By Patience Loum
Victims and survivors of the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) which investigated the 22-year-long regime of former President Yahya Jammeh are demanding justice and calling for the quick implementation of the Victims Reparations Bill.
These conversations and others were raised at a day workshop organized by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the Women’s Association for Victims’ Empowerment (WAVE) at the Kairaba Beach Hotel on 25th November 2022.
Victims Reparations Bill
Following the implementation of the TRRC, the government of the Gambia allocated D50 Million to the Victim’s Reparations Fund which was utilised to provide Interim Reparations (D13 Million) and the First Round of Reparations (D37 Million) to Victims of the TRRC.
According to a previous Gainako publication on Reparations then TRRC Vice Chair who chaired the Reparations Committee noted that some 198 victims who were to be awarded D50,000 and below were paid in full and some 758 people who were to be paid over D50,000 were paid in instalments. All victims received a slip stating how much has been paid and how much is outstanding.
Given that a total of D205.8 Million is due to be paid in Reparations and only D37 Million was available for the First Round of Reparations a large chunk of Reparations payments is still outstanding.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) proposed to create a successor body to the Reparations Committee of the TRRC which will “be independent, created by statute and vested with the power to manage and make payments out of a reparations fund”.
According to the MoJ, this independent body will administer issues related to reparations within the confinement of the act. It must be noted that the Minister has on numerous occasions said that the Government is willing to review the Reparations awarded with the intention of ensuring victims are adequately compensated.
Victims Call for Quick Implementation
During the workshop, a lot of issues were raised all of which centred on the Reparations Bill. “Implementing the Reparations Bill would greatly help us in our healing process which is very important to us, we know that the implementation of the bill cannot address all of our financial needs but at least it will make things better,” said one of the victims.
“There’s so much that needs to be taken care of. We have school fees, house rent, and so many other responsibilities.”
Sheriff Kijera, Chairperson of the Victims Center said all of these have to do with managing the general expectations of the victims.
“We know that the government had made several commitments to make contributions to the reparations fund since the time of the TRRC so victims have always been expecting that reparations will be paid in a one-off payment but the Ministry of Justice has promised that the government have made an allocation of 150,000,000 that was supposed to be paid to the victims this year.”
Unfortunately, “we have come to the end of the year and still, the victims have seen nothing nor have they heard from the government. And all these have to do with lack of communications from the government as far as the payment of reparations of victims is concerned,” he said
Counsel Kimbeng Tah, the Deputy Director for Civil Litigation and International Law at the MoJ said the Victims Reparations bill {draft} is finalized and should be tabled in Parliament in the December 2022 Parliamentary session. However, a review of the National Assembly’s agenda shows that the Bill will not be tabled in Parliament this year.
Victims Retraumatized
A lot of the victims feel they are continuously Retraumatized. Speaking to this medium, one of the victims said it’s been very challenging on their mental health seeing perpetrators walking freely without anything being done.
“We feel scared and uneasy, seeing the same people working for the former government still holding positions and contributing to the decisions that affect us as a whole is one thing on its own very traumatizing”.
“We need justice and one of the ways this can be done is through the implementation of the victim’s bill which adheres to our needs. We call on the government and all related stakeholders to help us with this,” said one Victim.
Victims Chairperson, Mr Kijera said it is very difficult for the victims as this has to do with the lack of communication between the government and the victims-led associations and victims in general.
He said there should be public sensitization about the ongoing processes that are in place because grassroots participation and local inputs into these processes are very important and it is very key in the implementation of the TRRC recommendations.
“The victims need to know the level of progress that the government is making as far as instituting such accountability mechanisms” is concerned, said Mr Kijera. “The government needs to be more proactive in engaging victims as to what progress is being made”.
Mr Kijera also urged the government to provide ongoing counselling and psychosocial therapy to victims because as a result of the prolonged silence and lack of communication, victims have been retraumatized especially with regards to the government recycling some of the perpetrators back into the system.
“It is frustrating for the victims. It is very disappointing, especially from the level of the Presidency”.
This article is supported by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
