By Makutu Manneh
The Executive Secretary of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow has told Foroyaa that their interim report will be submitted in late December 2019 or in January 2020.
The TRRC was established by an Act of the National Assembly to investigate past human rights violations under the 22 – year repressive rule of Yahya Jammeh.
The Commission was inaugurated on the 15th October 2018. The Act provides under Section 14 subsection 4 that the Commission shall after one year of its establishment, submit an interim report to the President detailing its activities.
Dr. Jallow said they are working on the Report and it might be submitted either in December 2019 or January 2020.
The Commission has a two-year mandate to investigate human rights violations by the AFPRC and the APRC regimes. Over a hundred witnesses have appeared before the TRRC including perpetrators and victims. Three members of the defunct AFPRC government in the persons of Sanna B. Sabally, Yankuba Touray and Edward Singhatey have all appeared before the Commission. Both Singhatey and Sabally have admitted responsibility for several violations including torture and killing of several people. Touray is under the custody of the State facing a single count of murder of Ousman Koro Ceesay, a former Minister of Finance under their government.
Under the former regime, several people have been tortured and others were killed while others disappeared without a trace.
The TRRC at the end of its mandate will come up with its recommendations to the government to ensure The Gambia won’t have a replica of these abuses again – thus “the Never Again” slogan.
