Barrow: Faraba incident was the saddest day of my presidency

President Adama Barrow said the incident which occurred at Faraba last Monday June 18, 2018, and claimed the lives of three people was his saddest day since he became president.

Bakary Kujabi, Ismaila Bah and Amadou Jawo lost their lives during a clash with the personnel of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) while protesting over the presence of Julakay’s sand mining in their village.

Addressing the villagers at the village Bantaba after Friday prayers, Barrow expressed his regret and sadness over the unfortunate incident.

“No one can go beyond what Allah wills, but the day this incident happened was a very sad day for me, it was the saddest day since I became president,” he said. “That day anybody who knows me, anybody I work with since I became president knew I wasn’t myself.”

The president continued: “I attend Zuhr prayer at State House Mosque but I couldn’t attend it that day.”

“So you the people of Faraba, I want you to know that this is Faraba’s funeral, Kombo’s funeral and Gambia’s funeral.”

“I was chatting with the last person to die, Amadou Jawo. To think that he was going to die was unbelievable,” the president stated.

”So we are here to give our condolences, to all those who are here, to all those who are saddened, to all those who lost a relative.”

The Gambian leader went on to express how unfortunate the incident was, saying it was a sad day for The Gambia after fighting so hard to end such situations from occurring.

This incident, he said, saddens the entire country because the people of this country came together to end such things which have been happening for the past 22 years “and to witness such things reoccurring saddens the people of the country and the world as a whole.”

The president said they wanted to do things differently and to continue making a good name for the country.

“What we wanted was to continue with the peace we came with, calling it The Gambia, so that that New Gambia will be a sample in the world. We are having good name around the world because of the efforts we made, the fighting we did to end dictatorship and establish democracy.”

He therefore urged the people of Faraba and The Gambia at large to unite for a greater and better Gambia.

The president promised through the inquiry team he commissioned to investigate the matter thoroughly and quickly.

“The government will thoroughly investigate whatever happened here from the beginning to the end. We will look into it one by one.”

He implores the people of the village to come out and help on the investigation to have justice served.