By Omar Bah
Momodou Malcolm Jallow, a Gambian-Swedish parliamentarian currently on a visit to The Gambia, has called on President Barrow to not ignore the victims of the former regime.
“It is only fair that their voices will be heard their stories be told and I feel privilege to be invited to the victim centre to listen to the stories and I think the victim centre is an initiative that needs to be commended and it is an initiative that in the normal circumstances the government should have initiates,” he said.
He continued: “But unfortunately it is not initiated by government but the victims themselves. I am quite sure that the government will be committed to work together with the centre to have a public private partnership to ensure that the people who were victimised by the previous government will have the justice and reparation that they need.”
He said lot of them are severely ill, whiles some of them have severe injuries both psychological and physical injuries.
“They need both medical and sociological support I believe the government or the private sector will help….when I get to Sweden I will commit myself to ensure that I do whatever I can to facilitate the needed support for the victim centre,” he said.
Discussion with the victims
Mr Jallow said it was very difficult for him to listen to the stories of the victims, “But it is equally important to listen to them, because if you don’t learn from the histories of the past you have to repeat them.”
“These are people that deserve to be heard, their voices must be heard, and they must be given a platform to tell us their stories. Most of the people that we see here are people that fought for this country, people that sacrifice their lives so that the past government will despair,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of DUGA Sohna Sallah said Gambians should do anything they could to ensure that the newly found democracy is consolidated at all cost.
