As we follow the events unfolding in that silly commission of inquiry, we
feel nothing but utter disgust about what is going on. The results of a
sample polling by Gambian newspapers show that an overwhelming majority of
those spoken to, are either dissatisfied with the composition of the
commission, the questions being asked at the commission, the responses being
given or all of the above. Some also saw this commission as a total waste of
time. The commission is not interested in getting to the bottom of the
matter: who in particular did the shooting and who ordered them to carry
live bullets in their weapons? If the sole purpose of the commission is to
solicit facts that would enable the authorities to avoid another massacre,
they should just counsel the government to employ security experts to teach
them about crowd control. The people who lost their children are not
interested in that. Any self respecting government should know how to engage
school children in dialogue. We do not need a commission of inquiry manned
by traitors to tell a government how to protect its innocent citizens. This
case belongs in the regular courts where convicted criminals are put in jail
or shot before a firing squad. It is almost comical that the chief justice
will be so outraged to the extent of threatening witnesses with contempt of
court citations because they are making him wait in court. Well, we got news
for the chief justice. There are Gambian families waiting endlessly for the
murderers of their children be brought to court. We wished we had the power
to put all of you in jail for prolonging the ordeal of those families. All
this commission will succeed in doing, is provide the murderers involved in
this massacre an opportunity to rehearse their lies before facing a real
prosecutor. But they should know that that court house will be burnt down
and all the books and silly wigs thrown in the sea if someone does not pay
for the heinous crimes committed on April 10 and 11. The doctrine of
collective responsibility should be applied to the maximum. It is not enough
for Ousman Badgie to come to the commission and try and pretend that the IGP
can overrule him and Yaya and order the shooting, nor would it be enough for
the IGP to come and say that junior officers took the law into their hands.
We realize that the government is still trying to peddle that ridiculous lie
that their armory was broken into. We would not buy that either. Colly
already put that to rest. We think that the commission is a waste of time
and should be terminated forthwith. Their inclusion of a single female
member does not change anything. It would not help get to the bottom of
this. The chief justice (who I hope is a seasoned lawyer) was sitting there
when arrogant government officials refused to answer legitimate questions by
invoking some nonexistent privileges (cabinet discussions should not be made
public). I wonder why the chief justice did not cite the official for
contempt of court and force him to answer the question. Are we going to
allow these people to hide the discussions that went on between Yaya (in
Cuba) and his cohorts (in Gambia) because they were in a 'cabinet' meeting?
Give us a break. Are these the signs of people who want to get to the bottom
of the matter? The judiciary should show goodwill by ensuring the
termination of this bogus commission and also throwing out of court that
frivolous appeal from the AG aimed at putting back our children to jail. As
we said before, the judge did not err in law. This was only a factual matter
and the facts do not support the AG's position. The events of April 10 and
11 should teach us that denying people natural justice only leads to
anarchy. If the courts do not enforce the laws fairly, people will take the
laws into their own hands. Simple as that. That is another lesson we can
learn without the aid of a commission. Had the people that killed Ebrima
Barry been brought to court and justice done on that matter, we would not be
in this predicament today.
KB

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