Officials of the Gambia government have repeatedly informed the public that the government has rejected only two recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC).  

The recommendations with respect to the ban on NIA chief Ousman Sowe and ‘mercenary judges’ have been cited as the two that have been rejected. 

For instance, speaking in this video interview on May 25, Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said:  “One of the two [rejected] is the recommendation made against a group of judges that the TRRC considered them to be mercenary judges. We rejected that from a public policy point of view because we have a bilateral relationship with our sister countries where these judges came from. 

“The exoneration of the SIS director is premised on the fact that he is alleged to have destroyed evidence. The destruction of the evidence happened outside the mandate of the TRRC, so we think that recommendation was out of place. That was all.”

The claims are not entirely inaccurate, and to say that the government rejected only two recommendations could be misleading. 

As shown in the graph here, the government’s response to TRRC recommendations are in three categories:  

• Accepted 
• Partly accepted 
• Noted 
• Rejected

This graph shows that the TRRC has made a total of 265 recommendations across 22 thematic issues. Out of that total, the government has ACCEPTED 200, PARTIALLY ACCEPTED 4, NOTED 26 and REJECTED 2. 

Inaccurate and misleading claims 

Recommendation with respect to Ousman Sowe has not been rejected:  While it is true that only two recommendations have been entirely REJECTED, the recommendation with respect to the ban on Ousman Sowe is not one of them. The two rejected recommendations are those that concern ban on ‘mercenary judges’ and amnesty for Sanna Sabally.

There is more to the NOTEDs. The recommendations that have been NOTED could be put under two categories. First, there are those that the government says it needs more evidence in order to take action. Take, for example, the recommendation for Yahya Jammeh and Dr Mbowe to be charged with murder with respect to the alternative treatment. The second category is where the government disagreed with the TRRC. Take for example, the recommendation with respect to Ousman Sowe where the government noted it but indicated that it won’t punish him as required by the TRRC. Another example is with respect to the recommendation for the repeal of sedition. The government noted it but indicated that it won’t repeal it as it is necessary. 

See this table for more detailed information.