A magistrate’s court sitting in Gambia’s provincial capital of Brikama has convicted and sentenced three butchers to three months’ jail term with hard labour for failing to comply with President Yahya Jammeh’s ultimatum to reduce the price of beef, informed sources in Banjul confirmed on Thursday. The presiding magistrate, Pa Harry Jammeh also ordered the three butchers – Amadou Sowe, Omar Jawara and Sheik Gaye – to pay a fine of 5,000 Gambian dalasis (approximately 238 dollars) or in default serve one year imprisonment. According to the magistrate, the three had committed a “serious offence” and the refore he would set an example for a strong warning to those who may engage in such acts in future. The three butchers were said to have been using “false scales” and fraudulently selling meat to people at Brikama market.
They are said to have defied President Jammeh’s order who recently gave an ultimatum, calling on butchers to reduce the price of meat and not to interfere with their weighing scales or face a serious consequence.
