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The verdict was delivered by Judge E. Jaiteh of the Banjul High Court.
The court ordered GAF to pay the plaintiff Sarjo Saine the sum of 5,713,025.00 Dalasi (Five Hundred One Thousand Three Hundred and Twenty Five Dalasis) as the invoiced amount owed for the cleaning of sewage pools in various military camps in The Gambia.
The court also ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff the amount of D500,000.00 (Five Thousand Dalasis) for legal fees and administrative costs incurred in prosecuting the action.
The court also ordered the defendant to pay 10% interest up to the date of final judgment amount, that is, from the date of judgment to the date of final settlement of the judgment amount, the plaintiff shall pay the defendant 4% statutory interest.
The court also ordered GAF to compensate plaintiff D100,000.00 as general damages.
Sometime in 2012, the GFA, through one of its commanders posted at Fajara Barrack, contacted the plaintiff and requested that the sewage tank be emptied.
According to the plaintiff, after the work was completed, he submitted a delivery note to confirm the work was done. He added that an invoice for the work done had to be prepared and sent to the chief clerk so that a departmental memorandum could be generated and then forwarded to the Secretary of Defence.
The plaintiff claimed that under the arrangement, a model contract was entered into between the parties for emptying of sewage tanks from time to time at various army camps in the country, after which invoices would be sent to him.
He said the work he had done for the GFA was found to have piled up over time and in June 2019 he wrote a letter to the chief of defence staff demanding back payment of outstanding amounts.
He added that in October 2020, he had instructed his lawyer to write to the GFA demanding payment of the outstanding amount, and said the Ministry of Defence invited him through a letter in November 2020 to attend a meeting to discuss the issue.
He said he attended that meeting but the defendants failed to attend and noted that he wrote a letter informing them of the absence and suggesting an equitable arrangement for the immediate repayment of the debt.
He said the defendant was unable to pay for the services he provided, causing hardship and losses to his business.
The court therefore rendered judgment in favour of the plaintiff, Sainey Saine (trading as Kono Construction), in its case against the Gambia Armed Forces.
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