By GINNAH MINI
THE Office of the Public Prosecutor (OPP) has dismissed the referral of Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika to the National Executive Council for the appointment of a Leadership Tribunal, citing insufficient, non-credible and inconclusive evidence to support 50 allegations of misconduct under the Leadership Code.
On March 9, 2026, the Ombudsman Commission referred Chief Justice Sir Gibbs to the OPP over allegations relating to undeclared income in his annual statements between 2017 and 2024.
Acting Public Prosecutor Roalakona said the OPP carefully assessed all documents and supporting evidence submitted by the Ombudsman Commission before reaching its decision.
“We considered all the evidence in its entirety and arrived at the decision that there is insufficient credible and cogent evidence to refer the leader for a Leadership Tribunal. Therefore, we declined to refer the matter,” Ms Roalakona
said.
She said the allegations centred on claims that the Chief Justice failed to declare income received from unknown sources during the reporting periods from November 2017 to November 2024.
The referral included annual statements, bank records and other supporting documents.
However, the OPP found that the transactions in question originated from the Chief Justice’s primary salary account and involved transfers into his personal savings accounts.
“In assessing the evidence, we found that the monies were coming from the leader’s primary salary account, which was receiving all his income before being deposited into various other accounts,” Ms Roalakona said.
The alleged undeclared amounts were listed as follows:
- November 22, 2017 – November 21, 2018: K104,300
- November 22, 2018 – November 21, 2019: K251,446.53
- November 22, 2019 – November 21, 2020: K168,923.81
- November 22, 2020 – November 21, 2021: K218,556.29
- November 22, 2021 – November 21, 2022: K215,716.36
- November 22, 2022 – November 21, 2023: K545,060.15
- November 22, 2023 – November 21, 2024: K141,976.85
The Acting Public Prosecutor said most of the transactions followed a pattern in which cash withdrawals were made from the Chief Justice’s salary account and deposited into
his other accounts on the same day.
Pursuant to Section 177(b) of the Constitution, the Acting Public Prosecutor declined to initiate proceedings under the Leadership Code for misconduct in office.