An unidentified witness and victim of Yahya Jammeh's Alternative Treatment Programme, yesterday told the TRRC that Yahya Jammeh took them to Kanilai with the intention to kill them instead of cure them.
The witness told the Commission that they were taken to work on the former president's rice fields and groundnut farms.
Testifying on her HIV status and her experience with the presidential programme, the anonymous witness said she was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS for the past 13-14 years. She was pregnant when she was first diagnosed with the disease and that her child later died, which she believed was as a result of the disease.
She said prior to joining the former president's treatment the first batch of patients were paraded on TV and Dr. Mbowe declared that they were cured. She got convinced and decided to join in the fourth batch.“In 2007 my details were taken; I was diagnosed and later asked to report to Kanilai”.
The witness testified that one particular night they were called to report to Serrekunda Hospital the following day. “Upon arrival at the hospital, many people including those from foreign countries like Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Mali and Malawi converged. Some people cried because their names were not enlisted and were of the view that they won't be treated. It was popular and many people were coming in because they were convinced that Yahya Jammeh could cure AIDS," the anonymous witness testified further.
Three buses were filled to capacity with the patients and headed to Kanilai she said. To make sure that none of them left, she said there were a camera and PIU officers.
The witness explained that while at Yahya Jammeh's family home in Kanilai, beds were prepared and each of them were given towels, prior to being administered to the concussion to drink. She said after a while they were taken in the outskirts of the main Kanilai settlement, at a place called 'Drying Floor', where the crocodile and fish ponds are.
She said Yahya Jammeh used to tell the women to fully undress and lie on a table covered with a bed sheet without covering themselves. “He would take the medicine and massage you, touching all parts of your body including your private parts, after which you would be seated while he prayed. The massaging was done in the presence of Dr. Mbowe, soldiers and PIU officers”.
The witness claimed the medicine used to intoxicate them, make them feel dizzy, and that they would be there for months without birthing.
She further testified that at some point, Yahya Jammeh, said while he was treating people others were destroying; that some of the patients were turning to be witches and wizards.
“He then decided to invite ‘Tambajiro’, put us in a room, locked the door and smoked us. After a short while, some people fell down and these people were the ones perceived to be witches and wizards”.
On whether Jammeh was able to identify purported witches and wizards, she responded in the affirmative, saying 9 individuals were identified. She told the commission that those perceived to be witches were isolated and neglected as a form of punishment, which she claimed eventually led to their death, while some were subsequently evacuated by their relatives.
The witness accused the treatment programme of causing her partial impaired vision, and that while some got paralyzed, others died as result. "Apart from being an HIV/AIDS patient, I developed other complications and my conditions got worsen. I was not cured; people said they were cured just because they wanted to go home." She testified that because of the concussions some of the patients suffered from stomach pain while others bled seriously.
She alleged that patients from foreign countries such as Guinea Bissau and Guinea bribed the PIU officers to allow them go back to their native countries.
She went on: "On the day of the passing out, we were told that we are cured. Everybody was in a hurry to leave the place." She also testified that after she left Jammeh's treatment centre, she became very sick and went back to get the Antiretroviral drugs but her condition got worst.
On the impacts it had on her, she said she was evicted by her landlord for having the disease and all her elder child's schooling got interrupted.