Photo: Edrissa M.O. Faal, the newly sworn-in Gambian Chief Justice
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Claim: A Gambian commentator claimed that when Chief Justice Edrissa Faal retires within three years, he will be entitled to a D290,000 monthly pension, an official vehicle, full medical coverage, and 24-hour security for a lifetime.
Verdict: False. Gambian law stipulates that someone who retires from the position of Chief Justice must have held it for at least five years to be entitled to a lifetime pension.
Full Text
The Gambia announced the appointment of a new Chief Justice (CJ), His Lordship Edrissa M. O. Faal, following the retirement of his predecessor, Justice Hassan B. Jallow, who served since 2017 following the exit of former President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh.
Chief Justice Faal was sworn in on 31st July 2026. President Adama Barrow presided over the ceremony, the presidency announced in a statement on Facebook. Faal is a Gambian-American lawyer with close to four decades of practice. He has experience in litigation, arbitration, and mediation, with a legal career spanning The Gambia, the United States, and the globe. His expertise cuts across complex civil and criminal litigation, commercial disputes, and international arbitration.
In a Facebook post on August 31 2026, a Gambil Media commentator based in the United States of America, Nanama Keita, wrote: “When Mr. Edi Faal retires in the next two to three years as Chief Justice, and under the current judiciary pay scale, he will be due a monthly pension of about D290,000, along with an official vehicle, full medical coverage, and 24-hour security. This [is] for the rest of his life, and only after serving two to three years in the role.
“Now ask yourself: how long would it take a Gambian teacher, nurse, or security officer to earn D290,000? And how many years would they have to work before retiring on pensions that, in many cases, are less than D5,000 a month?” he added.
“It’s one thing to watch helplessly as the political elite shamelessly raid the public purse. It’s another to let them convince you that doing so is somehow in your own best interest. I refused to be fooled.”
Screenshot of the Facebook post by Nanama Keita.
Keita’s post, from a page with 19,000 Facebook followers, went viral, garnering 606 likes, 266 comments, and 40 shares as of 6th August 2026.
A Facebook user, Tijan Jarju, wrote under Nanama Keita’s post: “Our beloved country is being drained by policies that reward a privileged few while the majority of hardworking Gambians continue to struggle. How can anyone justify lifetime pensions and lavish benefits after only a few years in office when teachers, nurses, security officers, and other civil servants dedicate decades of service and retire with barely enough to survive?”
Another user, Ṣafiyyah Sanyang, commented,
“The bigger question is why so many hardworking Gambians retire with very little after decades of service, and someone who comes in 2-3 years of service gets this huge pension from poor taxpayers?”
These comments suggest that people believe the CJ will receive these emoluments after serving just a few years.
Given the virality and intense public debate around the Chief Justice’s retirement benefits, DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim as part of its mandate to counter misinformation and promote truth-telling in public discourse.
Verification
The retirement benefits of a judicial officer, which include the Chief Justice and judges, are contained in the Judicial Officers (Conditions of Service) Act. Section 18 (1)(a) of the Act states that an occupant of the office of Chief Justice who retires after serving a period of five years shall receive a pension equal to his/her last salary in service.
An excerpt of Section 18(1) of the Judicial Officers (Conditions of Service) Act states the period a Chief Justice must serve before getting retirement benefits.
The Act further states that a Judge who has not met this condition upon retirement “may be paid a gratuity to be determined by the Judicial Service Commission” and “shall be paid such other benefits and allowances as may be prescribed for by the Judicial Service Commission after consultation with the Minister of Finance”.
Section 17 of the Act stipulates that judicial officers are entitled to a gratuity – “a [lump] sum equal to six months of his or her basic salary last received whilst in office” – if they retire at/after the age of 65 and have “served at least five years in aggregate in a judicial office”.
Additionally, “a Judge who retires between the ages of seventy to seventy-five shall continue to be provided such security for the rest [of] his or her life.”
According to Section 141 of the Gambian Constitution, superior court judges may retire on pension at “any time after attaining the age of sixty-five years” and shall vacate the office “on attaining the age of seventy years”, though this may be extended by six months in case they need some time to conclude an ongoing case.
DUBAWA could not confirm Chief Justice Faal’s age from credible public sources. What this researcher can confirm, however, is that contrary to the claim that the Chief Justice will receive a lifetime monthly “pension” payment if he retires within three years, he would rather receive a “gratuity” of a six-month lump-sum payment under the same circumstances.
Conclusion
The claim that under the current judiciary pay scale, when Chief Justice Edi Faal retires in the next two to three years, he will be due a monthly pension of about D290,000, along with an official vehicle, full medical coverage, and 24-hour security for life, is false.
