Lawyer Salieu Taal, who was speaking at the opening of the Legal Year in Banjul on Sunday, said the power to implement the TRRC recommendations is vested in the President as the head of the executive through the White Paper.
“As a Bar, we strongly advise the government to ensure that those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious human rights violations and abuses during the 22 years of the previous regime are held accountable and prosecuted preferably, in The Gambia,” he said.
He reminded Mr. Barrow that the TRRC had uncovered the truth and now the next step is to ensure that justice is achieved for the victims and the entire Gambian population.
He stated that the implementation of the TRRC recommendations will finally close the chapter on the era of impunity. He said it is our collective duty to ensure that ‘NEVER AGAIN’ is not merely a slogan but a reality in a new Gambia.
Taal took time to call on Gambia Government to overhaul the draconian and undemocratic laws conceived, designed and used to perpetuate dictatorship in the country.
“It is disheartening to say the least that we still have the same constitution that was amended more than 50 times and the same draconian laws used to persecute the citizenry under a brutal dictatorship. As a rule of law institution, the Bar is calling for the expeditious introduction of a new constitution and the repeal of all the repugnant/undemocratic laws that don’t conform to international human rights norms and values as democracy,” he said.
