FactCheck: Did Court Order Reinstatement of Two UTG Staff?
UTG Lecturers Dr Gibba and Prof Njie embroiled in court case © Gambiana
By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
The University of the Gambia has been incapacitated by a protest after the dismissal of two lecturers Dr Alieu Gibba and Associate Professor Matarr Njie disrupted classes and scheduled exams since Monday 2nd December 2024.
Students gathered outside the UTG Vice Chancellor’s Office demanding the reinstatement of the two lecturers after a Point Newspaper story published on 20th November 2024 claimed that “the Kanifing Industrial Tribunal has ordered the reinstatement of two lecturers of the University of The Gambia (UTG) and awarded them damages of D5,000,000 along with legal and administrative fees amounting to D200,000”.
Claim: The Point Newspaper story headlined “Gambia: Court Orders Reinstatement of Former UTG Lecturers, Awards Damages of D5.2m” appeared to conclude that the two lecturers were to be reinstated and compensated, however, it soon became clear the following day that this information was incorrect.
The story highlighted that “the Tribunal found that the allegations against the plaintiffs were neither thoroughly investigated nor substantiated to justify their dismissal”.
Adding that “it would be a travesty of justice if the plaintiffs are not immediately reinstated to their positions, compensated for damages, and reimbursed for all expenses incidental to this legal process," the Tribunal declared.
Students protesting for reinstatement of two UTG Lecturers © Taranga FM
FactCheck: A day later on 21st November 2024 the Point Newspaper issued a corrigendum rectifying this erroneous report by highlighting that “in our yesterday’s publication, we inadvertently reported the article headlined: ‘Court orders reinstatement of former UTG lecturers, awards damages of D5.2M’, as a court ruling”.
In their short statement the Point Newspaper explained that “it has been brought to our attention that the facts presented in the story were claims advanced by the plaintiffs and not a court’s ruling. We therefore sincerely apologise to both parties involved in the suit and our general readership for any inconvenience the story might have caused”.
Minister for Higher Education Hon Pierre Gomez © Askanwi
Speaking at a press conference on 6th November 2024, necessitated by the ongoing impasse as classes are still yet to resume with exams now at risk of postponement, the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Hon Pierre Gomez clarified the issue of the two staff’s reinstatement.
“There was a misunderstanding because the media concerned is also a development oriented media but then the issue is there was no Court Order. Because the case is yet to be heard. It’s normally supposed to come on the 9th [December 2024] so that will be the first time the case will be heard” said Minister Gomez.
“So, what happened is it was the submission by one of the parties that’s what was taken as a court order. But the reality is that there is no court Order for the time being” explained the former UTG Vice Chancellor turned Minister.
Contextualizing the current situation, Minister Gomez noted that “there are other requests that were made and the consultations with the students who’s priority is their lectures and exams. That’s their main concern”.
In addition to this the concerns of “the Staff Association is there colleagues who’s services are terminated and for them to be reinstated with immediate effect but also it happens that those lecturers decided to go to court and then this is where we are and to solve the problem we explained earlier on government decided to come up with a neutral and independent body Chaired by the Directorate of Labour”.
He concluded by noting that “unfortunately, one of the parties did not turn up but that made life a bit difficult but government still wants things to be addressed in a peaceful manner through dialogue”.
Senior Government Officials at Press Briefing © Askanwi
Verdict: The Point Newspaper article dated 20th November 2024 claiming that the Kanifing Industrial Tribunal had ordered for the reinstatement of the two UTG Staff is deemed false given their own corrigendum a day later and the clarifications provided by the Minister for Higher Education.
According to the Minister for Higher Education, the first Court hearing is expected to take place on Monday 9th December 2024.
Our reporter has been informed that the University of the Gambia considered taking legal action against the Point Newspaper for their erroneous report which may have an impact on the Court hearing and further escalated matters with students believing that the two lecturers’ reinstatements were sanctioned by the Courts causing students to converge at the Vice Chancellors Office demanding for their reinstatement.
No Court Order has been issued for the reinstatement of the two UTG Lecturers to date.
