Families seek Justice for 44 Ghanaian residents killed in Gambia, threatens to take case to ECOWAS Court

The families of the survivors have expressed total disappointment in the NPP and NDC who have deep knowledge of the facts and circumstances of the matter.

Families seek Justice for 44 Ghanaian residents killed in Gambia, threatens to take case to ECOWAS Court
Families seek Justice for 44 Ghanaian residents killed in Gambia

The Executive Director of Africa Center for International Law and Accountability who double as coordinator for Jammeh2Justice, Mr William Nyarko has made passionate appealed to President Akuffo Addo to use State power to fight for justice for 44 Ghanaian victims and survivors who were massacred in Gambia.

At a press conference organized at the Royal Lamerta Hotel in Kumasi to share some worrying developments on the quest of justice for those who suffered atrocities from Yahaya Jammeh and his cohorts,  the delay in getting justice for the vulnerable groups whose only crime committed was just because they were migrants is a denial of justice.

Recalled in July 2005, some 44 Ghanaian residents in Gambia were killed by soldiers who were part of the junglers, a paramilitary force that took a direct order from Yahaya Jammeh, former president of the Gambia.

According to him, after the incident, several attempts were made to seek justice and compensate the victims’ families and survivors but all efforts proved futile. Mr William Nyarko has therefore made a passionate appeal to the presidential candidates to take key consideration about the situation and use state authority to fight for the victims’ families and survivors when elected as president.

“The incident happened in 2005 and the leading presidential candidate, Nana Addo was the foreign minister then. Former president Kufuor sent him to investigate in the matter barely two weeks after. In fact, he had first-hand knowledge of this matter. This is not new to him because he is the first Ghanaian official who was aware of what the Gambian State officials did.

"We understood that as a foreign minister he served at the pleasure of the president then, but failing to take any action as the president of Ghana is very unfortunate.

“We are reminding Nana Addo that if he wins in the upcoming elections, he should please take this matter seriously,” he added.

Mr William Nyarko disclosed that after the late former president John Evans Atta Mills took over from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in 2008, monies given by the Gambian government to compensate families of the victims in organizing funerals were not handed out to them and since, they have no clue of where the benefit is.

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“During the time of the late former President Mills, the case was brought alive and the UN and ECOWAS after their investigation entered a memorandum of understanding with both countries and victims families. The Gambians gave the victims’ families $500,000 for funerals but the truth is, the monies never got to us under the NDC. As a matter of fact, only eight bodies out of 44 were brought down and the families were not allowed to see the bodies.

“Imagine, the people were killed in 2005 and the bodies were brought in 2009 without any DNA. How do you expect families to believe when no study was made as to whether they were the victims or not,” he asked.

One of the survivors, Mr Martin Kyere on behalf of the team expressed worry about how two presidential candidates, which includes President Akuffo Addo and John Dramani Mahama who have details about the situation when both were in government haven't pay any attention to their situation.

He also called on the 12 presidential candidates to commit to ensuring justice and compensation for the victims' families and survivors and look into the matter when voted to power.

“We are deeply saddened that various administration of the NPP and NDC have not done much to ensure justice and compensation for us over the years despite several high ranking officials of the two parties having deep knowledge of the facts and circumstances of the matter,” he said.

He cautioned that if “we do not see justice soon from Gambia and Ghana, we will be forced to take the case to the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice.”