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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Momodou |
Posted - 21 Aug 2017 : 15:31:45
Jammeh’s accomplices should confess
By Rose Zahra Gomez
The Point: Monday, August 21, 2017
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/jammehs-accomplices-should-confess
 The human rights violations allegedly perpetrated by Yahya Jammeh were not done by him alone but with the help of his loyalists, who are also citizens of this country, the justice minister said.
“Therefore, in the situation that we are, the victims, but also the perpetrators, should confess so that there will be reconciliation and a better Gambia,” Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou said at meetings in Central River and Upper River regions.
It was a meeting of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) taskforce with the respective communities as part of a nationwide tour to enlighten people about the proposed commission.
The taskforce comprises civil society organisations, Ministry of Justice, the United Nations Development Programme and other relevant stakeholders. It engages the people on how the TRRC would properly dispense justice for the violations and abuses of the Yahya Jammeh-government.
“The commission is to be established to serve as a healing centre for the victims and loyalists that committed crimes and atrocities to come forward to lodge their complaints because from that recommendation and observation would be made for the commission to do its work,” the minister said.
“The people who committed those inhumane crimes for Jammeh, it will be difficult for them to accept but if they do not then the law shall intervene.”
Minister Tambedou said the previous government was involved in numerous human rights violations such as detention without trial, disappearance without trace, torture among others.
The Lady Governor of Basse Fatou Jammeh-Touray said she had been informed that had Jammeh won the December 2016 election, she would be killed as her name was part of the ‘black book’ of the former government.
The governor said some of the alleged perpetrators of Jammeh-government crimes are undermining the setup of the commission.
“The formation of the commission should be fast-tracked to deal with matters as required,” she said.
Namory Trawally of the Gambia Press Union said he, as a journalist, is also a victim of Jammeh’s regime because the newspaper he was working for, ‘The Independent’, was in April 2004 stormed by unknown state agents with guns who burnt their newspaper printing machine worth D1,200,000. People like him, he said, were tortured in the process.
Binta Jammeh-Sidibeh, executive director of Women Bureau, said the TRRC is in fulfillment of the campaign promise of the coalition government to set a commission that will solve all the human rights violations caused by the Jammeh government.
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| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Momodou |
Posted - 12 Oct 2017 : 14:38:06
Justice Minister Explains Membership Terms for TRRC
Foroyaa: October 10, 2017
By Kebba Jeffang
http://www.foroyaa.gm/archives/18304
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mr. Aboubacarr Tambadou, has disclosed the terms of membership of the Truth, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission, which is expected to probe and reconcile Gambians, following two decades of severe human rights violations in the country.
Mr. Tambadou was speaking to journalists yesterday, 9th October 2017, at his office in Banjul.
He said, “all members of the Commission shall be Gambian Nationals of the highest standard of integrity; that all regions in the country shall be represented and that the Commission shall reflect the national character of the country and shall be as representative of the different communities as possible, including women, religious and youth groups and that the Commission shall be established for an initial period of two years.”
He said they had concluded the nation-wide consultations with people across the country, aimed at collecting their views, regarding the model of TRR Commission, for the Gambia.
“The consultations provided us with an opportunity to gauge the public mood and sentiment on several aspects of the work of the Commission. I am pleased to report that over all, the idea of the TRRC, received overwhelming support from all communities across the country,” he said.
He said they are now at the final review stage of the draft TRRC Bill after ample time working with experts in the area of Transitional Justice and Truth Commissions, in particular.
The AG named the International Center for Transitional Justice who were in the country and have concluded a review of the draft bill last week, while they also received comments from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Africa Group for Accountability and Justice and the United Nations.
He assured that several outreach programmes will precede the Commission to keep people including the victims informed, particularly on the radio and television. He urged the religious, youth and women leaders to engage people in a constructive manner.
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| Momodou |
Posted - 22 Aug 2017 : 13:12:57
‘Lots of HIV patients died in Jammeh’s hand’
By Rose Zahra Gomez
The Point: Tuesday, August 22, 2017
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/lots-of-hiv-patients-died-in-jammehs-hand
The first patients to undergo former President Yahya Jammeh’s HIV and AIDS treatment programme in 2007 have confessed that the treatment was “not effective” and “a lot of people died” in the process.
The patients made this confession to the technical committee on the proposed Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) which is on a nationwide consultative and sensitisation tour.
The committee, led by the Minister of Justice Abubacarr Tambedou, held a meeting in Serekunda West yesterday.
Lamin Ceesay, a HIV patient, said he was the first person go public about his status that he was HIV positive and he started to receive treatment with the help of one NGO for years.
“But in 2007 when the former president said that he could cure AIDS, I was among those selected to undergo the treatment,” he said. Lamin and his wife were both HIV positive and were enrolled in Jammeh’s treatment programme.
“The treatment was fake; my wife died in the process of the treatment because the medicine they were giving us was not for the human system. The medicines even caused us to be infected with other diseases,” he said.
Lamin urged the TRRC, when functional, to look into Jammeh’s HIV and AIDS treatment as he was assisted by qualified medical practitioners who ought to know that “the president’s medicine was fake”.
Jainaba Samateh, another HIV patient, said she has been living with HIV and AIDS for 23 years now and she is not ashamed of her status because she lives “a dignified life like any other Gambian”.
She said that in January 2007, she was enlisted in Jammeh’s HIV treatment. When the treatment started, Jammeh promised not to take them public but as it progresses, they were eventually shown on the national television, GRTS, and that brought a lot of stigma to their families.
“The Gambian people should know that the treatment was not effective and has cost so many lives,” she asserted.
Meanwhile at the Serekunda West meeting, the representative of young people said it was imperative that the composition of the commission includes a youth representative.
Andrew Gibba of Kanifing Municipal Youth Parliament said the government should look at security personnel that Jammeh was using to do all his dirty works for “they should be brought forward to testify”.
Abubacarr Tambedou, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said the concerns raised were noted and would be considered.
He, however, clarified that the commission is not to prosecute anybody but “to file a report to be in the history book of The Gambia for the future generation to know and avoid dictatorship”.
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