By Mustapha Jarju
Lieutenant colonel Sanna Manjang, an alleged serial killer under former President Yahya Jammeh has said people who testified against him at the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission lied against him with allegations of participating in several killings which are all fabricated.
Sanna Manjang, one of the junglers said in his recent speech on an online platform called Kabeefor Radio Bantabakacha “I want to give this assurance to the Gambians that I am their servant, I am not your enemy and I believe I mentioned this in my past speeches and I am not someone who has bad intention for anyone, the whole army will sit and agreed that what I am saying is the truth”.
His former colleagues (junglers) who had testified at the TRRC accused him of taking part in a series of gross human rights violations which includes killings, torture, and enforced disappearance during his time as a serving member of the Gambia Army Forces as a Jungler during the 22 years of former president Yahya AJJ Jammeh regime.
However, Sanna Manjang in his recent speech on the Kabeefor Radio Bantabakacha said when he was in service as a soldier he has his duties and he respect his duties but today “people say Sanna Manjang did this and that but on the day of Judgment there must be judgment between him and people” who lied against him, of killings during his time as a Jungler.
Manjang continued that, he was based at Kanilai and before he was moved to Kanilai he did a Commando course at Fajara Barrack after which his team of Commandos was deployed to Kanilai, and that he knows Foni than Kombos. “Even my family I will take them to my village because it is closer to Kanilai than Kombo, I have my house in my village that’s why I settled down there with my family because I like nature and Kombo is overpopulated to me so this is why I was based in Kanilai,” he explained.
“People who don’t care about the sovereignty of this country are the ones we called heroes today, there are people who came to the TRRC who had launched an attack on the Gambia and shot people to death who were soldiers serving for the nation and standing for the safety people of the Gambia, just as what happened in Fass Njaga Choi the police who are protecting the country been attacked and shot until one Corporal Jammeh who was doing his job was injured,” he stressed.
Manjang questioned the kind of country that the Gambia is now, saying no other person can sacrifice their life for this country other than the citizens of the Gambia. “You think Senegalese will like to die because of Gambia, you think Nigerians will die because of Gambia and Ghanaians will not kill themselves because of Gambia,” he quarried.
He, therefore, called on Gambians to sacrifice themselves for the country and stop spreading hatred among themselves and take God above all in considering the country ahead of personal differences, as it is high time for Gambians to put aside politics and prioritize the interest of the country.
He continued that, people who killed soldiers at Farafenni Barrack and civilians at Kartong Barrack, sat at the TRRC to talk for people to laugh “is it that the people whose relatives were killed are not human beings, are they not Gambians,” Manjang questioned.
According to him, he is not a supernatural being and he cannot understand why whenever he makes a speech, Journalists and the Gambia Government misinterpret it, “I am calling on people to stop politicizing my statements.”