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Mr President: Where is Chief Manneh?
Thursday, 07 July 2011 22:22
Dear Mr President, Sheikh, Professor, Doctor Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, today, July 7 2011 marks the
fifth anniversary of the disappearance of my friend and former colleague, Chief Ebrima Manneh. And as we mark his continuous disappearance, your government cannot still give us a satisfactorily explanation about his whereabouts. For years now, we have asked you only one simple question: “Where is Chief Manneh?” but it is taking you eternity to give us an answer.
Mr President, Chief Manneh and I both worked for the Daily Observer. He was friendly and hardworking man with a great sense of humor, which captivated everyone who had the privilege of meeting him.
Chief Manneh was a perfect gentleman, who could not even hurt a fly let alone someone. He was the breadwinner in his family. He was kind, honest, respectful and peaceful loving gentleman, who was planning to marry and start a family. It is therefore very hard to understand what evil crime he must have committed to warrant his arrest and disappearance from the surface of the earth.
Mr President, on July 7, 2006, Chief Manneh was in the newsroom of the Daily Observer, working on the next issue of the paper, when two NIA officers visited the newspaper and asked him to go with them to the Bakau Police Station for questioning.
According to Mr Manneh’s colleagues who were with him at the time, he left the newspaper premises with the two NIA officers one of whom is identified as Corporal Sey. Since then, nothing has been heard from him.
Although no explanation was given by the two NIA officers for his arrest, it is believed that it was in connection with a BBC story he culled from the internet about the AU summit in Banjul http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5127830.stm.
The story which was never republished in the Observer is not critical of you or your government but it was said to have upset Saja Taal, managing director of the Daily Observer at the time, who promised to teach Chief Manneh a lesson.
Mr Taal himself has been quoted many times of admitting to have reported Chief Manneh to Momodou Sanyang, board chairman of the Daily Observer when he saw the BBC story Chief Manneh wanted to republish in the Observer.
Reports added that, you went completely bananas when the matter was later reported to you by Momodou Sanyang, who is one of your trusted advisers. It is said that you personally ordered the NIA, which directly reports to you, to arrest and discipline Chief Manneh.
Mr President, for two years, your government refused to investigate or comment on the arrest and disappearance of Mr Manneh despite his numerous sightings at various police stations and detention centres across the country.
It was said that within the first four weeks of his arrest by the two NIA officers, Chief Manneh was moved from the Bakau Police Station to the NIA headquarters in Banjul, to Mile Two Central Prison, and then back to the NIA. By September 2006, he was said to have been transferred to Sibanor only to be transferred to Fatoto Police Station.
In mid-December 2006, Yaya Dampha, a reporter with Foroyaa Newspaper, saw Chief Manneh briefly in Fatoto Prison. After Foroyaa reported the sighting, Chief Manneh was said to have been moved yet again, back to Mile Two, then to Sare Ngai Police Station.
Chief Manneh was also sighted in July 2007 at Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, where he was being treated for suspected high blood pressure.
In 2008, a former NIA detainee told local journalists that he saw Chief Manneh at the NIA centre near the Jammeh Foundation for Peace Hospital in Bundungka Kunda.
Mr President, as a parent, you will understand the frustrations and hardships that Chief Manneh’s parents and family are going through. They last saw their son in the morning of July 7, 2006 without saying goodbye to him.
In 2009, Chief Manneh’s father, Sarjo Manneh told local reporters that during his search for his son, he had visited the Daily Observer newspaper, but was told by Saja Taal to go to the NIA headquarters as the Observer was not the right place to search for his son.
Mr Manneh, who is in his 80s, further added he had met with the then director general of the NIA, Harry Sambou and Ousman Sonko, secretary of state for the Interior, but was told that your government was not holding his son. Mr Manneh has since lost hope that his son will ever return home alive.
After several failed efforts by the Gambia Press Union, the media establishments and family members to trace Chief Manneh’s whereabouts, the Media Foundation for West Africa eventually took up the matter for his release before the Ecowas Court.
Following a year-long protracted court case in which your government was served many notices and five security officials subpoenaed to appear before the courts, Chief Manneh continued to languish in detention without any attempt by your government to conduct any investigation or appear before the Ecowas Court to clear any doubts.
In an apparent rage, you were quoted saying in the Freedom Newspaper that the Ecowas Court should go to hell.
The Ecowas had to rely on uncontroverted testimonies given by witnesses, in its landmark judgment in which it maintained that Chief Ebrima Manneh was indeed arrested by NIA officers and must be unconditionally released. The court also awarded him compensation amounting to US$100,000.
Mr President, your government remained mute over the matter until March 2009, almost two years after his disappearance and a ten-month silence following the Ecowas Court verdict to make public mention of your stance on the issue of Chief Ebrima Manneh’s disappearance.
Your former Justice Minister, Marie Saine Firdaus, declared that your government did not have Chief Manneh in your custody and that “the State can only release a person from custody, if he or she is in fact in the custody of the state.”
However, a month later, a senior police source told AFP that Chief Manneh has been killed. The officer whose identity was not disclosed said he last saw Chief Manneh at the Mile Two Prison sometime in 2008 when he was taken away by a plain clothed officer in the middle of the night.
"That was the last day I set my eyes on him and to the best of my knowledge, Chief Manneh is not alive," he told AFP.
Mr President, the continuous disappearance of Chief Manneh is a cause for concern and your government’s remarks that he was never arrested and detained cannot be taken seriously. This is because so many people were present at the time of his arrest. So many Gambians have also seen him at the various places he was detained.
Mr President, we are not at war with you in our clamour for Chief Manneh’s release. Chief Manneh was never a threat to your regime and releasing him now will not in any way weaken your government.
Manneh’s father is crying himself to sleep every day. Have pity on him in the name of the Lord you serve. Pity him.
Written by PK Jarju Birmingham, UK
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