Sulayman Sait Mboob, former Agriculture minister and a retired FAO employee, yesterday gave a frank testimony at the Fertilizer Commission as it ends sittings at the High Court Complex in Banjul. When the Commission resumed sittings in the Chambers of the Commission’s chair,  Mboob, took an oath and identified himself as a retired civil servant and also a retired employee of the FAO. He said he got a BSc in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Belford and a Masters Degree in Tropical Agricultural Science. He added that he is also a specialist in Agricultural Chemicals.

According to Sait Mboob, upon completion of his education abroad, he returned to the country and joined the Ministry of Agriculture in 1974 as the head of the Planning Division for nine years before his appointment with the FAO in the Central African Republic. Mboob said when he retired with the FAO in 2003, returned to The Gambia and was appointed Secretary of State for Agriculture from 2004 to 2005.

Further commenting on his experience in the field of agriculture, Sulayman Sait Mboob said he has a career in agriculture at both local and international level.  When asked as to whether he knows the reason why he was at the Commission, the former Agriculture minister replied in the affirmative and said he was following proceedings of the Commission on the Daily Observer newspaper.“I was following the proceedings of the Commission through the  Daily Observer. I always read the proceedings in the media and I am very impressed with the proceedings, as such I decided that I must come to the Commission.

I was shocked by the evidence of Dr Marena and the NEA Officer. I agreed with Dr Marena when he said he had never seen a compound fertilizer including NPK in a powder form,” Sulayman Sait Mboob explained to the Commission members before  he went further to lay evidence on what he called the regular nature of a fertilizer, especially a compound fertilizer.

According to him, a compound fertilizer must always have a regular nature and its signs never change. “When I read the evidence of Dr Marena that the fertilizer he acquired was in a powder form, I was alarmed, knowing that a compound fertilizer has never been in a powder form,” he said. He added that the only reason for a fertilizer to be in a powder form could be that it’s a fake fertilizer. He said a fertilizer could be fake and appear to be perfect, because by a mere observation one cannot tell whether the fertilizer is good or not. He added that a fertilizer could only be proven good through a chemical test.

Still commenting on the need to have a chemical test conducted on a fertilizer so as to ascertain its quality, the former Agriculture Minister insisted that through a mere observation, one cannot tell whether the fertilizer is good or not, instead it must be chemically tested to know its quality. He backed up his comments with citation of what he called existence of many fake traders who are professionals in the trade and they mostly target developing countries like The Gambia.

According to him, the best practice is to have the fertilizer tested before buying or off loading it and you need professionals to do that. The witness told the Commission members that it is not possible for somebody buy or purchase a car without testing its quality adding that the same is applicable to the fertilizer. Quizzed as to who he thinks must take responsibility for the fertilizer procurement, Sait Mboob said he must say that every officer in the Ministry of Agriculture must take the responsibility. He hinted that it’s unacceptable importing a product without any chemical test conducted on it.

He went further to repeat the evidence of Dr Marena with respect to the powder format of the fertilizer, which according to him made him shocked and alarmed hence the rationale behind his coming to the Commission on his free will. “I will even call it a fertilizer, I will prefer to call it that product.

There are lot of industrial waste across the globe and whoever is the supplier of this fertilizer must have access to the industrial waste and when the name of The Gambia came, the guy must said yeah, The Gambia has no expert and supplied it without any chemical test conducted on it,” Sulayman Sait Mboob said and later made reference to a similar industrial waste case in the Republic of Senegal and Ivory Coast, among others to back up his comments.

Mboob made his position known to the members of the Fertilizer Commission that, it must be tested so as to ascertain its chemical content and also whether it’s an industrial waste or not. According to him, if the fertilizer proves to be an industrial waste, then it may contain some metals which could be so dangerous to the health and wellbeing of the people of the country, hence the need to have a chemical test conduct on it so as to know what type of product is in our hands.

Asked if he has a fertilizer in his possession for two to three years it could be tested, the former Agriculture minister said even the next 50 years could be tested. “I spoke to a colleague at the FAO about the fertilizer in issue. The Gambia Government must speak to the FAO through the FAO country representative for assistance to conduct a chemical test on it. The FAO has a project for such where analysts test products so as to ascertain their authenticity, whether they are fake or not.

We have to act with all sense of emergency. We have to know what products we are having in our hands and we also have to know where the product comes from, even the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) has to be involved,” he said and his evidence paved the way for the state counsel Ebrima Jaiteh to made reference to evidence adduced by the proprietor of GHE, who said when he applied the fertilizer on his plants, it looks like he poured oil on the soil.

The Commission’s chairman Justice Nkea, described the evidence of the witness as very useful to the Commission, as such he suggested calling only the executive director of NEA to give evidence and dropped the idea of calling  the NEA  Technical director, Momodou Kanteh. Commenting on what he said was tenable at the Ministry of Agriculture during his tenure, Mboob said, there were nothing like vendors in the fertilizer business and there were no intermediaries and the fertilizer issue was his key concern as the minister then. He expressed disappointment over what he called giving an illiterate such a contract without any expertise in the profession.

                   The NEA boss
Momodou B. Sarr, the executive director of the National Environmental Agency (NEA) took his turn to adduce evidence before the Commission. The Commission’s chairman explained to him that the rationale behind his coming to the Commission was due to the need for him (Sarr) to help clear doubts regarding the fertilizer at hand.

He was asked whether his agency could conduct a chemical test on the fertilizer, he replied in the negative saying, at the moment his agency’s lab is not fully equipped to conduct such a test, but they do sent samples to Senegal for a test. Again questioned whether he could send a sample of the fertilizer to Senegal for a test, he replied in the positive and said yes we could sent it and a test could be conducted on it depending on the availability of the test.

The NEA boss said if a sample is sent this week, before the end of next week it could be tested, but was quick to inform the Commission about the cost involved in the test and the need for the Commission to sent one officer, who will accompany the agency’s (NEA) agent to Senegal for the testing so as to avoid any foul play in the process.

His suggestion was endorsed by the Commission members and he was told to make a contact in Senegal and find out whether the test would be available. He agreed before he left with an agreement to have a contact details from the Commission for the assignment.