Letter to President Jammeh

PK Jarju

Mr President, on December 16 this year, Gambian and international media organisations will commemorate third anniversary marking the brutal murder of Deyda Hydara, founder and Managing Editor, The Point Newspaper of Gambia.

Three years is not three days and the pain his family is going through is hard-felt by many of us. The fact that up to this day and time no one is arrested for this heinous crime continues to shock the all sound-minded Gambians and the human family at large.

Deyda was a perfect gentleman and good people cannot imagine what crime this generous and loving father and colleague must have committed to prompt his callous killers in such barbaric and brutal murder. Deyda was never a criminal.

He was a journalist, a fully trained one for that matter. His family, colleagues, and friends don’t deserve having him snatched away by the cold hands of death through the hot barrels of trigger-happy bandits operating in the name of state security.

As we count three years since this callous conduct by jealous and irresponsible cowards, lot of questions still beg for genuine responses. You and your government cannot still answer the simple question, “ Who Killed Deyda Hydara?”, a blame hanging over your neck for two years now. Only you and your operatives know the answers and now you keep the whole world waiting far too long since the chilling death of this dear member of a good family, colleagues, and circle of friends.

You told Neneh MacDoul-Gaye (former reporter and now Minister of Information) during one of your interviews over national TV that you and your government were not responsible for Deyda’s murder. In an un-diplomatic tone, the least expected of a President, you bluntly said that you don’t believe in killing people. You rather prefer locking up decent Gambian citizens in stinking Mile Two Prisons referred by uncaring self as Five Star Hotel in mockery of colleagues betrayed by you and now locked up in that dreaded jail, to be feasted on by mosquitoes and bugs.

Following the killing of Deyda, Gambia Police Forces under your manipulation faked an investigation later taken over by the National Intelligence (NIA). That report was directly submitted to you. You refused every call by concerned Gambians and international media organisations to let other professional investigating bodies like the Scotland Yard to carry the investigations. Scotland Yard on many occasions investigated murder cases involving British nationals in Gambia.

After months of silence, your NIA released a so-called “well-investigated”’ dossier to the public that represented an insult to Mr Hydara and his family. It remains an insult because instead of naming and shaming the killers, the report produced an ugly picture of defamation on late Deyda’s private life in a context never part of the reasons why the report was commissioned.

Mr President, we all know how well-organised professionals in a premeditated operation murdered Mr Hydara. It is a fact that Mr Hydara was under NIA surveillance few minutes before he was gunned down along Sankung Sillah Factory Road in Kanifing. Only fools of the lowest mindset will believe that the NIA did not have a hand in it.

If they were not involved, then let them explain how a man under their surveillance was gunned down without them knowing. Were they asleep at the time? The NIA remains prime suspect in this case. Therefore information from their preconceived investigation is open to critical scrutiny and remains doubtful. For them to carry a proper investigation in a case where they stand principal suspects is a mockery to intelligence and total failure of justice. The report by itself prompts more questions to be answered by you and them.

Mr President your hatred for the private media is no secret. Mr Hydara’s continuous criticisms of your undemocratic and brutal regime in his editorials as well as in his column- Good Morning Mr President were thorn in your government’s thick flesh. That was more the reason why you asked Pap Saine- a soft man whose life was torn apart since Mr Hydara’s death- to stop the column few months after Mr Hydara’s cold-blooded murder.

Mr President, Gambian journalists have known nothing but harassment, intimidation and arson attacks since you came to power. It is a shame that while other governments in the sub-region are busy enhancing the work of the private media now regarded as the fourth estate, you and yours are busy making life difficult for private media. There is collective opinion that Deyda Hydara’s murder was conceived to send a clear message for other journalists that their criticisms of your dictatorial regime will not be tolerated by you. For a while that tactic worked.

Take for example, The Independent, which was trying to make your government accountable, is shut down and its publishers repeatedly arrested and threatened with death. Some of the staff fled the country.

The Point after Deyda Hydara’s murder has gone so soft. As a safety cushion for survival the current management fears to throw punches at you and your government. The Daily Observer once a well respected paper has now been transformed into a wrapping paper. To be more diplomatic, it is now a talking drum used to propagate your deceptive messages.

You and your government now make life so difficult for the private media. Countless Gambian journalists today including my humble self are left with no choice but to go into self-exile, living behind our sweet homes and loved ones. Have you ever imagined how it is to leave our sweet homes behind, hard as that may? The pain is unimaginable, but has to be endured. Our duty as journalists demands it and we shall not let ourselves be cowed. Our rights can never be trampled.

Mr President, after taking over the reigns of power through the illegal coup of July 1994, you called on journalists to criticise when you are wrong. That is now a thing of the past. You hate criticism so much so that you openly accused African journalists as the continent's undesirable elements. Worst of all, you told religious leaders in State House not to buy newspapers as a means of keeping private publications out of the market.

Back to the murder of Deyda Hydara, Mr President you knew very well that ordinary Gambians including the police (not the Intervention Unit) do not carry fire arms. Knowing the type of person you are, the NIA under your command would have left no stone unturned in arresting Deyda's murderers if they were not involved. This would have given a Blue Peter badge to you and your government after all the criticisms you have received both at home and abroad.

Today Mr President you and your government want Gambians to forget that such an illustrious son of the country ever lived. As typical of murderers, anyone who mentions Deyda's name is branded an opposition or enemy of you and the criminal regime you presided over.

Take for instance, the police refused at first to issue a permit to the Gambia Press Union to hold a demonstration in Banjul one week after Deyda's murder. Even the though the permit was reluctantly issued at the last minute after the Press Union refused to back down. Despite this the march was disrupted by NIA at Arch 22 the entrance to Banjul. Again last year, armed police together with NIA officers disrupted a march pass by the Press Union. Members of the union were prevented from laying a wreath at the place where Deyda was murdered.
Your government also denied visas to delegates of international media organisations that wanted to grace the occasion.

A sober reflection of what transpired since then Mr President, draws deeper into the ring of suspicion that your government must have had a hand in this senseless killing of Deyda Hydara. Anyone who dares raise this issue on Gambian soil would have been in NIA custody by the publication of this article. Such could have been my fate. That fear will never let us forget Deyda, our able mentor and pacesetter whose blood is now stained on the hands of you and your blood thirsty killer boys.

You lot must also remember that no matter how long it takes, you shall pay for taking the life of such a gentleman whose only crime was tying to keep you accountable to civilised Gambian electorates you now fail to serve. It is time to confess if you still call yourselves men, before it is too late.

Mr President, you must also remember that the Gambian independent media is here to stay. The ink of our pens shall never dry, neither will our computer keyboards get stuck. We will never be cowed. Our instruments of information shall always be mightier than your sword and idol worshipping counting beads.
Have a good day Mr President.
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