How my father was murdered and his body left to rot – Son of Ghana-44 victim shares story

Age 12 was the last time he saw his father or any sign of him. Not even his body or his bones were left to see or bury. This is the story of Isaac Mensah, son of one of the 44 Ghanaian migrants who were gruesomely murdered in the Gambia.

His father was a cocoa farmer who worked with the Kuapa Cocoa ltd, at least till he travelled to the Gambia with plans to migrate to Europe.

With orders from Former Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, the executioners, all from the ‘Junglers’ squad, massacred these migrants including 12 other people from other African countries.

As though that was not enough, the families of these murdered people never got to see the bodies of their loved ones, none but 8 of these bodies were returned home for burial.

After many fights and pushes for justice, the Gambian government is said to have sent some $500,000 for families of the victims, to help with burial and the likes. Out of this amount, only GHC10,000 was given to the families, with the others used for donations, sitting allowances, burial expenses and the like.

Was the family given heads up? No! Were the bodies identified? No!, even findings from a joint investigative team (Ghana and Gambia) set up to probe the issue were not disclosed to family members.

Several years on, the families are still seeking for justice despite efforts on the part of many to achieve the same.

Isaac, in this piece tells his story, and exposes the hidden sides to the journey for justice, whilst baring the painful experience from his side and that of other victims of the tragedy in this piece, ‘I can’t bury my father’.

Watch Isaac tell his story as monitored by GhanaWeb below: