By Buba Gagigo
President Adama Barrow has described the Audit Reports compiled by the National Audit Office as opinions and said the Auditors can make mistakes or can be bias.
“Is all about the Audit report. The Audit report gave opinion, it should not stop at opinion and you conclude. The Auditor can make mistakes or can be bias. If that happens, we should do our internal investigation. Just like health, the person is taken to the police and the police investigate whether we have a case so that we can build up a case. Before you have a strong court case, you should have strong evidence.
“That’s why in Dr. Banja’s case we set up a commission of inquiry, and they concluded that we can go to court. He was taken to court and jailed. Banja is among the permanent Secretaries I like so much because he’s educated and I know he can do his job, but despite all that, when we had evidence of corruption, we went to court. We went to court and jailed him. But to prove your case beyond any reasonable doubt is not easy. It is an opinion (the Audit report) and we are investigating in all areas to see whether we can build a case. We should know that the country belongs to all of us and opinion should not make us to sentence someone,” he said.
President Adama Barrow made these remarks while speaking to Star TV in a special interview on Friday.