Former Auditor General Modou Ceesay, in his statement of claim, asserts that the President instructed him to halt the audit of the Ministry of Lands and to delay or stop the auditing of GRA, as well as the special audit of NFSPMC and GRA, which would impact his election bids.
Modou Ceesay, the former Auditor General, has filed a “Writ to Invoke Original Jurisdiction” against the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police (IGP). He alleges that his forceful removal from office was unconstitutional and occurred only after he refused a ministerial post and resisted presidential pressure to halt or delay state audits.
The lawsuit, filed at the Supreme Court, seeks a declaration that his eviction from the National Audit Office on the 15th September 2025, by the Gambia Police Force, violated the 1997 Constitution, which governs the independence and removal of the Auditor General.
According to the Statement of Case, Modou Ceesay said the events leading to his removal stem directly from his efforts to carry out statutory audits.
The statement claims that Modou Ceesay, a Gambian national and public servant, was appointed Auditor General by President Adama Barrow in November 2022, following consultation with the Public Service Commission, as provided under Section 158 of the 1997 Constitution.
The Constitution allows the President to remove an Auditor General only for inability to perform the functions of the office, due to infirmity of mind or body, misbehaviour, or incompetence. The National Audit Office Act, 2015, also mandates that due process be followed in any removal under Section 16.
In his lawsuit, Modou Ceesay’s statement outlines a series of events leading to his removal. Upon his return to the audit process between 2023 and 2024, as Auditor General, he initiated multiple audits, including special audits of the National Food Security and Processing and Marketing Company (NFSPMC), compliance audits of lands, and tax revenue audits.
During the NFSPMC and land audits, he received repeated invitations from the President, who expressed concern about the timing of the audits and their potential impact on the Presidentโs election bid.
Modou Ceesay’s statement further claims the Forensic Audit Unit faced obstacles from NFSPMC management, who raised complaints directly with the President. On several occasions, he was summoned to the State House, where the President personally urged him to stop or delay the audits.
The statement also highlights a concerning pattern regarding the statutory audit of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) by PKF Audit Firm.
The statement alleged that Modou Ceesay was summoned to a meeting with the President, Chief of Staff, and the Governor and First Deputy Governor of the CBG. The meeting addressed delays in remitting approximately 1.2 billion Dalasis to the Government, which the CBG attributed to the Auditor Generalโs requests for clarifications from auditors employed through the National Audit Officeโs Outsource Committee.
In addition to the CBG issue, Modou Ceesay’s statement highlights the difficulties faced in auditing tax revenue, which is necessary for finalising the Government’s accounts for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
He sent a formal request to both the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) and the private concessionaire managing digital revenue systems, asking for “copies or extracts from their database backups,”.
The statement further asserts that both parties have deliberately refused to comply with the request, citing their own justifications, which were not made in accordance with section 14(c) of the National Audit Office Act 2015.
The statement also alleges that President Adama Barrow appeared to be echoing the justifications given by the GRA and the concessionaire for refusing to release the data.
On 24 August 2025, the President summoned Ceesay to State House, in the presence of the Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Cabinet, and urged him to halt the Ministry of Lands audit and either stop or delay audits of GRA and NFSPMC.
Despite the pressures, he finalised the audits of the Government of The Gambia for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023 for tabling before the National Assembly.
On 10 September 2025 at 12:37, he received a message from his personal assistant that he had been requested to go to the State House again. Upon arrival, he was escorted by the protocol to the President. After exchanging pleasantries, the President thanked him for the good work he had been doing since he assumed the office of Auditor General and handed a sealed envelope to him appointing him as Minister of Trade, Regional Integration, and Employment, citing a cabinet reshuffle.
He thanked the President and promised to get back to him after arriving back in his office around 2:30 to 3:00 pm. After reviewing the content of the envelope, he called the Chief of Protocol requesting another audience with the President. The Chief of Protocol asked the Plaintiff to make his way to the State House before 4:30pm.
Upon returning to the State House and communicating his decision, the President insisted that he accept the appointment, stating that a replacement had already been named and that the appointment had been published in the media. He continued to decline, emphasising that the ministerial position did not fit with his professional expertise.
The statement further stated that he left the State House after those exchanges with the President, and on his way back to his office, started receiving compliments and congratulatory messages as Minister of Trade.
Upon arrival at his office around 5:30 pm, he formally drafted a letter declining the ministerial position. Later that evening, he received visits from the Chief of Staff and an Honourable Member of the National Assembly of Sabach Sanjal, reportedly sent by the President to beg him to accept the position. He reassured them he would respond the following morning and he never accepted the ministerial role, either verbally or in writing.
On 11 September, he communicated his rejection through a formal letter delivered by his Personal Assistant and messenger, copying the Secretary to the Cabinet, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, and the Permanent Secretary of the Personnel Management Office.
Despite his rejection, on the same day, Cherno Amadou Sowe visited his office claiming to assume the role of Auditor General, advising him to seek guidance from relevant authorities. However, while continuing to perform his duties as Auditor General, on Friday, 12th, in the evening, he received multiple calls and visits from elders, Imams, relatives, and high-profile individuals urging him to reconsider the ministerial appointment. He remained steadfast in declining the role.
Furthermore, the statement indicates that Modou Ceesay also received information that, should he refuse to accept the ministerial position, he would be forcefully removed from his office on Monday.
On 15 September 2025, he was forcefully removed from his office at the National Audit Office by the Gambia Police Force on instructions from the President and the IGP. He was replaced by Cherno Amadou Sowe as Auditor General, with Masireh K. Drammeh appointed Acting Director of Internal Audit.
In his lawsuit, Modou Ceesay seeks declarations that the actions of the Attorney General and IGP in permitting police to evict him from his office violated Sections 158, 159, 160, and 169 of the 1997 Constitution and Sections 3(2), 11, 13, 14, and 16 of the National Audit Office Act, 2015. He contends that his removal was unlawful, unconstitutional, and null and void.
Source: Kexx Sanneh
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