THE CORONER’S INQUEST AND THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY.
I have been following with great enthusiasm, the
subject of discussion about the report on the
coroner’s inquest and the ongoing commission of
inquiry. The letter written by the Foroya was a
necessary one although in their typical style of
presenting very important subjects, they had almost
thrown me out of track on their main point of inquiry.
If I had read and fully understood Mr. Halifa Sallah’s
letter of query, it appeared to me that in the final
analysis the report of the coroner’s inquest is not
where many people were made to believe it is. This was
not clear to me until after Mr. Kebba Dampha’s
critical response to the Foroya letter and the
subsequent reply made by Halifa Sallah to the
gentleman. Only then did I realize what the issue was
all about. I believe they had made attempts to locate
the where about of the document at the office of the
Chief Justice but were told that it was not there. If
this critical point was on the onset made clear to all
readers, I am sure people like the dynamic Mr. Dampha
would have responded differently. Anyway as a friend
of mine once observed about the style of writing of
the Foroya publishers, he had said, “some times when
they want to talk about a spot in the moon they would
first take you on a ride at different spots in the
surrounding stars until you sometimes end up being
totally lost in the galaxy.
In the actual letter sent to the Chief Justice, Mr.
Halifa Sallah had stated the main issue in these
words, … “The report is still not made public. What is
difficult to comprehend is that the report is yet to
reach your office”. Then the letter continued to
explain the technicalities involved in conducting a
coroner’s inquest hitting those stipulated rules
specified or generalized in the constitution. In
trying to follow the logic there, I must be frank; I
certainly lost track of the cardinal point behind the
whole letter until, as I said, after Mr. Dampha’s
observations followed by Mr. Sallah’s clarification
that they were indeed merely pursuing the “top
secretive” report.
Mr. Dampha couldn’t be blamed for expressing his
frustration because as most Gambians now understand
about the nature and process of the whole
investigation surrounding the student’s massacre,
everything seems candidly flawed.. Given the raw
unedited evidence, gathered from the various witnesses
so far, it is clear that the APRC government is
caught butt naked in its own scheme. There is no way
that the Jammeh followers could make the excuse that
the enemies of the APRC government fabricated the
incriminating facts, because it was Yaya himself who
established the commission. Moreover, several
witnesses narrated the same atrocities committed by
the security forces, especially those teachers,
students and ordinary by standers found in the middle
of the butchering. It was the same story all over that
the PIU in particular did most of the shooting and
killing in the Banjul area. They were said to have
used their assault weapons the AK47’s with live
rounds. Nothing like rubber bullet guns or
riot-control weapons.
Then came the pathetic testimony of the senior
commanders and secretary of state for the interior.
They shamelessly made it clear that they were not
responsible because they did not know what their
subordinates were doing during the entire operation.
Shame on them. Following their testimonies, these so
called commanders and authorities who by appointment
and responsibility should have been calling the shots
on the activity conducted by the Gambian security
forces that day had the nerve to tell the world that
they were innocent of the actions of their own men. I
think all of them said the same thing that they did
not know how or who started the killing of the
children. Don’t they know that by service principles
or regulations that means they are guilty of a court
martial offence and long term jail sentences for
hiding behind those blatant lies? They simply had
proven to the public that the men under their command
were not necessarily operating on their instructions
and that the soldiers could do whatever they wanted
even shooting and killing innocent unarmed school
children, some as young as three years old without
their knowledge or approval. What kind of commanders
or authorities are these people? There is no way for
that possibility in any security establishment; it was
all a conspiracy that stank high way to heavens.
I am inclined to think that, patriotic Gambians like
Mr. Ousman Sillah the lawyer.came up with the Gazette
issue because of the unquestionable fraudulence in the
whole scheme of events. When the coroner’s inquest was
established, dead lines were given to the members of
the board. The 15th of May was the day for the final
submissions of the board’s findings. That day, as we
all know, happened to pass without any declaration of
the state of the report until there was a public
outcry for an explanation for the unwarranted silence
or delay; then they said the report was with the
justice department. I guess that was why foroya had
to take the trouble of inquiring the where about of
document and the steps taken by government on its
findings. Perhaps Mr. Ousman Sillah had gone through
digging and shoveling the facts just to realize that
the whole thing was after all a big sham. Then he
perhaps turned around and noticed that the newly
established commission of inquiry was more or less
taking a similar or worst pattern.with no mandate in
place to guide their activities. Even guidelines as
simple as a deadline for the submission of the final
findings were nonexistent. this time. Therefore as a
person with conscience and integrity it was a very
reasonable observation under the prevailing conditions
of the Jammeh-homocidal regime.
Any way while Yaya thought that he could in this case
use the same ungodly tricks of creating
pseudo-commissions of inquiry that in the past nearly
helped him in destroying all the evidence in the Koro
Ceesay murder case, he perhaps failed to realized that
this one was going to be the final straw. These were
children of god he had butchered; angels for that
matter, whose spirits are still lingering around
waiting for final justice in their untimely deaths. As
a result, the government’s lies in the wake of the
witnesses’ testimonies are in every seating exposing
their calculated evil actions .It has come to a point
where every thing is now clear to the Gambian public.
Having said all that, I must once again remind all
Gambians that the APRC government knows no logic
particularly their killer leader Yaya. In Yaya’s
world, the only reasonable thing is force, force and
absolute stupidity. The man does not have blood
running in his veins. Yet his followers appear to be
hypnotized into endorsing everything he does, right or
wrong. I have said this before, I am saying it now and
I believe I will be saying it again sooner or later
that he and nobody else ordered the killing of the
children..
Yaya actually gave the orders to shoot and kill the
children and that monsters like Ousman Badjie, and
Raspotin Baboucarr Jatta executed the orders by
telling the soldiers to fire at the kids. Yaya they
said put it in these exact words, “shoot the
bastards”. That’s the final answer to all the
questions being asked about the massacre. The
commission of inquiry, like the coroner’s inquest is
all meant to waste or buy time and nothing else. The
order to kill came from the top. Yaya, Isatou Njie
Saidy, Raspotin Baboucarr Jatta, Ousman Badjie etc all
know it that way that. Naturally therefore if all
these devils decide to play the innocent, it should be
normal for the little ones to follow suit by
testifying that they didn’t know how the shooting
occurred despite the fact that they were the very ones
who pulled the triggers.
The Gambian people should have long ago started the
process of getting Yaya’s government thrown out of
office. That’s the only reasonable action necessary at
this time. A government that ruthlessly killed its own
young children has no right whatsoever to stay in
power for a day after such a crime is committed. If it
is still thought that the best way to get these devils
out is by peaceful means i.e. through general
elections then the time is far overdue for the APRC
government to resign so that early elections could be
conducted. . Any other additional day spent by Yaya in
office as president of the Gambia would make the
senseless killing more disgusting in the civilized
world. It also tends confirm to mankind that the
Gambian people are nothing but a bunch of losers led
by an ultra lunatic.The facts are glaring; the
murderer is Yaya; the nation is hurting; the children
are rotting in their graves; yet we are still playing
by the devil’s foolish game. The coroner’s inquest and
commission of inquiry are all baloney.
The Gambian people must rise while it is still
necessary and justifiable because their nation has
been hijacked by a gang of bandits and murderers, who
wouldn’t yield to anything other than what they
understand best, force, force and total stupidity.
Let’s be clear about that.
Ebou Colly
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