PRESS STATEMENT:
Missing Gambian journalist - Chief Ebrima B. Manneh |
The
Gambia Press Union (GPU) is concerned about the recent statement made by the
Inspector General of Police, Yankuba Sonko over the Chief Ebrima Manneh saga.
He
indicated in an interview with The
Standard newspaper that his organization had received information from
Interpol that the missing Gambian journalist, Chief Ebrima Manneh, is in the
United States of America.
The
Inspector General of Police however failed to state when exactly his
organization received information from Interpol about Chief Ebrima Manneh and
the exact date the missing journalist arrived in America.
While
we do not want to tell the State how to conduct its investigations into the
matter since we are not professional investigators, we feel it is important for
the State to leave no stone unturned in its bid to unearthing the truth about
the missing journalist so that the matter is laid to rest.
The
ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria, relied on evidence adduced
by two plaintiff witnesses to deliver its verdict in the case.
According
to one of the witnesses, a former staff reporter of the Daily Observer newspaper, Chief was arrested by State Security
agents at his place of work.
The
other witness testified that he saw Manneh in a Police Station in Fatoto in the
Upper River Region of the country. Given that the verdict of the Court has not
been overturned coupled with the fact the evidence of the witnesses remains
uncontroverted, then this leaves the Gambia Government with the options of
either complying with the judgment or engaging in a thorough investigation into
the matter.
It
is our fervent belief that the evidence of the two witnesses could serve as a
basis for beginning a progressive and conclusive investigation into the matter.
The
Gambia Government officials have been making conflicting statements over the
disappearance of Chief Manneh. Rather than engage in a speculative expedition,
it is important for the State to do its utmost with the sole objective of
locating Chief Manneh’s whereabouts.
When
the ECOWAS Court delivered judgment in the case, the then Honourable Minister
of Justice Attorney General, Marie Saine-Firdaus, told lawmakers in response to
a question posed to her by the former minority leader Honourable Momodou Sanneh
that Manneh is not in State custody and that the State did not know anything
about his whereabouts. This left people puzzling about the whereabouts of the
missing journalist. During a meeting with media chiefs on March 16 2011, the
Gambian leader said his “Government has nothing to do with the death of
Chief Manneh”.
Last
October, the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mr Edward Anthony
Gomez, indicated in an interview with The
Daily News newspaper that Manneh is alive, but he refused to disclose the
whereabouts of the missing journalist.
Following
this statement by the Attorney General, Sarjo Manneh, the father of the missing
journalist who broke into tears in a discussion with GPU members,
indicated that he wants to have an audience with the Justice Minister in order
to have information about the whereabouts of his son.
The
GPU in a letter to the then Justice Minister asked for an audience with him as
we sought to arrange a tripartite meeting involving the Attorney General, the
GPU executive members and the family of Chief Manneh. Up until the time he
ceased to be the Minister of Justice and Attorney, Mr Edward Gomez did not grant
our request.
The
State according to our Constitution is mandated to protect life and property.
Therefore, it is up to the State to protect every life and property within the
territorial jurisdiction of the country as it has creditably done recently in
apprehending suspected murderers and assailants.
We
are asking the Government to solicit support from its allies abroad if on its
own it cannot figure out solutions to this problem. We believe that Chief
Ebrima Manneh’s family who has been suffering since July 2006 need to know the
whereabouts of their loved one.
SOURCE: Gambia Press Union
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