By Tabora Bojang
The country director of Global Homes of Medical Missions, Nenneh Freda Gomez has been arrested and charged by the police as row deepens over the offices of the former police anti-crime unit in Bijilo.
Nenneh was arrested alongside a Fatou Network cameraman Gilbert Manga, a reporter Ebrima Jammeh and a staff of the Global Homes of Medical Missions, Lamin Sey.
They were taken to the Senegambia police post and later transferred to the Kairaba police station where they were charged with two counts of malicious injury to properties and criminal trespass.
However, journalist Ebrima Jammeh was released at the Kairaba police.
The four were arrested following a fracas with the police guarding the gate of the property who denied them access to deliver their loads of cement to start work at the property.
The mission has been at loggerheads with the police over their continuous denial of access to the property despite a court judgement confirming the Global Homes of Medical Missions as the rightful owners of the property and accompanied by a writ of possession from the Sheriff Division. The property had been the office of the anti- crime unit until a court order said it rightfully belonged to the Medical Mission.
After spending over 12 hours at the Kairaba police, the three were released on bail with a Gambian ID card and a bond of D100,000 each.
As the team stepped out to talk to waiting journalists at the police to make some clarifications, Police Commissioner Darboe of Kairaba asked journalists to remove their cameras and vacate the premises. Nenneh, who described the charges as bogus, also accused the police of being manipulated by high authorities.
“They had no idea what they were doing; they keep changing the charges from obstruction to assault and trespass as they received directives from people they were talking to over the phone,” Gomez told reporters.
“When the team was barred from entering the premises by one Sergeant Bojang, we heard him speaking to the Assistant Inspector General Landing Bojang who was heard saying he spoke to the IGP in the morning who said he had spoken to President Barrow who said no one should get access to us,” Nenneh alleged.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice issued the following statement over the matter:
“The attention of this Office has been drawn to reports circulating on social media alleging that the Government is blocking the purported owners of a piece of land in Bijilo from accessing their property.
The public is hereby informed that this is totally false and could not be further from the truth. This matter is the subject of ongoing litigation in two suits before two separate Judges of the High Court. Out of respect for the Court and Judicial process, this office is not at liberty to discuss matters which are subject to litigation. We will have the opportunity to shed light on the true facts of the matter once the Courts have delivered their ruling on this matter. We invite claimants in this matter to exercise similar restraint and abide by due process as opposed to seeking litigate this matter in the media.”
