President Adama Barrow is facing renewed allegations of nepotism and cronyism, with claims that his administration has fostered corruption within Gampetroleum through the abuse of executive influence.
Open Gambia Platform has received detailed allegations from a senior member of Gampetroleum’s management, who accuses the President of attempting to improperly influence the awarding of a contract to his long-time associate, Mr Yarro Jallow, the General Manager of Gampetroleum. The whistleblower alleges that this intervention is part of a broader pattern of favouritism that has undermined accountability and good governance at the national fuel depot.
The senior management official, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, alleges that several friends and relatives of the President remain employed at Gampetroleum despite what they describe as incompetence and a willingness to bend rules. According to the complaint, these individuals operate with impunity, confident that their personal or familial ties to the President shield them from scrutiny.
Among those cited is the Operations Director, Mr Pa Ousman Touray, who is a brother of the Inspector General of Police and a brother-in-law of the President. The whistleblower further alleges that Mr Jallow himself is a long-standing personal friend of President Barrow and that numerous relatives of Mr Jallow have been employed in middle- and lower-level management positions since he assumed office.
At the centre of the complaint is the allegation that Mr Yarro Jallow has reached the mandatory retirement age of 60, based on records held by the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC). According to the whistleblower, SSHFC records indicate that Mr Jallow was born in 1965 and that the institution formally notified him in September to commence retirement procedures. However, Mr Jallow is alleged to have ignored these notices.
The whistleblower further states that the Gampetroleum Board of Directors reviewed the matter and identified discrepancies between SSHFC records and Gampetroleum’s internal records, which list Mr Jallow’s year of birth as 1969. Despite this inconsistency, the Board reportedly resolved to proceed based on the SSHFC records and initiated retirement proceedings. Mr Jallow, however, is accused of resisting the process and instead seeking a two-year contract extension through direct presidential intervention.
According to the complaint, the Gampetroleum Board appears ineffective, mainly because most of its members serve at the President’s pleasure and are allegedly reluctant to challenge executive influence. The whistleblower singled out Lawyer Awa Ceesay Sabally as the only board member with a consistent record of integrity, while expressing doubt that she alone could counterbalance the rest of the board.
The whistleblower points to Mr Jallow’s continued tenure as evidence of presidential backing, citing his treatment following the National Assembly Select Committee investigation into the Russian oil import scandal. In that investigation, Gampetroleum, under Mr Jallow’s leadership, was identified as playing a central role.
Despite strong findings against Mr Jallow, the presidential administration took no disciplinary action and instead publicly defended him. The National Assembly Select Committee had accused Mr Jallow of unfairly denying ullage access to local oil marketing companies to favour Apogee FZC, the importer of the Russian oil consignment.
The committee recommended Mr Jallow’s immediate suspension and called for criminal perjury proceedings, accusing him of deliberately misleading Parliament. The report further stated that Mr Jallow acted as an “agent” for Apogee FZC by introducing the company to local oil marketers and facilitating preferential treatment. The committee found him to be untruthful in his testimony and complicit in multiple institutional failures, conflicts of interest, regulatory evasions, and monopolistic practices that benefited Apogee FZC.
Senior staff at Gampetroleum say they are blowing the whistle with little confidence that the Board will act independently or that President Barrow will refrain from using his office to entrench his ally further for personal and political interests.
They argue that Mr Jallow’s continued presence, despite what they describe as a poor performance record and a damning parliamentary indictment, raises serious questions about the President’s commitment to fighting corruption. The whistleblowers reject President Barrow’s recent claim, made during a dinner with the Gambia Press Union, that he is unaware of corruption within state institutions.
According to the complainants, this moment presents the President with an opportunity to act in the national interest by allowing Mr Jallow to retire in accordance with the law and appointing a competent, independent replacement capable of restoring integrity and accountability at Gampetroleum. However, they admit they are not optimistic that the President will choose that path.
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