If
only disappeared Gambian journalist “Chief” Ebrima B. Manneh is still alive
then he may have the chance to tell the world his tale of woe.
But
with elaborate and stumped comments over his whereabouts ever since his
disappearance on July 7, 2006, it is now feared that the young lad has a slim
chance of telling the story about all the horrible things he must have been
through seven years on.
The
most widely held belief is that he was whisked away from his work place, the Daily Observer newspaper
in Bakau by State security agents in mufti (ordinary clothes) – allegations The
Gambia Government denies in local and international platforms.
Death
or alive have been the subject of debate among top government officials who
have to deal with the continuing pressure on the quest to establish the fate of
the missing journalist.
The
most recent came from the country’s current top cop, the Inspector General of
Police Mr. Yankuba Sonko who told The Standard Newspaper
last year that Chief
Manneh “was seen in the United States of America.”
“As
far as we are concerned, the latest information we received from Interpol is
that he was seen in America, and that is it,” Sonko was quoted as saying.
Prompting
an immediate reaction from the Manneh family, whose father, Mr. Sarjo Fofana
told JollofNews: “My son cannot be in
U.S. He was arrested by state security personnel, and that happened in broad
daylight at his workplace.”
The
80-year-old was also quoted by The Point to
have said: “What I would like to make clear is that my son Chief Manneh is not
in the United States. Our belief is that he is in state custody.”
In
March 2011, the Gambian leader, President Yahya Jammeh told media chiefs in an “impromptu” meeting that his government does not have a
hand in “Manneh’s death”, a
comment countered by the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) asking the president to
clarify comment.
Late
2011, Gambia’s Justice Minister at the time, Mr. Edward Gomez told The Daily
News that Chief Manneh is “alive” and “somewhere”, but failed to provide
proofs and fall short of bowing to widespread international
demands for him to do so.
In
April 2009, then Gambia’s Minister of Justice Marie Saine-Firdaus told the
National Assembly during a Question and Answer session that the Gambia
Government was aggrieved by the decision of the ECOWAS Court, and has since set
the political process in motion to take the matter to the next level and get
the decision set aside.
Her
comments followed the most drastic of efforts to unveil Chief’s whereabouts,
when West Africa’s leading press and free expression watchdog, the Media
Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) filed and won a lawsuit against the
Government of The Gambia at the Community Court of Justice of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria.
The court ordered that Chief Manneh be released immediately, and be paid US$100,000 in compensation by the Gambia Government in 2008, a ruling yet to be adhered to.
In
April 2009, a French news agency, AFP, quoted an unnamed police source citing
that Chief Ebrima Manneh might have
died while in prison.
His
whereabouts remains one of grave mysteries surrounding press freedom and the
safety and security of Gambian journalists after the earlier killing of veteran
journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004.
Having
continuously exhorted Gambia Government to properly investigate Chief’s case,
in 2012, the Gambia Press Union urged the governments of the United States of
America and The Gambia and the United Nations to join forces to unearth the
truth about Chief’s whereabouts.
In
a July 8, 2012 statement, the local journalists’ body also urged the
International Police Organisation, Interpol to clarify if indeed Chief Manneh
did arrive in the U.S. and to provide details of his whereabouts.
“Members
of the Manneh family have over the past seven years endured pain and
frustration, they need to know the whereabouts of their loved one,” the GPU
said.
With
all the contradicting comments coming out and the continuous local and
international push to unveil Chief Manneh’s fate, some multimillion Dollar
question must be answered first:
“Will
Interpol as a respectable international organisation has knowledge about
Chief’s whereabouts and tried to cover up?
“Will
Chief himself sit somewhere in America as alleged and keep mute when his family
are really suffering in agony?
“Will
the police chief and former justice minister really misinform Gambians and the
World about Chief Manneh being in America?”
However,
just as the search continues – one can only hope that if it comes to an end –
Chief will tell the world his tale of woe (the story about all the horrible
things that have happened to him) since his disappearance into thin air on July
7, 2006.
A VERSION OF THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED HERE ON FPI on July 9
Written by Modou S. Joof
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