By Ramatoulie Jawo
The “JusticeFor66+Campaign” on Friday has said that AKI victims have returned the cheques that the government has given them as compensation for the death of their children.
At a press conference, Ebrima Sanyang, chairman of the campaign said the Ministry of Gender has called the women to gather at the Governor’s office in Brikama where they were given cheques as compensation, which they have returned.
“The reason we return the cheques is because we see it as a insult to us the victims. That was why we told them to give the money to ministry health so that they can improve the health sector of this country,” he stressed.
Sanyang said they are fighting for justice and ‘never again’, and that if they collect the cheques from the government, that means they are not fighting for Justice.
He added that since they lost their children, the government did not visit any of them to send their condolence.
“So why will they wait at this point in time because the pressure is high on them, and why will they even call us at the Governor’s office? Even in our tradition, when you lost someone people normally meet you at your compound to send their condolences. Why are they calling us at the Governor’s office to give us cheques,” the campaign chairman said.
Ebrima saw the move by the government contradictory to claim by the Medicines Control Agency that the children died of flood not the medicines.
“If the government said our children died of the flood not the medicines, then why are they calling us to give us cheques? That is an insult to us the victims,” he said.
He further said that all the victim families know what killed their children and that the government cannot tell them that their children died of flood not the medicines.
Mariama Sisaho, Vice-chair of the association called on all the victims to unite and fight for justice, especially the women, whom she referred to as “the most vulnerable”.
She said on Thursday, she went to the Governor’s office to return the cheques given them because they don’t need the money.
“We told the Governor (West Coast Region) that this monies are from the victims to government, because we the victims don’t need the money. Maybe they (Gov’t) can give it to the patients who are admitted at the hospital, even to the ministry of health so that the health sector can be improved, because we do not need this thing to happen again,” she said.
Efforts made to get the side of the government were unsuccessful.