By Omar Bah
Sheriff Abass Hydara, who alongside his family members, was a victim of former president Yahya Jammeh, has called on Foni Kansala National Assembly Member and Jammeh loyalist Almameh Gibba to choose truth over loyalty, after the lawmaker defended Yahya Jammeh and dismissed the TRRC as a “man-hunting commission.”
Speaking to The Standard in reaction to the lawmaker, Hydara added that the country cannot heal if we replace facts with friendship. Hon Gibba had warned government against prosecuting Jammeh in Banjul and called the TRRC “politically motivated venture.”
But Hydara, who testified before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission about his detention and torture under Jammeh, called that a revisionism.
He said victims sat at the TRRC chamber, showed their scars and named the men who beat them, adding that such a thing is not politics but a true experience of life.
“When a National Assembly Member calls that process a witch-hunt, he is telling every victim that our pain was a performance.”
Gibba had also argued that Jammeh laid the foundation for national development and that prosecuting him would “terrorise the whole nation, citing a recent CepRass survey favoring reconciliation over prosecution.
Hydara countered: “Reconciliation without truth is amnesia, and reconciliation without justice is impunity.”
“Honourable, you said Jammeh survived 14 coups and therefore should be seen as a victim. Well, real victims survived Mile 2, Bambadinka, and the NIA and you did not mention them. Where are the dead you didn’t name?”, Hydara asked Gibba.
Hydara went on to address Gibba: “When you say the TRRC failed because Jammeh wasn’t there, you forgot we were there. We faced the cameras, risked retaliation and told this country what happened when no one else would.”
On Gibba’s claim that a ‘coupist’ was lead investigator of the TRRC, Hyadara reminded Gibba that “a torturer was president for 22 years’. “Which is worse?”, he asked Gibba.
Hydara urged NAMs to protect TRRC witnesses, and not discredit them. “Parliament must not become a place where victims are vilified and branded as liars. If you do that, you finish the job Jammeh started-to silence us.”
He challenged Gibba’s claim that the billions being mobilised for prosecution should instead go to health and education. “Use the money well, yes. But don’t use victims’ medical bills as an excuse to bury their cases. Many of us cannot afford treatment because of what was done to us. Justice pays that debt,” he said.
Hydara further advised Gibba that even though he has relations with Jammeh, his job in the Assembly makes him a representative of all Gambians such as Deyda Hydara, Solo Sandeng who were murdered, the girls who were raped and the boys who disappeared under Jammeh.
“The heartbeat of this country is truth. If you stop it, the body dies. So I’m asking you, Honourable Gibba to prioritise the truth, even if it breaks your relationship with Jammeh,” Hydara stressed.
He said Gibba’s position reflects an attempt to defend Jammeh rather than support accountability, arguing that no individual has the authority to shield the former president from justice.
“I see most of what Gibba said came from Yahya Jammeh rather than himself,” Hydara said, adding that such positions undermine the voices of victims seeking justice.
He further stressed that The Gambia does not belong to any political actor or former leader, insisting that accountability must follow due process.
“Jammeh does not own this country and Gibba does not own this country. We are ready for anything they want to do. Justice must prevail and Jammeh must be prosecuted before reconciliation,” he said.
He accused Gibba of showing disregard for victims, describing his political stance as disrespectful and dishonest.
