By Yankuba Jallow
A woman in her nineties on Wednesday, 20th November 2019 told the TRRC that the Yahya Jammeh’s 2009 witch-hunting exercise robbed her of her life earning business.
Masireh Bojang was part of 62 residents of Jambur abducted by the witch-hunters in 2009.
She said she was selling roasted groundnut at a shop where a man came and held her hand forcing her to go with him. She said the man took her to a bus and took her to Kololi.
She said the man never told her why she was taken away.
“We were many, in fact, the bus was completely full. I was completely living in fear,” he said.
“In Kololi, they began taking us to a toilet where they were gave us concoction. They gave each of us concoction in milk tin and we forced to finish it. When I drank the medicine, I started feeling stomach pain,” she said.
She said those who couldn’t finish the concoction were beaten and forced to finish it up. She said she slept on the floor under a mango tree.
“The moment I drank the concoction, I began developing stomach pain and up to this moment I am suffering from the pain,” she said.
“I was rolling on the ground because of stomach pain,” she said.
She said she cannot remember being taken to bathe by any person in Kololi. She said they were released by the witch – hunters as a result of funeral news reaching them that a person has died in Jambur. She said all those abducted from Jambur were crying after hearing the news of the demise of a member of their community and this made the witch – hunters released them.
She said she is still suffering from body pain. She told TRRC that her business collapsed and she is battling with her health condition.
“Every part of my body pains me now,” she said.
She said she can no more sell and she can’t do anything by herself now.
“The concoction has really affected my life,” she said.
