By Arret Jatta
The National Assembly Member for Foni Berefet Amie Colley, yesterday appealed to the National Assembly to help her meet the minister of justice for an audience for the possible release of the corpse of late General Bora Colley who passed away in custody on Monday.
Hon Colley, believed to be a relative of the late senior army officer, made this appeal during yesterday’s deliberations in the National Assembly.
“I am appealing to this august assembly to allow me to meet the minister of justice right now. It is so urgent because we need to collect the dead body of General Bora Colley and we are told that it is under the authority of the state and it must undergo a postmortem .So I am appealing to the Assembly to help me meet the minister,” she appealed.
However, Speaker Fabakary Tombong Jatta, did not immediately comment on the matter and continued with the business of the Assembly, prompting Touma Njai of Banjul South to intervene: “I think it would have been respectful to at least respond because this is a matter of death and I think losing a brother is very painful”, Touma noted.
At this point Speaker Jatta responded: “Honorable, this should not have been publicised on the floor. What could have been done was to call to the attention of the minister. I have given them the chance to do the consultation and that is what is important”.
The Speaker then went on to tease Touma Njai: ‘Don’t always try to be the best. Don’t always try to show that you are exceptional, avoid it,” he said.
Meanwhile yesterday, the Gambia Armed Forces announced that the ministry of justice has informed the Chief Justice for a coroner’s inquest into the death of the former senior army officer.
