By Mathew K Jallow
Change always begins with one voice; a lone voice, an angry voice, a disillusioned voice, and a voice without hope and with nothing left to lose. Nogoi Njie, it seems, has catapulted herself to the front-line of the living dead; a voice that went unseen and unheard, long after Yahya Jammeh left the shores of our country. And what Nogoi did by speaking out and speaking up about her frustrations and disillusion, may or may not have impact far beyond her own very tragic story of neglect. In her case, the Gambia dropped the ball, just as we have done, as a country, in failing those living in horrible conditions in Mile Two Central Prison. But more particularly, UDP also dropped the ball. In UDP’s mad dash to hijack the struggle against Yahya Jammeh and make it their own, they chose Solo Sandeng and made him the sole linchpin of the collective struggle, at the expense of every other Gambian who has died, spilled blood, got maimed, or suffered physically and psychological trauma, at the hands of Yahya Jammeh.
It’s painful listening to Nogoi Njie narrate her own struggles, pain and suffering. Nogoi Njie is the illustration of everyone else who suffered under Yahya Jammeh; the living dead, because we ignored them, and not the least, the April 10th, 2000, students, and the many nameless and faceless, who, during 22 years of Yahya Jammeh, crossed his path and awoke the wrath of a madman. Just as I advised families whose relatives were murdered or simply disappeared, to form a group and seek justice, I offer the same advice to all the sick, maimed, handicapped, at the hands of Yahya Jammeh’s NIA and military, to form their own group and seek justice. Gambia owes them and Gambia must take care of them. And this has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the altruism of one individual; its a national obligation, our collective obigation. End of story.
