By Captain Ebou Jallow

Until his high-profile defection in late 1995, Captain Ebou Jallow was a Council member of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council, the junta that ousted the PPP regime, suspended political activity and the Republican Constitution. At the time of the coup on July 22, 1994, Captain Jallow was a student in the US Marine Corps about to graduate. He graduated and returned only to be co-opted into the Council and after a brief honeymoon as its spokesperson, Jallow defected and told the world what many Gambians had suspected, that Captain Edward Singhateh murdered Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay. Captain Jallow was a good friend of Korro and is currently an officer in the US army poised for deployment to Iraq. He has sent us this piece in Korro’s memory and for the records. Read on. 

The Callous Four - How many more will have to die?

If I must write in honor of the untimely death of Korro Ceesay I will state the facts and illustrate the context behind his murder that has become a national trauma since the summer of 1995.  I hope that Korro's fellow Gambians shall employ imagination and sound judgment in their quest for justice.  Here are two indisputable facts: 

1.       Edward and Peter Singhateh cowardly murdered Korro Ceesay at Yankuba Touray’s house.  Edward’s motive for the murder is nothing else but a motiveless malignancy.  Days before Korro’s death, President Jammeh had already instructed the Secretary General at the time, Mustapha Wadda, to issue Korro’s dismissal letter.  The speculation that President Jammeh ordered Korro’s death is apocryphal and not an established fact as far as I know.

2.       Yaya Jammeh, the President of the Republic of the Gambia did discuss this traumatic incident with me, and was noticeably shocked by this horror committed under his watch.  The crime of murder cannot be commuted by a presidential pardon or any protean indemnity clause in the Gambian Constitution. Jammeh must prosecute the murderous Singhatehs lest he himself becomes an accomplice to the crime. 

Now I have to state that I have reconciled with President Jammeh in the past, and I have absolutely no intentions of feeding frenzy to rampant cynicism or the opportunistic propagandists that wear fashionable language of democracy and human rights up their sleeves as another subterfuge to satisfy their lust for power.  My goal now is to elevate some responsiveness in President Jammeh to a fundamental element of the Gambian moral fabric that has been severely lacerated beyond recognition.  As a friend and a former colleague, I believe President Jammeh’s silence over Korro’s death shows a lack of character in his leadership, and an ambiguous moral disposition. 

Jammeh lacks character to tackle a callous killer.

 The position of the presidency is an armature of moral clarity that weaves a tapestry of equality, justice and freedom- concepts that sustain a viable social order and tranquility.  Only a primitive savage can manage to live without much reference to such concepts.  The ignorance of social morality is a sure road to savagery and barbarism.  None of us is perfect or without foibles, but a morality that sprouts out of guilt to reach the solace of grace can happen within any tormented soul.  Civilization requires morality and morality requires the sincere application of justice under the rule of law without any exceptions.  Sooner or later the Singhatehs, and all those who omit to execute the full faith of the law shall face the full wrath of justice.When time permits in the near future I shall illustrate the context behind these facts as promised. 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.