By Fatou Sillah
The Minister of Interior, Abdoulie Sanyang, has clarified that the money presented to the family of the late Omar Badjie—who was allegedly killed by officers of the Gambia Police Force—was a personal charitable gesture from President Adama Barrow, not a government payment.
Speaking in an interview with The Fatu Network, Minister Sanyang dismissed public claims that the donation was an attempt by the government to bribe the bereaved family.
“There is a family that lost their beloved son. It was the right thing. The president asked us to go and see the family, and he gave his charity, which is not from the government, and it was not the family who said no. It is a culture in the Gambia If you are going to see the bereaved, you must go with charity. The family never said, No, we are not going to take the money,” he said.
Minister Sanyang further assured the family and the public that justice will be delivered in the case.
“We cannot bring Omar back, but all we can do is to make sure, Omar has justice. That we can assure Gambians, at any course, that we will not compromise. If the police officers are definitely responsible for what had happened, actually the law will take its course; that is our position,” he said.
The minister also commended the police for acting swiftly by arresting and suspending the accused officers, emphasizing that no one is above the law.
“When this happened, when we heard it, as far as the police are concerned, they did exactly what they were supposed to do. Which is to arrest them, immediately suspend them because they are accused persons and they are not above the law, and we take them like any other accused persons,” he said.
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