The
first patients to undergo former President Yahya Jammeh’s HIV and AIDS
treatment programme in 2007 have confessed that the treatment was “not
effective” and “a lot of people died” in the process.
The
patients made this confession to the technical committee on the proposed Truth,
Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) which is on a nationwide
consultative and sensitisation tour.
The
committee, led by the Minister of Justice Abubacarr Tambedou, held a meeting in
Serekunda West yesterday.
Lamin
Ceesay, a HIV patient, said he was the first person go public about his status
that he was HIV positive and he started
to receive treatment with the help of one NGO for years.
“But
in 2007 when the former president said that he could cure AIDS, I was among
those selected to undergo the treatment,” he said. Lamin and his wife were both HIV positive and
were enrolled in Jammeh’s treatment programme.
“The
treatment was fake; my wife died in the process of the treatment because the
medicine they were giving us was not for the human system. The medicines even caused us to be infected
with other diseases,” he said.
Lamin
urged the TRRC, when functional, to look into Jammeh’s HIV and AIDS treatment
as he was assisted by qualified medical practitioners who ought to know that
“the president’s medicine was fake”.
Jainaba
Samateh, another HIV patient, said she has been living with HIV and AIDS for 23
years now and she is not ashamed of her status because she lives “a dignified
life like any other Gambian”.
She
said that in January 2007, she was enlisted in Jammeh’s HIV treatment. When the treatment started, Jammeh promised
not to take them public but as it progresses, they were eventually shown on the
national television, GRTS, and that brought a lot of stigma to their families.
“The
Gambian people should know that the treatment was not effective and has cost so
many lives,” she asserted.
Meanwhile
at the Serekunda West meeting, the representative of young people said it was
imperative that the composition of the commission includes a youth
representative.
Andrew
Gibba of Kanifing Municipal Youth Parliament said the government should look at
security personnel that Jammeh was using to do all his dirty works for “they
should be brought forward to testify”.
Abubacarr
Tambedou, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said the concerns raised
were noted and would be considered.
He,
however, clarified that the commission is not to prosecute anybody but “to file
a report to be in the history book of The Gambia for the future generation to
know and avoid dictatorship”.
