Muhammed Sandeng
By Makutu Manneh
Muhammed Sandeng, son of the late Ebrima Solo Sandeng, has strongly criticized the Gambian government for what he describes as its poor handling of justice and accountability for victims of former President Yahya Jammeh’s regime.
Sandeng said recent government actions—including President Adama Barrow’s visit to Jammeh’s home village and his political alliance with Jammeh’s associates—send a troubling message, especially when the president has never visited the Victims’ Center. He also noted that the current Speaker of the National Assembly hails from Jammeh’s political camp.
According to Sandeng, President Barrow’s failure to visit the Victims’ Center is particularly striking given that he has already attended Senegal’s Thiaroye massacre commemoration twice. He recalled that victims’ families met the president in March last year, during which Barrow pledged to visit the center once invited. “But we are still waiting for the visit,” he said.
Sandeng expressed deep frustration and a growing sense of hopelessness among victims’ families. Instead of progress, he said, many are experiencing renewed trauma and diminished expectations of justice. “You have perpetrators getting reinstated in government, cozying up with government. So all of that—there is not much hope that the government would have done something if Jammeh returns,” he said during a recent interview on Kerr Fatou.
He added that many victims doubt Jammeh would be prosecuted immediately should he return to the country. President Barrow’s silence and lack of visible action, he said, give victims the impression that they have been abandoned. “There has been no seriousness shown to children like me who never saw their fathers again,” he said.
Sandeng argued that Barrow’s recent public responses to Jammeh appear driven more by political survival than by a genuine commitment to justice. “It is more necessary to consolidate power than to do the things you promised you were going to do,” he said.
While acknowledging ongoing efforts to build cases against perpetrators and the creation of a special judicial division to handle them, Sandeng emphasized that true justice requires political will. Families, he stressed, continue to wait for answers, closure, and meaningful action.
He underscored the government’s responsibility to identify and return victims’ remains, deliver reparations, and ensure that all perpetrators face justice. Sandeng praised the reparations commission’s work but said urgent steps are still needed to address the long-standing suffering of victims’ families.