VENUE: STATE HOUSE

DATE: 11TH APRIL 2025

Your Excellency, the Vice President, Honourable Cabinet Ministers, Commissioners of The Gambia Reparations Commission, Service Chiefs and Senior Government Officials, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

You will recall that from 2019 to 2021, The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) investigated various human rights violations committed by the former regime from July 1994 to January 2017.

The TRRC heard directly from over three hundred and ninety (390) witnesses, many of whom were victims and survivors of those violations.

In its final report, the TRRC concluded that grave human rights violations and crimes were committed in the country during the twenty-two-year period of the former regime.

Following the submission of the TRRC’s Report, my government committed itself to ensuring that all persons responsible for the reported wrongs and crimes be either removed from office, banned from holding public office, or prosecuted in accordance with the law.

In addition to that, I have continually reiterated my position on the payment of reparations for both the victims and survivors of the said human rights violations.

The issue of reparation remains one of my government’s highest priorities on our transitional justice programme. We strongly believe that reparation is a moral and legal obligation, based on the principles of justice and fairness. It is the right of every victim and survivor under international law to be duly compensated whenever it is the right thing to do.

If there are no serious attempts to heal the wounds of the past for the sake of national healing in The Gambia, we may never find closure and move forward in unity to attain our development goals.

On behalf of the Government and People of The Gambia, therefore, I congratulate you, the members of the Reparations Commission, on your selection and appointment as Commissioners. The establishment of the Commission is a historic development, and it is now your responsibility to effectively set it in motion. The task ahead is huge, and it means a lot not only for the victims and survivors, but also for the entire nation. Your work is particularly of interest to all those who continue to study and support our commendable transitional justice programme.

Fortunately, the Victims Reparations Act is a comprehensive piece of legislation that provides you with adequate powers and direction to carry out your mandate fairly and squarely.

Whilst you are recognised as an independent Commission and shall be allowed to exercise your mandate without any interference from my government, I take this moment to assure you that you can count on us, whenever necessary.

As evidence of this, I am pleased to disclose that my administration will commit funds annually to the Reparations Fund. Furthermore, we will support your efforts to mobilise additional resources, technical and financial, for the smooth operations of the Commission.

In a similar stance, let me reassure all the victims and survivors who have waited for too long to receive reparations that, on a brighter note, today marks another milestone in the dispensation of justice in The Gambia. My government acknowledges the crimes committed against you, together with the suffering that you and your families and communities have been going through all these years.

We maintain that you should not have been treated in the harsh manner inflicted upon you. Consequently, my government will do its best to address your plight. To guarantee their success, I urge you to rally behind the Commission and its leadership.

In conclusion, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we thank the Commissioners for willingly accepting to serve on the Commission, and I commend them for their service to the nation and the trust they have earned themselves.

While wishing the Commission resounding success, I pray that we never again have the cause to set up any Commission like the TRRC or this Reparations Commission.

May God bless The Gambia and keep us united in peace.

Thank you all for your attention.