05/10/2025
When Modou Ceesay was Auditor General, he requested that the Central Bank and the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) be audited. His office even sought advice from their counterparts in Tanzania on how best to carry out such an audit. Under the late President John Magufuli, Tanzania’s Central Bank was audited on his orders, so they had practical experience in this area.
However, following the forceful removal of Ceesay, the new Auditor General, Cherno Amadou Sowe, along with the two Deputy Auditor Generals, decided to cancel Ceesay’s plan to audit the Central Bank and GPA. Instead, they chose to outsource the audits to a private auditing firm.
With a private firm handling the audits, both the Central Bank and GPA can conceal whatever they wish, and even influence how the audits are conducted.
Let us also not forget the D300 million GPA scandal, which continues to gather dust at the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Office of the Inspector General of Police. The President once promised that the case would be taken to court, but to this day, no one understands why the authorities are afraid to act.