After a long break due to COVID-19, the Truth Reparation and Reconciliation Commission (TRRC) resumed on Monday, October 12th, with the testimony of an unidentified witness, who said he was an HIV/AIDS patient and was part of former President Jammeh’s Alternative Treatment Programme.
He recalled working at MRC as a lab and animal attendant where he got retested and confirmed HIV/AIDS positive by MRC, and was made to join the Santa Yalla Association in 1999 as the 10th patient.
He said he decided to go public with his HIV/AIDS status after watching a documentary entitled the ‘Silence epidemic’, which depicted ravaging impact of the viral disease in Uganda. He said he then took it upon himself to sensitise people about it. “In 2001, I became a leader in the Association and conducted sensitization activities in the entire country”.
The witness said he heard about Yahya Jammeh’s claim to treat and cure the disease in 2007. He later got word that the former president needed and wanted to start with 10 people.
The witness explained that prior to joining Jammeh's treatment programme he was much better. On the day they went to fetch them, he said, Jammeh got only 6 people, out of which, he was the only male.
Upon arrival at State House, they were welcomed by former VP, Isatou Njie Saidy and some soldiers. The first batch for the treatment programme, he testified, came from Santa Yalla, Allah Tentou and Lilahi.
Further on the way the medications were administered, he said Jammeh rubbed the medicine on his entire body including private part and they were made to drink some concoctions.
Amongst Jammeh's rules during the course of the treatment was for the patients to stop all conventional medications, stop drinking Attaya, chewing bitter kola or kolanut, and were not allowed to have an affair with spouses or food from their homes.
The anonymous witness said he at one point got sick and got admitted to hospital. He said while at the private block, RVH, for TB treatment, he was moved to the Sanatorium (Wencho) and that then he couldn't eat or wash by himself. "My mother used to assist me to eat while my brother took me to the bathroom to wash me."
The witness alleged that as a result of the concoctions from Jammeh so many people died - close to 4000 people.
On the impact it had on him, he said he suffered stigmatization and discrimination and that he finds it difficult to sustain his family.