Posted by By Bekai Njie
The Gambian president admits the Faraba incident that happened June 18, 2018, claiming the lives of three people was the saddest day of his presidency since he became president.
The incident claimed the lives of Bakary Kujabi, Ismaila Bah and Amadou Jawo lost their lives during a clash with the personnel of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) while protesting over the presence of Julakay’s sand mining in their village.
“No one can go beyond what Allah wills, but the day this incident happened was a very sad day for me, it was the saddest day since I became president,” the president said, as he addressed the people of Faraba on Friday. “That day anybody who knows me, anybody I work with since I became president knew I wasn’t myself.”
“I attend Zuhr prayer at State House Mosque but I couldn’t attend it that day.”
“So you the people of Faraba, I want you to know that this is Faraba’s funeral, Kombo’s funeral and Gambia’s funeral.”
“I was chatting with the last person to die (Amadou Jawo). To think that he was going to die was unbelievable,” the president stated.
”So we are here to give our condolences, to all those who are here, to all those who are saddened, to all those who lost a relative.”
Barrow further expressed how unfortunate the incident was, saying it was a sad day for The Gambia after fighting so hard to end such situations from occurring.
He said the incident saddens the entire nation as people of this country came together to end such things which have been happening for the past 22 years but to witness such things reoccurring saddens the people of the country and the world as a whole.
He urged the people of Faraba and the Gambia at large to unite for a greater and better Gambia and promised through the inquiry team he commissioned to investigate the matter thoroughly and swiftly.
“The government will thoroughly investigate whatever happened here from the beginning to the end. We will look into it one by one.”