By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
Gainako Editor Demba Baldeh was called in for questioning at Barra Police Station while attempting to cover an alleged corruption at the ferry crossing in Barra. Mr Baldeh, who identified himself as a journalist was questioning a Ferry staff who identified himself as the Manager. Speaking to a witness who also happened to be a media practitioner, he confirmed that Demba was taking photos and videos of alleged corruption taking place at Barra Ferry Terminal where staff were playing favours by moving vehicles ahead of the line.
To ascertain what exactly happened our reporter held an exclusive interview with Mr Baldeh about the incident which lead to Police calling him in for questioning.
Yusef Taylor: What happened yesterday Sunday 30th January 2022 up to the point you were asked to report to the Police for questioning?
Demba Baldeh: We arrived in Barra around about 5:45 pm, where we went ahead and purchased our tickets for crossing to Banjul. Shortly after we purchased our tickets, we were told that the Vice President was coming from Georgetown and therefore we may not be able to cross, or it’s going to be a long wait. So, we consulted and decided to perhaps go ahead and get a refund on our tickets so we can go back through Farafenni and Soma and come back to the Kombos.
While I was in the car waiting, my wife and her sisters went to the ticketing to try and get a refund of the tickets so we can buy gas and go the other way round since we may not be able to cross at all. At the ticketing, they were told they don’t have a refund policy and therefore, they are going to accommodate us by moving us forward. We were moved along the lane into the fence since we had already purchased our tickets. How they negotiated that I don’t know, but that was the reason we were moved because they could not refund our tickets. In fact, few other people wanted their refunds who were equally moved along the line.
While inside the fence waiting for the Ferry to arrive, we were moved along the lanes until halfway through to get us ready for the ferry. All of a sudden, I started seeing them moving vehicles in front of us. These were people from the Police and the Ferry service staff; some in uniform, others in plain clothes; you couldn’t tell who is who. They all started moving vehicles without following the queue. Initially, there were about two lanes and then they started moving vehicles to a third lane. We were on the line and we followed the queue to the third middle lane.
The Ferry was supposed to take about 30 vehicles or so, we were previously told. So clearly we were about the 20 vehicles in the queue. A huge chaos erupted as the staff appears to have their favours who for one reason or another were rushed in front of the lines. Just like that, we were told that the Ferry is full while vehicles were still moving into the ferry. We were right in the middle lane and the second vehicle to board. They again moved a government vehicle to the side where there was plenty of space for other vehicles and then they put a barricade in front of the rest of us claiming the ferry is full. A young man in front of us was furious and cursing at the staff. There basically was some kind of riot or more like a protest. Young people were running around in mob-style insulting and demanding the ferry wait for them. It was chaotic, to say the least, and they had to pull the ferry back to wait for the crowd who were locked outside and couldn’t get to the ferry.
A guy asked me to move back my vehicle, and I said for safety reasons, instead of moving us back why can’t you just move us on the side so that when the ferry comes, we’ll just go in. They said no they were not going to do that. I said you just moved a couple of vehicles; I’ve seen you move a couple of vehicles why can’t you do the same thing for us. They insisted that we were going to move back and I said I don’t want to move my vehicle back.
They got into an argument with my wife. I was in the vehicle, took my phone and started recording from inside the vehicle. Then I came off the vehicle when things started to get tense, the guy came and started negotiating with my wife that you either go back or am going to use the Police to take you back. He said he was the manager. I said ok, let me get my video on, went out and looked for him. His name was Yusupha Badjie. I walked up to him, identified myself as a journalist and started asking him some questions to find out why the chaos and why they failed to control the situation before it escalates. He was angry, shouting at the top of his voice, then he said do not record me. I said am simply asking you questions as the manager. He angrily grabbed my phone and wouldn’t let go. I had to forcefully grab my phone from his hands with the help of a few people!
For safety reasons, before I got off the vehicle, I agreed to move my vehicle backwards behind the queue while he continued to get into it with my wife. Eventually, realizing he was on record, he said I had no right to record him. I said, he was the manager and secondly, this was a public space and I had a right to cover the chaos. The chaos escalated with so many others not in uniform trying to speak to me. I had to remove myself from the middle of the crowd for my own safety. When he realized that I was a journalist and had recorded him grabbing my phone, he was like this might go out of control so he will go ahead and get the Police involved. He asked me to go with him to the station and I refused without a police officer involved. I said you can go ahead and call the Police who came and said let’s go to the station as somebody lodged a complaint against you. I walked with them to the station where we all narrated our side of the story with eyewitnesses involved. The police try to lecture me that I had no right to record him if he didn’t want to be recorded. Eventually, they asked for my phone and started deleting my video from the phone and the trash.
My sense was that there is a cabal of citizens who are entrusted to carry out public service but who are all involved in some dubious corruption dealings in broad daylight. In fact, there were so many people involved you couldn’t identify who is in charge and who is doing what. For the interest of the public, this has little to do with the government. These are citizens who are paid to do their duties but every one of them seems to be busy lining their pockets before the end of their shift. Do not take my words for it, go to the ferry yourself and see what goes on there. I challenge the media to take their cameras and see what goes on there. We have a bunch of unpatriotic citizens entrusted with public service who are not interested in anything but themselves…
This is the end of the first part of the interview. The next article will follow up from Demba Baldeh at Police up to his release after questioning.