Yahaya Jammeh alliance returning to power in Gambia
Yahaya Jammeh alliance returning to power in Gambia
In the recent turn of events, ousted former Gambia President, Yahaya Jammeh may be gaining his lost grounds following his current alliance with incumbent President, Adama Barrow.
In his bid to win re-election come December, Barrow has struck alliance with Jammeh power block, an alliance which opposition sees as a ploy to shield Jammeh from prosecution.
Already, there is a peace and reconciliation committee whose responsibility is to reconcile various people who felt aggrieved with Jammeh’s government. Although the report of the committee is not yet in the open, there are expectations that a recommendation for punishment of Jammeh for alleged murder of opposition elements would be contained in the report.
However, the head of Gambia’s reconciliation commission has expressed disappointment at the political alliance between the parties of President Adama Barrow and former long-serving leader Yahya Jammeh
The Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) was established after Mr Jammeh fled the country in 2017 following his election defeat
Testimony has revealed that the former president oversaw murders, torture, targeting of opponents and sexual assault among other crimes during his two-decade long rule.
The TRRC is expected to hand its recommendations over to President Barrow soon, but its Executive Secretary, Baba Galleh Jallow, told BBC Focus on Africa that some will be hard to implement because of the new alliance.
Particularly any proposed prosecution of Mr Jammeh as one of those that would be hard to achieve.
“This is not the right thing for Adama Barrow to have done… I think some of the recommendations will have to suffer,” he said.
Mr Jallow said the commission “can’t applaud” the move adding that the victims of human rights abuses during Mr Jammeh’s rule were “very very disappointed”.
The commission is concerned that Mr Jammeh’s party may have included immunity or pardon in its conditions for a deal