Sheriff Kijera, chairman of Gambia Victims of Human Rights Violations has taken sharp criticism of what he calls the unfair treatment of victims on the face of perpetrators still holding key government positions.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) at a local hotel yesterday.
“It is disappointing to note that an institutional reform hasn’t been quite methodical as it is supposed to be. Alleged perpetrators and enablers of atrocities committed under the Jammeh regime still find it comfortably holding lucrative positions in government, while victims continue to suffer indignity of the experiences of inhuman degrading treatments ad their deteriorating health and medical conditions which the government completely ignored and failed to address.
According to him, some victims have virtually lost everything not due to natural disasters but as a result of human made violence committed by people occupying key governmental positions.
“The victims are convinced that these are acts committed by institutions of the state or its agents, including the military, police, parliament, judiciary, civil service and local administrative structures were progressively and politically turned into adjuncts of a political party, ” he disclosed.
Kijera calls on the President Barrow to learn from the experience of his predecessor who is now living in exile due to his wrongdoings. “We don’t want to set up another commission after you (President Barrow) leave office.
There is always life after presidency, and that retirement is earned through good governance, transparency, accountability and upholding the cardinal principles of the due processes and the rule of law,” he told Barrow. Kijera recalls that some of the victims are still mourning because their loved ones were summarily executed or disappeared and have not seen or heard from them anymore, adding that some of this victims have not had any kind of support or guidance to overcome their trauma and to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.
He emphasis that the proceedings of the TRRC will make it possible for victims to understand what really happened to their loved ones and help victims to rebuild their families and have their dignity restored.
Kijera said his center has already documented hundreds of cases of past human rights violations committed by the dictatorial regime of Yahya Jammeh, adding that most of these victims have high expectations of what the truth commission will be doing for them.
Author: Kebba Ansu Manneh