By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-in-Chief
According to unassailable sources from State House, the most powerful man in Yahya Jammeh’s government, 39 year old Edward David Singhateh, a callous man masked in a fake image who has killed more Gambians than any other person has been sacked. His Permanent Secretary, Mr. Kotu Cham of Sanchaba Sulay Jobe village is the new Secretary of State for Forestry and the Environment. Cham a career civil servant was at the National Environment Agency; was Permanent Secretary President’s Office and finally Permanent Secretary Forestry and the Environment before the appointment yesterday. Asked if Cham has accepted the appointment our sources replied in a word “absolutely!!”
Says a highly placed source, “Mr. Sankareh, this is a great day for justice, it may be the end of impunity. “Edward Singhateh is out of the country on an official trip, so the embargo on his high profile sacking” reveal our unimpeachable sources.
ANALYSIS
Until recently, most Gambians have called Singhateh the Saint of the AFPRC junta due largely to his finessed demeanor. Beneath the façade however, lies an utterly criminal character comparable to Samuel Doe, Idi Amin Dada and Mobutu Sese-Sekou. Today his numerous victims among them 33 year old Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay whom he shot in the head, battered with a baseball baton and then set the remains ablaze in the woods of Farato; Sergeant Fafa Nyang whose belly he sliced like a watermelon despite numerous appeals and had him buried alive; Lt. Basirou Barrow whom we now learn he first battered, sent to Mile II for few hours, changed his mind and shot him in the head multiple times; Lt. Biran Saye whom he shot and have Alhaji Kanyi cut his legs like meat, Lt. Sadibou Haidara whom he battered with cables and gun butts and poured a bucket of sodium chloride on, leading to the former Interior Minister’s death etc, etc. are in Paradise while the Butcher of Banjul (a.k.a Mabally- Mandinka for the untouchable), contemplates his fate as he returns to Jammeh’s Gambia. How about Corporal Alhaji Kebbeh? Despite numerous alibis that he was totally innocent, Singhateh defiantly vowed to execute him. Once Kebbeh was arrested and taken to Yundum Barracks, Singhateh who was highly intoxicated kicked him, the poor fellow screamed and fell to the ground, before he rose to explain anything, the trigger-happy butcher had pulled the trigger and the bullets shattered his leg. He finally changed his mind and asks that Kebbeh be taken to Mile II. Today after many years in jail, CPL. Kebbeh is out with a limping leg. How about Captain Momar Cham, Major Ebrima Ismaila Chongan, Lt. Sheriff Gomez, Lt. col. Sheriff Samsudeen Sarr, Sgt. Major Alhaji Haddy Faye, Sgt. Major Baboucarr Jeng, Sgt. Musa Manneh and a whole host of others? According to our military Affairs correspondent who is dancing Ndaga as we piece this together, Singhateh was so obsessed with death that he repeatedly told Jammeh to execute all these officers. “Jammeh” said OX, “threatened to arrest him next time he talks about executions. He told Jammeh that he was only acting on Captain Valentine Strasser’s advice that all senior military officers should be sacrificed before they executed a counter-coup,” reveals OX. In his recently published book, Coup D’etat By The Gambia National Army Lt. Colonel Sarr has gone to great lengths to unmask Edward Singhateh's false image. Contacted about this breaking news Sarr said, “my brother, this is the greatest news item out of Banjul and the happiest day for a better part of my life- great riddance for a murderous element like Singhateh to tumble” said Sarr.
Shifting Paradigms
Over the years, International Law has changed significantly as seen in Chile where genocidal dictator Augusto Pinochet faced a barrage of lawsuits in England and in his native Chile. Like Singhateh, Pinochet was obsessed with death and so became a brutal executioner left, right and center. Numerous human rights scholars who have seen our earlier announcement have vowed that they will bring legal action against Singhateh whose only impunity was rank. “Now that he is no longer a State Minister, we will as soon as his sacking is officially announced, work out the legal details. Singhateh cannot escape; he must answer for the cruel deeds they vowed. According to informed sources, Jerry John Rawlings, former President of Ghana cannot go to the UK any longer because one of the sons of the people he killed has executed an arrest warrant and once he steps in England, he will be picked up. Well Edward Singhateh is a British citizen, a melanche of Scotish and Gambian blood and he still has a British Passport. It remains to be seen if he will venture to return to his birth place.