It is clear that the Government of the Gambia acted unlawfully, to remove Mr. Momodou Ceesay as Auditor General of The Gambia. Moreso, the actions of The Gambia Police Force forcibly remove Mr. Momodou Ceesay from his office (Gambia Audit Office complex) is a gross violation of his constitutional mandate as Auditor General.

The Office of the Auditor General is established under section 158 of the 1997 Constitution (the Supreme law of the Land).

Given the enormous responsibility of ensuring transparency, probity, and accountability in the management of public finances, the Constitution provided the Office of Auditor General with safeguards to ensure the absolute independence of the Auditor General in the execution of his or her mandate to ensure that funds from the consolidated fund are withdrawn and spent in a lawful manner and that all public assets are properly managed and secured. In this regard section 160 Subsection (7) of the Constitution provided that, “In the exercise of his or her functions under this Constitution or any other law, the Auditor General shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.”

Further safeguards to ensure the absolute independence of the Auditor General in the execution of his or her mandate are provided for under section 16 of the National Audit Office Act 2015. Section 16 provided that “(1) The Auditor General shall hold office for a term not exceeding nine years. Indeed section 16(5), (6) and (7) also established the proper procedure to follow in the removal of the Auditor General. It provided that “(5) The President may remove the Auditor General from office … following a report submitted by a properly constituted Medical Board. (6) The President may remove the Auditor General from office … following a report submitted by a Tribunal appointed by the President. (7) The Tribunal appointed by the President … shall comprise - (a) a judge of the High Court; (b) the Ombudsman; (c) a member of the Public Service Commission; and (d) a chartered accountant.”

Mr. Ceesay did not misbehave as Auditor General and he was able to perform his duties competently and thus the need to appoint a Tribunal to investigate the Auditor General’s misbehavior or incompetence or incapacity did not arise in the first place. Also Mr. Ceesay did not agree to his removal by resignation. Therefore, Mr. Momodou Ceesay"s removal was unlawful termination of his services as Auditor General.

Because of the unconstitutional removal of the auditor general