Ablakwa to Akufo-Addo – ‘Tell Barrow not to Shield Jammeh on Ghanaians’ Massacre’

Ranking Ghana Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ghanaian Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is unhappy about how atrocities meted out to Ghanaians in The Gambia 16 years ago have been handled by the governments of these two countries.

According to him, the Gambian authorities have not shown enough commitment to bring the perpetrators of the cruel acts in 2005 to justice.

President Adama Barrow and his government shocked the world on Saturday 4th September 2021 when the news broke that former Dictator Yahya Jammeh’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), would merge with current Gambia President Adama Barrow’s National Peoples’ Party (NPP) for the two political formations to back Adama Barrow in the coming December presidential election.

The Ranking Ghana Member of Parliament on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, raised the issue of the 44 Ghanaians victims’ case shortly before a virtual meeting among the Heads of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Wednesday over the military takeover in Guinea.

Gambian security forces in July 2005 arrested the migrants, who were bound for Europe after their boat landed in the country, on suspicion of involvement in a coup attempt.

Subsequently, almost all the migrants, including about 44 Ghanaians, were killed.

The Gambia Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission had hearings for the victims, the perpetrators of the massacre, and many other witnesses about the case.

However, the truth-seeking commission said it needed more time, about eight weeks, to complete all 16 volumes of its report and other important documents. The commission was due to submit its final report to the Gambian President on July 30th.