By Juldeh Njie
The spokesperson of the Gambia government, Ebrima Sankareh has said that like everyone else President Adama Barrow is “very concerned” that some serving soldiers have been mentioned at the TRRC but he cannot unilaterally suspend them before the commission finishes documenting evidence.
Mr Sankareh cited the Janneh Commission as a case study, saying that when the commission started, some Gambians were so angry at Yahya Jammeh that they wanted Kanilai to be seized right away.
“But the government always insisted that things cannot be done undemocratically like Jammeh himself was doing and that some due process must be allowed to take place to establish the facts, ” he said.
He said after the completion of their investigations, the commission has found that Jammeh’s assets in Kanilai alone are worth about a D1billion.
“If we had gone to Kanilai and burned the place, how would we have even established that this is money that belongs to Gambians? That would have been vandalism and responsible governments do not act like criminals,” he noted.
Sankereh called on Gambians to be patient and never take the law into their own hands because the government is not relenting.
Commenting on the land crises, the government spokesperson said what happened in Gunjur was unfortunate.
“The Gunjur crisis has been ongoing since President Jawara’s time, so it is important to have dialogue with local chiefs and community elders.”
Also peaking at the same press conference, the information minister Ebrima Sillah urged Gambians to respect the decision of the courts as good citizens who respect the rule of law.
He added: “The government is very much concern with these land issues and we want to call on the communities not to politicise things because these are serious issues.”
