Kah’s Professorship Still an Issue

Prof. Kah

Mr Gumbo Touray

The controversy surrounding the professorship claims of the first Gambian-born vice chancellor of University of The Gambia, Mohammadou M.O. Kah, refuses to die down, weeks after it surfaced.
On Thursday August 9, Mr Gumbo Touray, a former UTG lecturer, insisted in court that Kah’s professorship claims were false, as he did not meet the requirements of a professor.
“For him to qualify as professor, he had to meet all the qualifications,” he said.
The UTG’s former director of International Affairs, who had wrapped up a marathon testimony, was being cross examined by a prosecuting police officer, Supt. Sainey Joof, at the magistrates’ court in Banjul.
Gumbo was put on trial for false information when he addressed a petition to President Yahya Jammeh, accusing Kah of appointing and promoting his relatives and friends, disregarding the university authority and wasting the university’s scarce resources.
He however maintained that the information he had given to the president’s office was not false.
During cross examination, the prosecutor alleged that the accused petitioned Kah for President Jammeh to invoke his powers as the head of state, and not as the vice chancellor of the university.
In response, Gumbo said: “No, because the president is the highest authority of UTG. I have no choice but to address him for my redress as the last resort.”
The prosecutor further put it to the accused that Prof Kah had the powers to suspend him for three months, but Gumbo rubbished it, saying: “Misconduct must be specified which was not spelt out in my case.”
On the issue of email correspondence, Gumbo said he was not the only one who had email correspondence with Prof Kah, as other staff too had.
At this juncture, the prosecutor applied to tender the email correspondence from Prof Kah to Gumbo, but the defense counsel objected.
Lawyer Badou Conteh argued: “The document should have been tendered through Prof Kah because it emanated from him and not from my client.”
The prosecution insisted that the document was relevant to the case, the presiding magistrate, Taiwo Ade Alagbe, rejected it.

The case resumes August 14, for continuation for cross-examination.

Author: binta bah

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