By Almamy Taal
Dictator Jammeh is a fugitive from justice and those who run to the media every chance they get to interpret or rationalise his spurious claims and outlandish utterances are apologists and enablers and must know that their complicity in the horrible episode of our recent history will not be forgotten and never be forgiven.
To claim a semblance of truth and relevance, the apologists have taken to writing books purporting to be part of the historical record of the Jammeh dictatorship.
Whatever they write in their books or say on air, the fact of the matter is that they were disloyal to the oaths they took as officers of the Gambia Armed Forces “to defend the Constitution and territorial integrity” of our homeland.
Rewriting history is not going to absolve them of the unconstitutional actions and complicity in the subsequent reign of terror Jammeh unleashed on the nation.
Our nation, since 1994, has been adrift. Our people are demoralised. The euphoria of ‘the new Gambia’ has dissipated. The chest-thumping politics we thought we have left far behind is alive and well. And the people who had plunged our nation into a political impasse have been rewarded with plump government jobs. The hope of democratic renewal institutions building and recalibration of our theory of Government are all gone now!
Needless to say, people are all entitled to their opinions but not to their own facts. Coupists who betrayed the Constitution and their oaths of office by forcefully unseating the democratically elected government of The Gambia have a duty to tell the whole truth and not give a one-sided narrative that seeks to make them heroes.
On 22nd July, 1994, gallant officers like Ebrima Chongan and Sherrif ML Gomez because of their loyalty to the nation were arrested imprisoned and tortured for two years before they were released by the junta.
To be clear we should learn from our history and know that time does not run against crimes. No matter how long it takes, the boomerang of justice will continue to chase the criminals including coupists until justice is served. Omar El Bashir of Sudan learn that bitter lesson when a popular uprising toppled his government and he was charged with the unconstitutional overthrow of the government of Sudan more than forty years after the fact.
Yankuba Touray, a former minister of Jammeh, is serving a life sentence for his complicity in the murder of finance minister Ousman Koro Ceesay.
The Truth, Reconcialiation and Reparation Commission, has indicted Jammeh and so had the Janneh Commission and at least two of his associates including former inspector general of police and minister for the interior, Ousman Sonko, have been convicted by courts with competent universal jurisdiction. Have no doubts about it, justice will be done and impunity will be stopped.
