Gambia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRRC) Lead Counsel, Essa Faal and his group of of about ten allgedly entered a Lamin compound to gift a 25kg rice bag, some onions, and some cooking oil. The head of the household, Mr. Landing Badjie, a former police officer told forGambia that he refused the gifts and Faal and his group got angry.
The younger brother of Landing Badjie, Molamin Badjie, as well as other household members were also verbally abused by Faal’s group in a heated altercation. In an exclusive interview with forgambia Sunday, both Landing and Molamin Badjie recounted how Faal and his group entered their compound without permission.
They decried how their rejection of a gift from Faal and his group ignited the fury from the group they said arrived with about four different vehicles. “These people were armed. They came with cutlasses and tried to fight us after we had asked them to leave our house, the Badjies recounted.
They added that the group even tried to divert the so-called gifts to an elderly woman in the house. “I told them to leave my house since I’m the head of household here and we don’t need their gifts,” Landing continued, shedding more light on whether such donations should be forced upon people.
Landing’s younger brother, Molamin Badjie also recounted how a member of Faal’s group mocked his disability, being someone with a disabled leg. When the family was relentless in rejecting Faal and his group, the verbal abuses intensified where Faal allegedly told Landing, “Who the hell are you?”
Another group member arriving with Faal then allegedly told the Badjies that he could buy them. The Badjies expressed their disappointment in Faal whom they said comes of as a “human rights lawyer,” but then abuses people’s rights, privacy, or freedom from trespass.
Due to time constraints, we cannot transcribe other salient points of the interview. We urge our readers to follow the rest of the interview here on forgambia radio. For mobile users, simply click on any story on our homepage and scroll down to listen here and click the black play button. Wait for few seconds after clicking it. For Desktop users, just find the same button at the top right hand corner of our page and click it
