By Omar Bah
The elder brother of the late Baba Jobe has called on the government to help them recover 25 head of cattle allegedly taken by former President Jammeh when he fell out with their late brother Baba Jobe.
Momodou told The Standard Sunday morning that following a notice by the Janneh Commission to sell Jammeh’s cattle, they felt it necessary to bring this to the attention of the authorities, saying out of the 25, 14 belonged to their late mother and Baba, 11.
“In fact some of those cattle actually belonged to our mother but Jammeh forcefully took them without asking. He thought they all belonged to Baba,” Modou explained.
He said the cattle were taken by Jammeh on 29 October 2008, when one Modou Soma Jobe, a cousin of Baba and two other NIA officers found him at the cattle ranch only to inform him that they were sent by Yahya Jammeh to take Baba Jobe’s cattle.
“Modou Soma Jobe told me they were instructed by Yahya Jammeh. But I told him it was not only Baba Jobe’s cattle which were in the ranch, because our mother, who is now dead, owned 14 she inherited out of the 25. But he told me they were instructed to go with all the cattle,” Momodou Kunjang told The Standard on the phone.
He said he tried to convince Modou Soma Jobe but he refused to listen.
Momodou further said out of the 25 taken, 14 were bulls and 11 cows, with some already pregnant at the time.
The elder brother said Chief Yahya Jarjusey was a witness to the incident but the chief did not know that Modou Soma Jobe was coming to take the cattle.
He called on the government to immediately facilitate the return of their mother’s cattle if they can’t have all, saying their mother died as a result of that stress which he said still hurts the family.
On whether they have raised the issue with the former regime, Momodou said raising such concerns during the time of Yahya Jammeh would be equal to committing suicide considering his brother soured relationship with Jammeh.
“But since Jammeh left, Baba’s wife and his brother raised the issue with the new government but nothing has come out of it.
“At least if they cannot return all the 25 head of cattle they should return the 14 head owned by our mother.”
The Standard repeatedly tried to contact Modou Soma Jobe for his version without success.
