By Madi Jobarteh
It has been more than 72 hours since the court acquitted and discharged Ousainou and Amie Bojang of the charges relating to the shooting and killing of PIU officers. This was a case in which the President himself demonstrated extraordinary personal interest, going as far as authorising a bounty to one Mama Jabbi for information on the suspect.
Yet, now that the court has spoken, the same President has remained conspicuously silent. If his interest had truly been grounded in truth and justice, the nation would have heard from him immediately after the verdict.
Instead, what followed the acquittal was a deeply troubling sequence of events. The Minister of Justice and the Inspector General of Police orchestrated the re-arrest and detention of Ousainou and Amie Bojang, returning them to Mile 2 Prison. They proceeded to file an ex parte motion seeking a stay of execution, effectively attempting to keep the siblings imprisoned without lawful basis.
It was only due to the resistance of GALA, concerned youths, and the residents of Brufut that this blatant illegality was halted. This conduct was not only reckless, but was also a direct and deliberate violation of the Constitution and a dangerous abuse of state authority.
Even more alarming is the President’s eventual intervention, not in defense of the rule of law, but in a political rally in Foni where he chose to cast unfounded accusations against opposition leader Ousainou Darboe.
In doing so, the President not only ignored the court’s ruling but implicitly undermined it. He advanced a false narrative, claiming there was a public perception linking Darboe to the killings, an assertion for which there is no credible evidence. This is disinformation, propagated at the highest level of government, in contradiction to the very standards his administration claims to uphold.
This raises the most fundamental and unavoidable question: who shot, injured, and killed the PIU officers? This is the question the President must answer, not deflect, not politicize, and not obscure.
His constitutional duty is clear: to ensure that those responsible are identified and brought to justice. Anything less is a betrayal of the fallen officers, their families, and the Gambian people.
To uncover the truth, key figures within the security establishment must account for their roles and knowledge. These include the Inspector General of Police, Seedy Muctarr Touray, the National Security Adviser Sulayman Jeng, the Government Spokesperson Ebrima Sankareh, the former Deputy IGP Modou Sowe, and the current Minister of Interior who was the former IGP at the time, Abdoulie Sanyang, among others. The chain of responsibility must be interrogated thoroughly and transparently.
The nature of this crime, its precision, its targets, and its context, raises serious concerns that it may not have been the act of an outsider. By all indications, this could only be an inside job. If that is the case, then the responsibility on the President and his administration is even greater. They cannot evade this duty. They must know, or must find out, who is responsible.
The Gambian people must not relent. Justice demands persistence. Accountability requires courage. The truth cannot be buried beneath political rhetoric or institutional manipulation. The fallen officers deserve justice. Their families deserve closure. And the nation deserves answers.
Until those answers are provided, one question must echo across this country everyday: Who killed the cops, Mr President?
