News coming from Banjul is quite disturbing. The Ebrima Barry case (that
sparked the April 10 and 11 massacre) is not going in a way that favors the
Gambian public. There is still no justice for the victims of the April
massacre. Lalo, Dumo and others are still held incommunicado. Ordinary
citizens get abducted by Yaya's security officials, get tortured and get the
lives of their lawyers threatened. We have not heard anything about the
investigations of the Radio One arson and attempted murder attack. The
November elections are still in limbo. The catalog of problems go on and on.
I was always suspicious of the prosecutor the AG choose to try the Ebrima
Barry case. I queried months ago when this man would not show up in court
the first day of the case. We saw how few days ago the man called a witness
(Dr. Sam) that ended up sabotaging his case. Now the latest news is that the
defense want the case to be thrown out of court without even having to put
out a single witness. The parents of Ebrima Barry were hoist to court and
called all sorts of names and labeled as liars. This is pitiful. Now the
poor parents are the culprits and the firemen that murdered their son are
now being hailed as heroes for helping to get Ebrima Barry back to school.
This is really disgusting. Ebrima Barry is dead and the firemen are boasting
about the revocation of Barry's suspension from school. Yes, Barry is not
suspended from going to school, all right! That's because he is dead. I knew
these people were stupid, but frankly I did not think the level of their
stupidity would come to this. The simple question to the authorities is: why
go through all this in order to protect the firemen that murdered Ebrima
Barry? The ineptitude of the government in their handling of this matter
caused over a dozen innocent children to lose their lives on April 10 and
11. Why repeat the same mistake? I would not even go through the rigmarole
of showing that the defense lawyer's latest application in the Ebrima Barry
matter should fail. It is obvious that the defense at least have a case to
answer. But if the judge in this matter drops the ball and set these
criminals free, he would be held responsible together with the AG and the
prosecutor for the repercussions.
The massacre of April 10 and 11 is still an unsolved mystery in the eyes of
the coroner and that bogus commission of inquiry. I have not read the
commission's report, but I know that there is little in that report apart
from blaming the students for their massacre. How can there be damning
evidence against the authorities when government officials went to the
commission and told blatant lies with impunity? Even the chief justice at
one point rhetorically asked whether the gunmen came from the skies to
murder our children. I would be shocked if a single person is named as
having pulled a trigger on April 10 and 11 to murder our children. If such a
person has been named, then logic demands that the AG set the ball rolling
for the prosecution of that person. It is not Yaya's role to decide who
should be prosecuted. That is a legal decision that should be made by the AG
and his director of public prosecution. Yaya's only role is to 'study' that
bogus commission report and see if there need to be certain policy changes
as a result of the massacre. The changes that need to be implemented by the
government in light of the April massacre are quite obvious and we do not
need a commission of inquiry to tell us that. I have been saying this for
the past five months. There is little or no nexus between the commission
findings and the prosecution of the criminals responsible for the massacre
of our children. So Yaya and his AG are taking the whole country for a ride
asking them to put their fate in the hands of a toothless commission of
inquiry. This is just incomprehensible. Innocent children are murdered and
the murderers are roaming the streets scot-free. So long as opposition
leaders do not step to the plate and defend the rights of the weak in the
society, nothing will come out of this. This is the worst crime that has
ever happened in our country. When would enough be enough? When Yaya
massacres 100 children?
Coming to the November 'elections', can the politicians please tell us what
is going on? Am I right in thinking that parliament has adjourned without
passing the necessary legislation for implementing the elections? Gambia is
in a pathetic state and the sooner we do something about it, the better.
KB


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