The Gambia government has been slapped with a 10,000 dalasis fine for failing to appear before the high court in Banjul on Tuesday as the trial over the deaths of children from contaminated cough syrups opened. 

At least 19 families of the victims have filed a lawsuit against the state to seek justice after the deaths from acute kidney failure (AKI) of at least 70 young children who drank contaminated cough syrup manufactured by Indian-owned Maiden Pharmaceutical Company.

The motion requested an extension of time from the state to file their defence. Counsel Loubna Farage informed the court that they were only served with the motion on October 11th. In response, they filed their affidavit in opposition on October 19th, 2023.

The lead counsel for AKI families, Loubna Farage, expressed disappointment that the state failed to provide its statement after four months, while adding that the plaintiffs had been attending court proceedings in their pursuit of justice, and that the state refused to appear.

“We are disappointed to see that after four months, the state did not come up with anything. My lord, more disappointingly, the state is nowhere to be found in court,”counsel Farage told the court.

Counsel Farage explained that the motion of notice had been filed on behalf of the 1st and 2nd defendants, but it only aimed to grant leave for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th defendants to file their processes out of time. No other processes were filed.

Counsel then requested the court to dismiss the motion with costs, as the 90-day period had elapsed.

“My lord, we have filed our affidavit in opposition, and as per our calculations, the 90-day period has elapsed. We request that the motion of notice be dismissed with costs,” Counsel Farage sought

In his ruling, Justice Ebrima Jaiteh agreed with Counsel Farage’s arguments and deemed the July 31st motion of notice to be dismissed. The judge highlighted that the 3rd, 4th, and 5th defendants had failed to file their defence within the 90-day timeframe and were absent from the court proceedings.

For these reasons, Justice Jaiteh disallowed the motion of notice from serving as a defendant in the case, he struck out the motion of notice. In addition, a cost of D10,000 was awarded in favour of the plaintiff and against the 3rd, 4th, and 5th defendants, in the interest of justice.

AKI families sued the Maiden Pharmaceutical Company as the 1st defendant, Atlantic Pharmaceuticals Company as the 2nd defendant, Medicines Control Agency the 3rd defendant, the Ministry of Health the 4th defendant and the Ministry of Justice the 5th defendant.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba