On Tuesday, three women who are natives of Ganloya, a village in the West Coast region, have told the Truth Commission that they were humiliated by the Green Boys during the 2009 witch hunting. The Truth Commission is in its second day of hearings in Jambur, a village severely affected by the witch hunting.
In January, 2009, Gambia’s former President Yahya Jammeh brought in the country five witch doctors from Guinea Conakry. The so-call witch doctors did a sweeping exercise in various parts of the country on claims that they were curing people of witchcraft.
Accompanying the witch doctors were soldiers and the Green Boys, a civilian vigilante group established by the former ruler.
Lamarana Jallow, Sukai Jallow and Fatou Sowe were one of the victims of the exercise. They were before the Truth Commission on Tuesday to narrate their stories.
The three women, all natives of Ganloya, said they were stripped naked by boys and bathed with a smelly concoction. This would be after they were forced to drink a concoction.
The women were part of a group of people who were arrested from various parts the country and accused of being witches and wizards.
According to Ensa Badgie who was the chief of the Gambian police during the witch hunting, the so-call witch doctors were brought into the country by Yahya Jammeh.
The three women were arrested from various places in Ganloya and taken the Makumbaya from where they were transported to Kololi.
Upon arrival at late Baba Jobe’s residence in Kololi, the 62-year old Lamarana Jallow said they formed a que to the house from where they were being administered a concoction.
It is not established what the ingredients of the concoction was. However, victims who drank the concoctions were consistent in that narratives that several people were unconscious when they drank it.
The three women said they have lost consciousness until the morning of the following day. They said they still leave with health consequences they blamed on the concoctions they were given.
“When we were about to leave the compound, a young man who may be at the same age of my grandchild, said we needed to be bathed with concoction. We were undressed and the young boy bathed me,” said Lamarana. “Allah will curse them for undressing me.”