Sheriff Muhammed Kijera made this statement following the discussion that took place between the Gambia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations under Jammeh, Samsudeen Sarr, and President Adama Barrow on Monday.
It was revealed that during the discussion, the issue of reconciliation with Jammeh had been discussed. However, it’s not clear to The Point the outcome of their discussion.
“Jammeh is as a citizen of this country, he has every right to return to this country as Gambian, but he does not have the right to return as a free citizen because he has questions to answer with regard to the alleged Human Rights Violations perpetrated on Gambians,” he said.
He added that with the testimonies coming from the TRRC, Yahya Jammeh is seriously implicated by the testimonies revealed by the junglers and other perpetrators.
“Yahya Jammeh does not deserve to be treated as a statesman because of his track record; what he has left behind in The Gambia, leaving so many widows behind, leaving so many innocent children fatherless, destroyed so many homes and left a very weak and fragile economy for the Gambian populace,” he continued.
“Adama Barrow is a very terrible disappointment as far as moral consciousness is concerned. He let down every Gambian, because in the first place, he shouldn’t have granted an audience with Samsudeen Sarr after everything he said about Barrow’s own government and the people of The Gambia,” he added.
“Samsudeen Sarr did everything possible at the level of the UN when he was serving as Gambia’s permanent representative to delegitimize the coalition government of Adama Barrow. He made several audio recordings rubbishing the efforts of the TRRC and the efforts of the Ministry of Justice as well as the efforts of the government of The Gambia in trying to forge ahead with establishment of the transitional justice programme,” he pointed out.
According to Kijera, “Samsudeen Sarr himself is an enabler of Yahya Jammeh, he is a perpetrator, he has been adversely mentioned at the TRRC, therefore; he does not deserve the respect and the audience at the level of the presidency at the State House.”
When asked for his opinion about the ideal venue for a Jammeh trial, Kijera said for security reasons, Jammeh should be tried outside because there are victims who are so hurt and will do anything to revenge which is not safe for him. “Therefore, the ideal country he’ll recommend is Ghana.
