, tears running down. “For years, they have been fighting one man. One man, who’s innocent! But God is great,” she added.  

 “This is a witch hunt, but you are stronger than this,” said another woman.  

As guilty as published by Malagen

Dr Banja’s trial follows an investigative story by Malagen, This One I’ll Share with my Minister’ published in 2021. The story reveals how the controversy-laden Chinese-owned fishmeal factory was allegedly bribing their way out of trouble, from environmental crimes and illegal fishing.

“In this your country, if you have money, you can do anything. Everyone is corrupt. Everyone!” said Mr Cheng - not his real name - our main informant, a whistleblower who was working as the translator for the owners of the company.

He said that he had participated in at least five payments of one hundred thousand each (approx.US$2000), between 2018 and 2020, to Dr Banja for separate incidents which required favourable decisions from the ministry.

When confronted by Malagen, Dr Banja denied ever meeting the officials of the company at his house or anywhere or receiving any money from them. He described the audio as fake.

When arraigned in court, his position did not change. The evidence produced against him though did not seem to leave the court in doubt about Dr Banja’s culpability.

During the trial, the police investigators presented as evidence a printout of the call log of Dr Banja’s telephone number. It shows that contrary to his denial, he had had several telephone conversations with the Chinese company officials. The location of the telephone calls points to Batokunku, where he lives. And the calls happened just about when the committee presided over the Golden Lead case.

The naval officer who represents the Navy on the committee had also testified in the case. He said that other members of the Committee had wanted a fine of D3m to be imposed on Golden Lead, but were overruled by the officials of the ministry.

“It is clear from the circumstances of the case that the accused being the chairman of the committee having been compromised had an overbearing effect on the decision of the committee,” Justice Bakre said.

“The decision of the committee to sanction Golden Lead, a repeated offender much less than the other offender which was a first-time offender points clearly to the fact that there was an extraneous consideration which overrode the interest of the nation,” he added.

On Dr Banja’s claim that the audio was doctored – and that it did not feature his voice - the prosecution brought in a colleague who had worked with him for two years. He confirmed that the voice captured in the audio was none other than Dr Banja’s.  

“The court need not to rely on voice expert to identify the voice of the accused as the voice was identified by his colleague and police,” Justice Bakre said.

Banja’s case reflects decadence in society

The Gambia is ranked as the 110^th least corrupt country out of 180 countries surveyed in the latest report by Transparency International. This means the country has performed better than only 70 counties in the fight against corruption. Unlike the Gambia though, majority of those countries are either ‘experiencing conflict or restrictions on ‘basic personal and political freedoms.’

“The continued nonchalance of our government towards this problem can be attributed to a lack of political will, or at best uncleaned hands. Only those who abhor corruption and are clean can have the moral conviction to fight it,” U.S-based Gambian political activist, Pa Samba Jow had told The Standard Newspaper in reacting to the release of the ranking.

Barely 48 hours after Dr Banja’s conviction and sentence, the youth wing of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) had staged a protest in Banjul against corruption in the country, producing a long list of incidents of corruption – and allegations of it – in their petition submitted to the Solicitor General at the Ministry of Justice.

Not to be outdone, the ruling National Peoples Party (NPP) has also announced plans to stage a protest against corruption in the local councils, which are mainly controlled by the opposition.

In making the judgement, Justice Bakre did not seem to lose sight of the topical nature of corruption in the country, describing Dr Banja’s case as ‘a reflection of the decadence of our society’.

“Corruption has eaten so deep into our fabrics that it has now become a cankerworm,” he added. “Bribe is received with total and reckless abandon. The society condones the act as if it is normal. The person who frowns against it is the one regarded as a misfit. He is seen as a betrayer of the personal relationship while the corrupt is praised for being smart.”

Turning his attention to Dr Banja, he said, “indeed there is cause to be sad, that the accused, a Doctor of Science, and a permanent secretary of a government establishment, with so many years in the civil service will allow himself to be used for such demeaning act of D100,000 out of which evidence shows he will be keeping only D50,000.”

But if the Ministry of Justice could be taken for their words, maybe – just maybe – the case against Dr Banja will not for long enjoy the unfortunate reputation of being an exception.

“We wish to make it clear that this office regards corrupt practices with utmost seriousness,” MoJ says in a statement released after the case, warning that Dr Banja’s conviction "serves as a strong and unequivocal warning to public servants who might consider engaging in similar activities."

As observed by Marr Nyang, the director of anti-corruption organisation, Gambia Participates, the Dr Bamba Banja case is a ‘positive sign’, though "there are several government corruption reported cases which must be given urgent attention and action."

The cries of affected communities

Golden Lead, established in 2016, is the first fish meal and fish oil processing company in The Gambia. Its plants are in the coastal town of Gunjur. But the operations of the company have been controversial, attracting a lawsuit, and waves of protests by activists and host communities over issues of overfishing and polluting their waters – and air - with untreated waste. 

Following the conviction of Dr Banja, Malagen has contacted some of them to sound their opinions on the outcome. One man who has been vocal against the operations of the fishmeal factory is Ahmed Manjang. “If Gambia is going to succeed in fighting corruption, these are the people who should take a fall,” Manjang said.

“Bonga fish is one fish that every single Gambian can afford but now the common man can’t afford it because of the consumption of the fish meals. People are now turning to the highly subsidised chickens from Europe," he added. 

He pointed out that although Dr Banja has gone down, the fishmeal "is still here, and they have increased their capacity.”

Like Manjang, Ebrima Sarr, a fisherman at Gunjur Beach, did not seem to be sympathetic to Dr Banja’s situation.

“Dr Banja should have gone to jail a long time ago. He has destroyed a lot of things in the fisheries sector," he said.

"We have held several meetings with him and he accused us of lying. All the problems we have been facing, he played a role in it. He has been empowering them. The Chinese fish meals do as they please here.”