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Six Years On; Who Killed Deyda Hydara?
Wednesday, 15 December 2010 13:53
By D. A. JawoThis is the sixth year since the unprovoked murder of Deyda Hydara, a prominent Gambian journalist, and yet, there is no indication that investigations are being carried out to determine who committed such a dastardly act, as if the Gambian authorities do not care. What we have seen instead is total disregard of the case and harassment of anyone who questions the government's passive stance; a good case in point being the imprisonment of six journalists in 2009 for merely criticising some disparaging remarks attributed to President Yahya Jammeh on the killing.
While there is as yet no tangible evidence as to who killed him, but it is certainly the responsibility of the Gambian authorities to mount a thorough investigation into the case in order to apprehend those responsible for this dastardly act. Any failure to do that would tantamount to shirking their responsibilities.
This is in addition to the unsavoury remarks attributed to President Jammeh when he was interviewed on the case by the Gambia Radio and Television Services in 2009 when he not only referred to those "stupid" web sites that are asking 'who killed Deyda Hydara' but even went to the extent of telling them to 'go and ask Deyda who killed him'.
However, what happened when the Gambia Press Union issued a response to the interview, pointing out to him some of the erroneous things in it, as well as express disappointment in some of his comments, is already history. Virtually the entire executive of the GPU and some other journalists were rounded up and subjected to the quickest and most unfair trials this country had ever witnessed, resulting in their conviction and harsh sentence to two years imprisonment and heavy fines.
While there is no evidence that the government has anything to do with Deyda's killing, but there is ample evidence that the Gambian authorities are always very edgy whenever the issue is mentioned. Whether this is as a result of their failure to do what everyone expects them to do or there is something else that prickles them whenever the case is mentioned, it is hard to say.
There is however enough evidence that the security forces have failed to investigate the case, and everyone expects the government to acknowledge that fact and invite more experienced investigators to help in getting to the bottom of the case. That certainly makes more sense than President Jammeh making excuses for his security forces for their dismal failure and obvious lack of will to investigate the case, as well as make such provocative statements about the killing and punishing anyone who makes a contrary comment.
Indeed, Deyda as a Gambian citizen deserved all the protection from the state like all other citizens, and one would therefore wonder why the authorities seem to not only show such apparent lack of interest in his case but it is also hard to see why they always seem to show some apparent discomfort as far as the case is concerned.
There have been several instances when the authorities have shown their discomfort with anything pertaining to the case. In the first instance, the GPU were almost prevented from marching in the streets of Banjul on the seventh day of his killing in order to protest against the killing and show their concern for the safety of journalists. Even when the march was finally allowed to go ahead, it was subjected to some conditionalities, which included the barring of other members of civil society joining in, and the number of heavily armed soldiers on the streets far out-numbered the number of journalists on the march.
We also saw how on the first anniversary of his killing when the GPU decided to visit the site where he was shot with their invited guests from the sub-region; they were prevented from reaching the site by a large contingent of heavily armed paramilitary police, and no amount of cajoling would make them bulge, as they were acting on "orders from above.".
At the same time, we have observed that whenever the authorities are invited to any occasion pertaining to the Deyda case, they would never respond, let alone attend. A good case in point had been the international forum organized on the first anniversary of his killing when the then Secretary of State for Information Neneh Macdoual Gaye was invited and she even promised to turn up as guest speaker, on to fail to do so at the very last minute. There has also been several other occasions, including the launching of the book, A Living Mirror: The Life of Deyda Hydara, to which again Neneh's successor Fatim Badjie was invited but failed to turn up or even assign anyone to represent her.
All the above episodes as well as the fact that the GRTS have been deliberately avoiding any coverage of such news worthy occasions, makes anyone wonder why the authorities do not want anything to do with the case.
Another interesting aspect of the authorities' reaction to the case had been their first and only "Confidential Report" that the Ministry of the Interior ever released on the case in April 2005. That report not only failed to come up with some possible leads as to who may have killed Dedya and why, but it was instead full of aspersions and innuendos about his reputation and way of life, virtually sifting the blame for his murder on his "wayward" character, portraying him as a womanizer and an irresponsible person who made many enemies for himself, all of which were far from the truth. Since after that report, there seems to be a complete silence on their part as far as the case is concerned.
It is therefore quite hard to comprehend why this apparent reluctance to investigate the case while we have seen them thoroughly investigate other similar cases, leading to the arrest and prosecution of those found culpable. This is despite the fact that the security agencies have in their possession some vital leads such as the bullets removed from his body and the autopsy report. However, the very fact that the authorities refused to even contemplate the GPU request for an independent investigator and even to this very day deny Deyda's family access to the autopsy report and the available leads like the bullets removed from his body, seems to indicate the authorities' edginess about anything dealing with the Deyda case.
This is an apparent indication that the security forces either do not have the capacity or the will to thoroughly investigate the case, which therefore vindicates the GPU request for external investigators. We have seen for instance British investigators being invited to help investigate certain crimes, the latest being the large haul of drugs recently uncovered in this country. We are convinced that if the same dedication had been shown on the Deyda case, it could have been resolved long ago.
However, while the Gambian authorities have woefully failed in their duties to investigate the killing of a bona fide Gambian citizen, Deyda's family, friends and colleagues are consoled by the overwhelming support and interest that the case continues to generate, both at home and abroad. We have seen that since it happened in 2004, Deyda has received so many international awards and accolades, the latest being the 'Hero of African Journalism Award' by The African Editors' Forum (TAEF) of which he was a founder member.
There is no doubt that those cowards who pulled the trigger as well as those who may have given the order, had never anticipated that their dastardly action would make a hero of him. They probably thought that by killing him, they were going to obliterate his memory from the people.
Indeed, this issue will never be allowed to fizzle out, and as long as there is no investigation of the case in order to apprehend and punish those responsible for this brutal murder, Gambians and the rest of humanity will continue to question the sincerity of the Gambian authorities to get to the truth. Therefore, those concerned should be rest assured that no matter how long it may take, this matter will be fully investigated and the identity of the culprits, wherever they may be, will one day be uncovered.
Therefore, rather than continuing to treat this case as a non-event, everyone expects the Gambian authorities to assume their responsibility of investigating who killed Deyda and why. That is what all decent Gambians and the international community expect of them, and nothing less.
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Comments
WHat is happening today would have been inconcievable if it were Pa that was kkilled and Deyda was in charge.
The bottom line is that pressure has to be intensified on the authorities in Banjul, the murdere Yahya Jammeh, to be precise, for justice to be done.
Gambia is not in arnachy, so the perpetrators must answer.
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