The
strategy and tactics of Edward’s testimony is rooted in the philosophy of
military training that he himself beautifully explained to the lead counsel.
That is, a soldier is trained to withstand any measure of pain and pressure!
Hence for Edward the TRRC hearing he underwent was torture or pressure that he
would endure so as not to be truthful or take responsibility.
At
the very beginning of his testimony Edward had an interesting exchange with
Essa Faal on the use and prevalence of torture within The Gambia National Army.
For Edward torture is a tool about which soldiers are trained to undergo. They
are trained to build resistance against torture in order to deflect torturers
or remain silent or refrain from taking responsibility or minimise pain under
captivity. This is why the tortures against Sana Sabally and others was only
perceived by him to be normal because they were soldiers. It is this mentality
that had characterized Edward’s three-day testimony.
But
Edward’s first tactic is to pick and choose words and information about an act
to use them to build his own narrative or premises only to knock down his own
premises with his own desired conclusion. For example, about taking Sana to
Mile 2, Edward raised the rhetorical question that that was a minor act and
therefore why would he refuse to take responsibility for a simple thing like
transporting an individual to Mile 2, therefore he never took Sana to Mile!
Period. All throughout his testimony one will find multiple places where Edward
uses the same tactic of trivialising an act by remodelling it to suit him and
then classify that act as either too stupid or foolish or minor for him to
carry it out.
Therefore,
we could notice how Edward carefully released selected information or created
some dumb speculation about people, events and acts that will favour him or
remove himself from responsibility. For example, he employed logic and
speculation such as why would he work with someone he did not know. Logically
no human being will do business, especially an illegal business with an unknown
person. With this logic Edward was able to deny ever working with Kanyi whom he
did not know to kill Koro much more be present at Yankuba’s house.
But
this is where Edward’s lies are also exposed because it was, he himself who
said that Alhagie Kanyi was part of the November 11 coupists. Yet how come
Kanyi was not arrested and killed like the rest but came to be on the killing
party on the side of the AFPRC? Rather Edward went further to speculate that it
was Kanyi who acted on his own to join the killing party. Unfortunately, Edward
was not asked why he did not arrest and kill Kanyi as a coupist?
While
he sought to make us believe that he was remorseful about the atrocities we
could see however how Edward employed the same logical argument to justify the
killings. For example, he said they had to kill the November 11 coupists
because any junta would have done the same so long as one faced threat from
fellow soldiers. But these so-called coupists where not killed during a fight
rather they were captured alive first and then slaughtered in cold blood! How
then can one justify that murder except if one is both a sociopath and a
psychopath like Edward, i.e. Edward neither feels guilt (sociopath) nor does he
care if when he knew what he did was wrong (psychopath)!
He
used the same immoral logic in the beating of UDP militants on the basis that
those militants protested in the first place. This further made his apology
nothing but a show to hide his criminality. He went further to employ more
logic that they were young officers with him being only 25 years. Therefore,
despite his series of apologies it is clear that Edward neither has regret or
remorse nor does he care about anyone or anything.
The
rest of his testimony employed this same logic backed by false equivalence and
speculation. For example, he arrested Sana and Sadibou based on weak
allegations but then justified that he cannot take chances in case something
else happened. Where Edward cannot utilize his logic, he feigned ignorance or
touted speculation with lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ and throwing back rhetorical
questions.
For
example, he asked rhetorically how he could be seen smoking when he does not
smoke. He said how could anyone see in the dark even though Yankuba’s house had
outside lighting. He also said Yankuba’s guards were sent to check on the beach
even though he gave no proof that Jammeh indeed did order that mission when he
was the Vice Chair and Minister of Defence! It is obvious that military house
guards are not the appropriate outfit to conduct patrol of that nature.
Apart
from logic, semantics and speculation Edward’s next big strategy is body
language. All throughout the testimony Edward maintained a particular sitting
posture and a countenance that was consistent and steady just to hide his
emotions! Where he cannot hide emotions, he personalized and misinterpreted the
words of the lead counsel by claiming to have been insulted or humiliated or
unfairly treated. It is these gimmicks that had won him popular sympathy on the
first two days against Essa Faal.
To
further dramatize this tactic he would turn to report the lead counsel to the
Chairman of the TRRC or release words that appeal to the sensibilities of The
Gambian populace. For example, he said he was not corrupt because his bank
account was in deficit with an incomplete building. But it’s common knowledge
that Edward did live a highly comfortable lifestyle beyond the salary of his
position until today! His most cunning tactic is when he would decide to
release certain vibes in Mandinka or Wolof. For example, at one point he turned
into Wolof by claiming that the lead counsel hated him or would decide to
apologies in Mandinka by exploiting to socio-cultural and religious soundbites.
While
he said he was not interested in power and wanted to go back to the barracks
even though staying in government for 13 consecutive years, Edward had to go
back to his old logic by stating that it was the people who begged Jammeh to
resign from the military to stand for president. For that matter he was also
approached by his colleagues to give support to Jammeh! The truth is Edward had
no interest to ever leave government and he was part and parcel of the scheme
to transform AFPRC into APRC of which he became the first Secretary General.
Therefore,
what Edward’s testimony demonstrates it that he was indeed the quintessential
man without conscience and character with incredible capacity to lie and dodge!
Edward has emerged out of the TRRC as a remorseless human being without courage
and honesty. He has insulted the nation in ways never heard before. History
shall record Edward Singhateh as the Gambia’s top prodigal son! It will
therefore be a tragedy of enormous proportions for the TRRC to fail to charge
him for perjury. His testimony is entirely false, and he must be held
accountable.
For
the Gambia Our Homeland
