By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-in-Chief

It was twelve years ago that these rogues clandestinely orchestrated the most gruesome murder in Gambian history of Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay. At extreme left is Edward David Singhateh who at the time of the young Minister's death was Vice Chairman of the nefarious Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) the junta that deposed the PPP government of Sir Dawda K. Jawara, promised to fix corruption and step aside for a more pluralistic Gambia. Next to him is Peter David Singhateh, a biological brother whom he went to The Gambia High School with and enrolled in The Gambia National Army together. The two Singhatehs are a melanche of Gambian and Irish stock. Together, they orchestrate the most sinister executions and in the streets of Banjul they smile and make frequent stops to offer free rides to poor school children. Beneath the facade' of their random acts of kindness is a dark cloud that represents the darkest chapter of military rule in the mini-West African nation. When Vice Chairman Sana B. Sabally and Interior Minister & Spokesperson, Captain Saidibou Haidara were lured at President Jammeh’s office and arrested by Khalifa Bajinka and colleagues, the Gambian Daily Observer captioned a lead: The Mighty Are Fallen and editorialized a piece captioned “Good Riddance”. The Observer with great expectations told Gambians that with Edward Singhateh as the Vice Chairman and Minister of Defence, the country was headed for the better. Its acerbic and famous columnist, Adama on the Private Eye predicted an “end to scary Fridays.” The Foroyaa Newspaper in a headline captioned “The Power Dynamos of The AFPRC” took a more scholastic analysis of the political situation. Today, a decade or so later, the prediction that Edward Singhateh was a wise man who would take us out of our predicament has fatally crashed. If anything, Singhateh is as evil as evil is. Edward Singhateh is your typical green snake in green grass. He is a pathological executioner with a false image that most Gambians mistake for kindness, discipline and or patriotism.

Next in line is the bespectacled Yankuba Kabineh Touray in whose house we now know, Koro Ceesay was beaten with a baseball baton, pummeled and brutally executed before his body was thrown in his ministerial Mercedes Benz for the woods of Farato where it was set ablaze beyond recognition. At extreme right is Yahya Jammeh, the great mastermind of all the extra-judicial killings of Gambians. Together, I call them quadruplets of evil, pathological executioners whose only immunity is rank. That the Singhateh brothers in concert with Yahya Jammeh and Yankuba Touray killed Koro Ceesay is no news to me; it is however, the added new information in Lt. Colonel Samsudeen Sarr’s arresting book that merits greater exposure of this rogue regime. In fact, while they were “barbequing” Koro’s body, to paraphrase Professor Wole Soyinka, Peter Singhateh’s hands caught the flames and for a month he was recovering from the burns. The very Friday night they killed Koro, Peter and Edward were invited at a house party at Lancaster Place but when they got there, Peter was in great pain while Edward was so drunk that they had to leave. Those of us who have been following this regime from July 22, 1994 know that its erstwhile Spokesperson Captain Ebou Jallow was the first to defect and expose the Singhateh brothers. Then Singhateh as Vice Chairman and Defence Minister went to great lengths with journalist Saptieu Jobe to demonize Jallow. In a pathetic headline, Up-Front, the junta’s magazine edited by Ms. Jobe, characterized Jallow as Gambia’s Judas and wallowed into alleged extra-marital affairs of the defecting Captain’s parents. However, since Jallow’s high profile defection much has changed in The Gambia; the only thing that hasn’t change so far is change itself.

In the last months or so we have asked the question: “Who killed Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay? And added, “The soldiers know and we too want to know.”  Several people had responded to this question and some readers even suggested that I should ask Sana Sabally. Unfortunately, that fateful Friday night in June 1995 that Koro Ceesay was murdered, Sana Sabally was at Mile II Prisons (six moths then) contemplating his own fate. As a journalist and more significantly, as a Gambian, I believe it is tragic anachronism, (advertent or otherwise), to suggest that Sana Sabally murdered Koro Ceesay. It is not even fair to Koro’s memory to conceal the identity of his killers: Yahya Jammeh, Edward Singhateh, Peter Singhateh and Yankuba Touray.

Before Koro Ceesay, Edward Singhateh was on the rampage if you remember the case of Dr. Njie who was attacked by Singhateh at the Denton Bridge. With a machete, Njie’s body was sliced like watermelons and left to die on the high way. The following morning, he was rushed to the UK for treatment. To date, that incident remains taboo in Gambian discourse. Those who know Singhateh would tell you that he was very angry as a student blaming every successful Gambian for his family’s abject poverty and to him, coup d’etat was the surest means to circumvent poverty once and for all.

