By: Bakary Ceesay
Ex- Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, who is in exile in the Equatorial Guinea, has vowed to solve the problem of shooting in his native village Kanilai in the West Coast Region.
On Sunday, Ismaila Tamba, a driver was shot at a military checkpoint in Kanilai village by soldiers for allegedly refused to stop his vehicle for inspection.
Tamba was said to have sustained gunshot wounds and was taken to Bwiam hospital before transferred to the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) in Banjul. Tamba is a native of Kanilai and a former soldier of the Gambia Armed Forces.
In 2017, in Kanilai village, during a protest ECOMIG forces shot and killed Haruna Jatta, also a native of Kanilai.
Meanwhile, on Monday, opposition Alliance for Patriotic Re-orientation and Construction (APRC) senior official’s members visited Kanilai and held a meeting with the people of the village.
During the meeting former exiled president Yahya Jammeh made a Whatsapp audio which was made in English and later translated in Jola by Musa Amul Nyassi, the National Assembly member for Foni Kansala.
In the audio Jammeh said: This is the second shooting involving a native of Kanilai since the regime change in 2016.”
“….Allah knows why things happen. If they [natives of Kanilai] are angry I am… angrier than them because I know what’s going on. It’s just a matter of time. I’m appealing to them… let them not take the law into their hands… and see what is going to happen. I want them to leave everything in my hands… Let them leave everything as it is. … I will solve the problem,” said Jammeh.
Efforts to reached Musa Amul Nyassi, spokesperson of APRC remain futile at the time of going to press.