By Kebba Ansu Manneh
Sheriff Gomez former adjutant of The Gambia National Army (GNA) told the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission(TRRC) that the National Security Services (NSS) which later was renamed the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) reported a possible military coup plot by some officers of the army. Despite these reports, he said, senior army officials considered those reports as flaring rumors circulating in town.
Sheriff Gomez, who later served as the Minister of Youth and Sports under Yahya Jammeh — whose rule from 22 July 1994 to 17 January 2017 is under investigation for alleged human rights abuses meted to Gambian people — was responsible for the armory when the coup took place.
In giving his background, Mr. Gomez told members of the TRRC he joined the army in 1987 and rose through the ranks to a Major upon his returned from training overseas. Elaborating on his career, he said, “I was the adjutant at the army from 1992 to 1994 prior to the coup and as an adjutant, I was responsible for administration of the army; and as an adjutant, I was responsible to carry the keys of the armory.”
According to him, there was always rumors of a possible coup in July of 1994 to an extend that the army was just treating such issues as mere rumors, adding the NSS had always been reporting possible coup from members within the army.
Mr. Gomez was asked whether the leadership of the army was caught off guard by report of attempted military coups. In responding, he said, “Yes we (army) keeps on getting rumors of coup and it becomes a situation of false alarm at that particular moment in 1994. Sometimes, these rumors came from the NSS that the army was going to stage a coup, and sometimes you got to ignore them because they just keep on coming.”
He adduced that it was not a matter of discontentment among the army that may have led to a coup by the army, arguing that he never thought of an imminent coup by the army that he described as professional and highly disciplined force.
In responding to a question by Commissioner Horja Bala Gaye on general discontentment in the army, Mr. Gomez said, “idea of discontentment does not exist at all. What I am saying is I don’t think there is anything in the army that will warrant discontentment because every day the soldiers are given opportunity to raise their concerns, and the army is structured in a way that all concerns were addressed.”
Mr. Gomez admitted in his evidence that he once summoned Yahya Jammeh to his office over a statement he, Mr. Jammeh, made that the food supplied to the army are not even fit for dogs. He said that disciplinary measures were taken against Jammeh over his statement.
The former Army Adjutant told the truth commission that,upon hearing of imminent coup by the army, measures were taken on the 21 July 1994 which included a search of the army and military police personnel who were sent to the airport to welcome former president Jawara returning from overseas trip to the country. He added that the search was conducted by the Nigerian military personnel. He said that these were measures meant to prove that the army had no intention of staging a coup and that the army was cleaned.
“After everything was done at the airport for the usual welcoming of the president. I drove home and onboard by vehicle was Yahya Jammeh, he (Jammeh) was calmed and I don’t observed in him any intent of staging a coup, and we did not talk about coup. We only talk about the false rumor always going on that the army was going to stage a coup,” the former adjutant in charge of the armory in July 1994 told the Truth Commission.
Mr. Gomez continued to tell the Truth Commission that Yahya Jammeh was the head of the military police assisted by Sadibou Hydara, but there was no moment that he sensed any coup plotting by these people.
“Of course, there are reports of possible coup to be staged by the army, and I think there is one Momodou Faal Jammeh who was helping the NSS to get to the bottom of the facts of a possible coup. We (army) were preparing at the time of these investigation by the NSS on the welcoming of the President, and on the joint training exercises that the army was to conduct with the United States Army,” Mr. Gomez disclosed at the commission.
“Personally, I didn’t believe that there were any signs of an imminent coup by the army and at that time I also tend to believe that all the rumors of a possible coup were just another rumors,” Mr. Gomez said.
The Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission is established by an Act of the National Assembly in 2017 to investigate alleged human right abuses committed under the watchful eyes of the former Gambian leader, Yahya Jammeh. The commission is chaired by Lamin Sise, former United Nations Under Secretary General.