A survey carried out by a University of The Gambia think tank finds that Gambians are leaning more toward reconciliation instead of a unanimous push for prosecuting former President Yahya Jammeh over alleged violations during his 22-year rule.
The CepRass poll conducted in April asked the simple question of reconciliation or prosection of crimes including extrajudicial killings, rape, other sexual offenses, torture and forced disappearances thought to have been committed at the alleged behest of Mr Jammeh from 1994 to 2017.
The question of prosecution or not and reparations are burning issues of the day going into the presidential election slated for December 2026.
Gambia’s truth commission which sat from 2019 to 2021, recommended the prosecution of some 69 individuals including Jammeh for bearing the greatest responsibility for the alleged crimes.
According to the results of the latest nationwide study by the Centre for Policy, Research and Strategic Studies (CepRass) testing the pulse of Gambians on the subject, 44 percent of respondents say reconciliation should be the main priority while 16 percent favour prosecution.
The remaining 40 percent prefer the middle ground – prosecution tempered with reconciliation with a view to satisfying the call by victims of Jammeh-era violations and their families for restititive justice and enhance the chance for national closure.
This study comes almost two weeks after the Gambian ministry of justice unveiled Briton Martin Hackett as the special prosecutor to investigate those crimes with a view to prosecuting Jammeh exiled in Equatorial Guinea and his henchmen.
Hackett will rely mainly on testimonies by victims, witnesses and alleged perpetrators catalogued over two years by the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC).