Re: CORONER’S INQUEST AND THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
(Foroye)
My dear Mr. Sallah,
I must first state that when I made my observations on
your letter I certainly did not do it with any hard
feelings. I have no doubt that you were once again
engaged in an honest effort to do something positive
in the wake of the April massacre. Certainly your
letter was addressed to the Chief Justice because the
addressee was clearly printed on the above-left side
of the document. And I also understood and appreciated
your action to share its content with the members of
the L.
However, my intervention was simply meant to reinforce
my ever-strong conviction that Yaya and nobody else
ordered the killing of the children. I have been
saying this from day one and as I monitor the
proceedings down there, it appeared that most
witnesses’ testimonies tend to consolidate this fact
stronger. In fact I was not surprised that for the
first time now witnesses have told the actual thing at
last. At the heat of the butchering at Brikama Ba, it
was revealed that the Divisional Commissioner was
quoted to have said that Yaya ordered the killing.
With all those crocodile tears, the insult to the
families he tried to pay off for killing their
children and his appointment of a commission of
inquiry and all what not, the bottom line is that Yaya
in the end must be held accountable. Anything other
than that should be considered a mistrial.
As a result Mr. Sallah, I have been throughout
watchful and perhaps too oversensitive about this
focal issue. When you mentioned your futile search for
the report of the coroner’s inquest at the office of
the Chief Justice the action that precipitated your
letter, I had to reacted but more in sympathy with you
than otherwise. Of course as I said, the whole thing
about your action wasn’t clear to me until after Mr.
Kebba Dampha’s comments and your subsequent
clarification. That was when I precisely understand
the background behind the letter. Thus, I had
seriously thought that the version of the letter
posted to the L would have been viewed differently if
you had in few lines introduced or concluded it with
the background of its purpose. Failure to do that was
what I think put the critics on an initial muggy
trail.
I was definitely convinced that you were truly engaged
in an honest effort but your obsession to get that
report by all means as if without it the real facts
could not be authenticated was what bothered me a
little. The APRC government as experience might have
taught you thrive on dishonesty fraud and lies even in
the presence of God and his angels. You may be an
honest progressive Gambian going by the rules to find
a solution to this state-committed crime but when you
happen to be dealing with criminals and bandits who
call themselves “the authorities,” some of us would be
left with no choice but to signal the warnings when
deemed necessary. The Chief Justice telling you that
the report was not with him does not mean to me that
it was not at all with him; for I must remind you that
he is part of what constitute the Yaya Jammeh
syndicate of intellectual crooks. The report might
have been in his brief case or his drawer while he
played the innocent with you. I wonder whether you
tried to find out from him where the report was, or
who had it if he, by constitutional right, should have
by then been in possession of the document?
Let us be frank to each other Mr.Sallah, how many
times did the Gambia government even acknowledge
receipt of your numerous letters of serious state
matters sent to them much more reply them.? It is very
likely that there was none whatsoever. Anyway I don’t
know about your feelings, but mine tell me that this
is not going to be an exception and I can’t imagine
what you will do next if the Chief Justice decided to
ignore it. Would there be another letter to remind him
or what? Considering all this makes me think that
pursuing these reports for a final answer is mare
waste of time brother.
With their habitual lies coupled with the indisputable
evidences from the various witnesses both in the
coroner’s inquest and the Commission so far, I don’t
think you need a report to draw a conclusion on what
happened in April. The children were killed with guns
that nobody wants to accept firing. The authorities
are not prepared to face the fact that Yaya Jammeh
ordered the killing; therefore the nation must start
looking for a serious solution to the problem.
That is why I called for a tougher stand from the
Gambian people but not by bare handedly confronting
the armed troops as you implied. Opposition party
members of the national assembly have been
contemplating impeaching Yaya for the crude oil
corruption. Take it from me, the crude oil saga,
combined with all the crimes committed by Yaya since
1994, appear secondary in the wake of the April
massacre. It cannot be right to give more importance
to the Dalasi than the human lives wasted especially
where about 14 unarmed children were murdered in cold
blood.
Reading one of the last articles subscribed by Mr.
Kebba Dampha, he has come up with a brilliant and
tougher proposal on how a credible prosecutor can be
established to handle this case satisfactorily. With
the concerted efforts of the opposition force in the
national assembly, they should be able to take charge
and resolve this matter for the Gambian people. I am
seriously doubtful about any Yaya-created Inquest or
commission.
Yaya must go by all means!
Ebou Colly
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