By Momodou Darboe
The spokesman of APRC has said that considering the truth is ‘hugely skewed’ to stain the reputation of ex-president Yahya Jammeh, the former Gambian leader may not be enthusiastic to explain his side of the story even if he is invited.
Musa Amul Nyassi, a former minister and now Foni Kansala NAM, said if The Gambia truly desires reconciliation, witch-hunting through the constitution of commissions is not the way going forward.
He said commissions will never take the country anywhere in the path of reconciliation.
According to him, the manner witnesses were and continue to be manipulated by the TRRC counsels to soil Jammeh’s image, the possibility of him honouring any TRRC invitation is remote.
“Mature and genuine Gambians would question the integrity of some questions of the counsels at the commission and also the TRRC does not show any interest in human rights violations that were perpetrated against those who have shown loyalty to the former president,” the APRC spokesman said.
According to him, the TRRC invites witnesses whose stories they would only like to hear which he said is putting off many.
“We have seen the likes of Ebou Jallow and Samsudeen Sarr who would be happy to appear before the commission but they were not given the opportunity,” Amul said.
He continued: “Look at the manner people like Dr. Tamsir Mbowe, army officer Lamin Jarju, former ADC Gano were questioned. They wanted them to answer questions the way they wanted it. TRRC is not a court of law but they ask questions as if it is. So, it is clear that the commission has been tailor-made to target an individual, maybe few. I even heard a commissioner saying TRRC is for Yahya Jammeh. How can you say that when you are looking for human rights violations in general? It should not be one-sided. There were people who lost their lives because they were showing loyalty to the former president and they too left behind widows and children. But they think the way they are going about their investigation will weaken the APRC, instead they are giving us strength.”
He concluded: “We have seen the CRC spending resources lavishly and not coming up with what was expected of them. We have also seen the Janneh Commission that had also come up with a report of how the former president and his allies have lavishly spent the money, according to them. And look! What did they bring out from the sale of his assets? In fact, they robbed the state more than they alleged Mr. Jammeh to have robbed the state because we all knew President Jammeh’s vehicles could not be sold for jut D500,000. That’s a give-away price. That was an insult to the Janneh Commission. I see inefficiency in CRC and the worst is to come when TRRC too finishes its work.”
