The Government Money for Jammeh’s Victims Runs Out in Days. His Mansion Money Is Next

The Gambia Reparations Commission plans to start paying victims of former president Yahya Jammeh’s regime with money from the sale of his forfeited mansion in Potomac, Maryland. Essa Coker, Executive Secretary at The Gambia Reparations Commission, told Hooray News in an email interview on Oct. 30, 2026, that the government money it has used so far is nearly spent.⁹

The Commission has received GMD 30 million from the government since it was set up, Coker said. “These funds will be exhausted in a few days. So, we will start utilizing the Potomac mansion proceeds immediately after exhausting the Government allocation.”⁹

How many Jammeh-era victims have been paid

“The Commission paid out a total of GMD28 million to 124 victims,” Coker told Hooray News. Coker said 637 victims recognized by the TRRC (the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission) are targeted, so about one in five has been paid so far.⁹

“We are also registering new claimants who are yet to be recognized as victims,” Coker added.⁹

Asked how victims feel after years of waiting, Coker said: “The majority of victims are pleased with the progress made thus far. Some did not believe the Government was committed until the Commission was established, followed by compensation payments. Some elements are not happy because of the long wait.”⁹ The Commission is running nationwide outreach that includes gathering victims’ feedback, Coker said.⁹

The Commission was created by an Act of Parliament in 2023, became operational in 2025 and began paying victims on Jan. 12, 2026. It pays in phases by the year the violation happened, starting with 1994.⁷⁸

Where the mansion money came from

Hooray News first reported on Oct. 20 that the Commission had received about $2.5 million from the sale. At that time, no payments to victims from that money had been announced.⁹

The US Justice Department announced on Sept. 18 that it was returning the money. It says the Jammeh family bought the Potomac home with criminal proceeds and misappropriated public funds. The department describes the corruption, including embezzlement and soliciting bribes, as “alleged in the complaint.” The property was taken in a civil forfeiture case, a lawsuit against the property itself rather than a criminal prosecution of Jammeh.¹

Jammeh ruled for 22 years until he was forced out after losing the 2016 election to Adama Barrow. He now lives in Equatorial Guinea. A commission of inquiry estimated that 240 to 250 people were killed by his forces, Al Jazeera reports.³

Transparency International and Gambia Participates have worked since 2022 to support the forfeiture, and they advocated sending the money to the Reparations Fund.² The Commission said “the funds were deposited directly into the Reparations Fund account at the Central Bank of The Gambia and shall only be utilized for the payment of reparations.”³

How the Victims Reparations Act decides who gets what

Asked about eligibility and amounts, Coker pointed to the Victims Reparations Act, 2023.⁹ Here is how it works, in plain terms:

• Who counts: people the TRRC designated as victims, plus people harmed by human rights violations between July 22, 1994 and Jan. 31, 2017, people hurt while helping victims, and relatives or dependents the Commission recognizes.⁹
• Points: each victim gets one to 10 points. Those killed or still missing get 10, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence or torture get seven to nine, and people who were detained get four to six. The payment is a base figure set by the Commission multiplied by those points.⁹
• Protections: compensation is tax-free and cannot be seized in court proceedings. Claims need less evidence than a court case, and claimants can ask for a review within 45 days.⁹
• Exclusions: a victim the TRRC found to have been a perpetrator gets no monetary compensation.⁹

The law also named the sale of the former president’s assets as a source for the fund, years before any such proceeds showed up.⁹ The Auditor General audits the fund each year, and the Commission must make public an anonymized version of its annual report on who was paid and how much.⁹

How victims can register

Coker invited all victims to register with the Commission by phone, by email or in person at its offices in Kotu. “We reaffirm our commitment to providing transformative reparations to the victims of human rights violations in The Gambia,” Coker said.⁹