By Lamin Kujabi
On Friday April 5th His Excellency President Adama Barrow received at State House, members of the Alliance for Victim-led Organisation, comprised of victims of former President Jammeh’s 22-year administration. They were accompanied to the Presidency by Honourable Dawda Jallow, Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
After the meeting, Sira Ndow, Chairperson of the Alliance for Victim-led Organisation, spoke to the press about the outcome of their discussion with the President. She informed that they were at State House on the invitation of the President and that it was sort of a family meeting. “As you are aware the issue of the victims is a very big one in The Gambia. The President has assured us that the issue is one of his priorities; that he would make sure that their plights are considered and their welfare taken care of, as recommended by the Truth Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC),” Madam Ndow stated.
She expressed hope that the meeting would bear fruit and that they will strengthen the relationship with all the stakeholders in government going forward. “As partners, sometimes you need to sit down and have conversation; and that is what we did today. The most assuring thing from the President is his commitment and political will to support. We noticed that he is really working hard to make sure that victims are taken care of,” she added.
The Chairperson went on to explain that the organisation was formally registered in January and since then they have been working together with the Victim Centre, which was set up in 2017. “Since then we have evolved and are getting stronger as a community. We have realised that one institution cannot handle all the victim issues. We have different institutions; some focusing on women, forceful disappearances, women victims of HIV, and others.
We deemed it fit to come together formally and make sure we streamline our efforts to become more efficient, effective and impactful”.
Madam Ndow reiterated their commitment to making sure of ‘never again’, as far as state victimisation and brutality is concerned. “We want to support government to establish strong institutions that really protect citizens as they should, as well as establish strong grassroots institutions,” she said.
Mamadou Sillah, member and victim, expressed delight for meeting with the President. “There are bodies that were exhumed since 1994 at Fajara Barracks almost 20 years now, and their remains are still at the hospital. We want to know how we can get the remains of our people. Thank God we are satisfied with the answers we got from the President and the Minister. It is difficult to identify the remains because the country does not have the expertise but thank God Government is now trying to get new ways to address that issue,” Mr Sillah remarked.