How about April 10-11, 2000 and how about lawyer Ousman Sillah’s attempted assassination and how about Deyda Hydara’s assassination? Through out these killings, Edward Singhateh, Yankuba Touray and Yahya Jammeh are on center stage orchestrating and executing the most brutal killings of our innocent families and yet, most Gambians continue to treat Edward Singhateh as a poster boy of patriotism. Sometimes, one wonders what kind of people we Gambians are. Like Edward Singhateh, Yahya Jammeh, Peter Singhateh and Yankuba Touray, Koro Ceesay too was one of us and his death remains a great loss to The Gambia. The only way to end this endemic impunity by a bunch of callous rogues claming to be patriots is an attitudinal change towards everything that is wrong. Let us not keep quiete as in the case of Ousman Koro Ceesay’s case. Lamentably, when The Echo was launched, I contacted Koro’s family to provide me with his photo and after a one-hour telephone conversation; the impression was that the photo would be in Raleigh in three days. Well, we have just observed our one-year anniversary and to date, no photo and not even a phone call to that effect. Is silence the answer to a brutally murdered State Minister? I dare ask.

The greatest injustice ever committed by Yahya Jammeh was that after they executed Koro Ceesay and burnt his car, and Koro’s charred remains were brought for burial at the Dippakunda Cemetery, Captain Edward Singhateh represented Yahya Jammeh and gave the eulogy. Veteran Gambian journalist Suwaebou Conateh, Fafa M’bai (then Fafa was no longer their Attorney General) were in attendance and so was I and I retain vivid memories of that saddest day with Koro’s sisters yelling crying and falling on the dusty gravel roads in the summer of 1995. Edward Singhateh spoke in English and his bodyguard Lamin Fatty, from Essau village, Lower Nuimi, translated his eulogy or should I say mockery. “If Koro was a good man, God knows and if he was a bad man God knows; Chairman Jammeh is currently in Ethiopia but has asked that I come here to tell you how Koro’s death has shocked him” said the callous conspirator. The Imam instead of speaking truth to power opted to deviate and went to great lengths, praising the junta on their swift seizure of power. “I remain amazed how you young men were able to chase Jawara out of State House without a spill of blood, not even a chicken was killed” said the Imam. He then dipped his hand in his pocket and handed Edward Singhateh a juju to supposedly protect him from evil spirits. Evidently, as the Imam handed Singhateh the charms, he was shaken but the Imam told Lamin Fatty in Mandinka “Afayeko akanasilla, intema, mamalety” (tell him not be scared, I am his grand father). It was from this day that I made up my mind, that I have to leave The Gambia because incidents like Koro’s execution were to be replicated over and over again and thank God I made it to the United States of America. In fact, following Koro’s death in the hands of Edward Singhateh, Peter Singhateh, Yankuba Touray and Yahya Jammeh who was in Ethiopia yet pulling the guillotine strings, two female ministers enquired with Singhateh what security arrangements were afoot for them. His response they confided in me was both arrogant and emphatic in a question they would never forget: “Is Koro Ceesay the only person to have been killed in his line of duty?” “My brother Singhateh was so mad with us that in subsequent Cabinet meetings, he would not talk to us,” they told me.

There is also the attempted assassination on Ex-Attorney General Mustapha Marong that has so far not been written about. According to a Nigerian Justice, following the death of Koro Ceesay, Marong as the only civilian Council Member of the junta has proposed to them, inviting Scotland Yard and the American FBI forensics to help investigate Koro’s death. He told them that with these two bodies, the AFPRC government would have clues to Koro’s killing and that would ultimately help them clear any lingering doubts. For Mustapha Marong according to my Nigerian Justice informer, this was a fantastic idea to wipe out conspiracy theories about the Finance Minister’s brutal murder. Two days later, at about 2:45AM, about three unmarked vehicles were at Marong’s residence. Two soldiers knocked at his door and told him that HE-His Excellency wanted him to an emergency Council Session and that he must be there immediately. Marong, who allegedly spoke to them through his glass window, advised that they wait while he took a quick shower. As the desperadoes retreated to their vehicles waiting for another potential Koro Ceesay, the conscientious Attorney General called Yahya Jammeh’s direct house line and asked if he had summoned an emergency meeting. Jammeh who it appears was well asleep, gave him an emphatic no and after a brief exchange, admonished Marong to remain indoors until a reinforcement from State House comes to his rescue. As Marong took longer time than was expected, says our source, the desperadoes frequented the house, knocking at the door that Chairman Jammeh was getting impatient. Within minutes, a contingent of officers drove at breakneck speed into Marong’s vicinity. No sooner had the desperadoes’ noticed the speeding vehicles, than they melted away. Two days later, Mustapha Marong was sacked and transferred to The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA). This then is Edward Singhateh, a very brutal man with multiple personalities who to me is the most callous engine of Yahya Jammeh’s killing machine. I have no doubt, that most Gambians especially, those who were very young in 1994 will be shocked when they read the chilling details of Edward Singhateh’s brutality in Samsudeen Sarr’s book: Coup  D’etat By The Gambia National Army. Copyright © 2007. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this article or any other article or image, or portions thereof, in any form or context without the expressed permission of The Gambia Echo Newspaper.