Accra, Ghana, May 22, 2019//-The families of the 44 Ghanaians who were killed in The Gambia and the lone survivor, Martin Kyere, have lamented at the slow pace of work towards the extradition and prosecution of Yahya Jammeh, the former Gambian President, in Ghana.
According to them, 14 years into the gruesome killing of the 44 Ghanaians, present and successive governments have shown little effort at bringing Mr Jammeh who is in exile in the Equatorial Guinea.
Mr Kyere and families, who spoke at press conference on the murder and enforced disappearance of the 44 Ghanaians in The Gambia, were not happy at the way the Ghanaian government was handling the case.
“Since the incident, we have been struggling to take care of the families left behind by the 44 murdered Ghanaians”, they told journalists in Accra.
Speaking at the press conference organised by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Civil Society Coalition on the Jammeh4Justice campaign in Ghana, a former Ghanaian judge, Justice Emily Short called on Ghanaians to put pressure on the government to act on the matter.
“We will continue to advocate until justice is served. We are therefore hoping that the government of Ghana will use all legal measures to ensure that Yahya Jammeh is tried for the murder of the 44 Ghanaians”.
To this end, Justice Short urged the Ghanaian government to initiate and expedite the extradition action to ensure that justice was served to bring finality to the incident.
“Steps should be taken immediately by the government to bring Yahya Jammeh to Ghana for trial over the murder”.
On his part, the Coordinator of the Jammeh4Justice Ghana Campaign and Executive Director of Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), William Nyarko noted that the political and security environment in Gambia was not right to bring Yahya Jammeh for trial in that country.
He added: “There is also a legal challenge, even though we are calling for the trial, the Gambia’s legal systems have been paralysed”.
Furthermore, the former Gambian President is protected by impunity. So, Ghana is the right place for the trial of Mr Jammeh, Mr Nyarko argued.
A Programme Officer of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Muheeb Saeed, said they “work to promote press freedom. We also work to promote good and accountable governance” in the sub-region.
This is why we are urging the Ghanaian government to bring Yahya Jammeh to Ghana for justice, he said.
Setting the preamble for the conference, the Deputy Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Dr Franklin Oduro noted that in pursuit of justice for the 44 Ghanaians who were killed in the Gambia in 2005.
“This press conference comes one year after the CSO Coalition launched a campaign for justice for victims of the 2005 massacre and enforced disappearance.
Following the launch of the campaign on May 16, 2018, Government responded by saying, among other things, that it is studying the request by the victims’ families and the CSO Coalition to investigate and bring those who bear the greatest responsibility for the massacre and enforced disappearance of the 44 Ghanaians to justice”.
The CSO Coalition, whose members include CDD-Ghana, MFWA, ACILA), Amnesty International, Human Rights Advocacy Center (HRAC), POS Foundation, and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Dr Oduro added would assess efforts which have been made to seek justice for the victims, examine areas of progress and the challenges undermining the pursuit of justice for victims of the massacre and enforced disappearance.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
