By Hamad Sallah
The long arms of justice have finally caught Yankuba Touray—a member of the default Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC). On July 8th, 2019, Touray was arrested, charged in the June 1995 murder of Ousman Koro Ceesay. Ceesay was serving as the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning in the cabinet of the military junta that reigned terror on the country from June 1994 to January 1997. Yesterday, Touray was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death by hanging.
We pray for our departed brother, his family, community and nation. We ask of the Almighty to lead us to a land of healing and peace. We thank all those who made the conviction of Yankuba Touray happened.
We now know — let’s take note of one lesson here — that justice when pursued relentlessly can produce victory to those who deserved it the most. The Ceesay family, the community of Dippa Kunda and the Gambian nation knows the unrepeatable gruesomeness of the killing of their just son — a gentleman Per Excellence, an acclaimed principled brother — Ousman Koro Ceesay. The traumatic hangover of that cowardly act will never wane. Its degree of barbarity has been cemented, in steel, in our troubled psyche. It will never go away. It’s part of that beautiful bad history that our worst sons had unforgivably bequeathed us. May they rot in hell !!!
I was at the funeral. I was there when the North Star of the community of Dippa Kunda was buried. The somber crowd, the arrival of Peter Singhateh and his goons, the shameless posture of intimidation they assumed and the shock and awe of it all, are indelibly etched in my mind. Whenever I hear someone mentioned the name Ousman or last name Ceesay, or I just happened to hop on a story related to that unforgettable event, I am instantly transported back to the event. My story, I bet, is not unique. You can elicit that kind of story from anyone that heard about the event or had occasion to leave the mundaneness of life to go to a place of danger where the authorities did not want them to gather—the Ceesay family home, the Dippa Kunda mosque and the burial ground opposite the mosque. It was a remarkably tensed moment. One could cut the intensity of the moment with a butter knife. I still think about what in God’s name could have happened if the goons had ordered for an immediate termination of the rituals at the event. God knows it would not have been pretty.
The authorities had no choice but to let the burial take place. The cowards knew the community was outraged and were very ready to go to war to defend their right to afford their brother a burial befitting of his dignified status under the sun.
Rest well brother, Ousman!!! You fought a good fight well after the cowards that cut you down left the scene of the crime. One of them is now behind bars. The domino has started to crash. We will not rest until their horrendous crimes are answered, measure for measure, by the relentless arms of justice.
With that said, let’s remember that the fight for justice for all is an eternal fight. We should therefore rejoice and resolve unhesitatingly to rally the troops so that all of the perpetrators of the heinous crime face the full fury and force of the law. That must be sooner rather than later. They are aging fast. Let’s get them now!!!.
May I add that it’s acceptable to celebrate this momentous victories because it is the start of something new. It’s the beginning of what accountability should look like which gives wonderful feelings. That said, however, it should not steer us off into a false sense of victory. The ultimate victory will come when all of the perpetrators of heinous crimes against our defenseless and vulnerable people are hauled, one by one, into the pitiless dungeon of justice.
To that end, I have to close by saying Yankuba’s sentencing to death is long overdue. I am ashamed that a country such as ours took five years after the end of the murderous regime for only the most defiant penetrator to receive retributive justice. All the same, it is what it is. At the very least, delayed justice is the hand we are dealing with in our quest. But it starting to come through after twenty-six years indicates that we have started to make something worthy out of that dark chapter of our national nightmare.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mr. Hamad Sallah, lives in Everett, State of Washington in the U.S. and holds a graduate degree in Public Administration.