By Mafugi Ceesay
A senior citizen, Abdoulie Bojang from Jambur, has told the TRRC that 18 out of 62 people from his native Jambur accused of witchcraft died after drinking the concoction in 2009.
Bojang said he collected this information because soon after the entire episode, he had asked his people to draft a list of all those affected for future use. He said the initial number of people rounded up was more than 62 but some were not taken away and were let go before they could board the vehicle to Kololi.
”I have kept a good record of those affected and separated them into survivors which was 32 and the those who died which is numbered 18,” Bojang said.
He further disclosed that the entire episode caused a massive destruction to Jambur as a community. ”Imagine the Imam who settles dispute among the villagers becoming a victim himself from drinking the concoction. A VDC chairman also died as a result of drinking the concoction in addition to many villagers still living with life-time diseases from its effect,” he said.
Bojang added that it was Yahya Jammeh who divided the people of Jambur through politics, to a point where some chose which burial they should attend. “At some point we could not take it anymore. We decided to buy kola-nut and called up a meeting to settle the dispute and that was very successful because today people have come back to live in peace,” he said.
He called on the security officers not to allow themselves to be used by the leaders for their selfish gains.
