By Sanna Camara

As his campaign activities for democracy and human rights would take him to faraway lands of Europe, and to nearby countries of Senegal, only to be kidnapped in Senegal by mercenaries along with his friend, Saul Ndow. Jammeh’s mercenaries lured them to forests of Cassamance, where they were killed and bagged for delivery to Kanilai.

Gambia Armed Forces member, Omar Jallow, alia Oya, told the TRRC in 2019, that he participated in the operation to hunt down and intercept the two, who were unsuspectingly lured by people confirmed to be mercenaries in the service of Jammeh, to the jungles of Cassamance, in Southern Senegal. Acting on information they received, that the two were in the custody of the mercenaries and they were to be delivered to the Junglers close to the border with The Gambia. Oya’s testimony revealed that by the time they met with the mercenaries, the two democracy activists were already killed and put in bags for delivery to Jammeh.

These mercenaries operate separate from the Junglers. They were said to be Gambian fighters who reportedly served in Liberia’s civil wars. Having returned to Banjul, some of them were recruited into Jammeh’s secret killing missions, carrying out off-the-book missions for hire. They’ve experienced war, and were therefore daring in executing gruesome reprisals for the dictator for a pay.

“We heard confessions from the witnesses,” Cham’s brother, Sarjo said. “We therefore expected a swift response against the killers who were in state custody as witnesses and co-conspirators,” he added.

Life of Community Services

Cham was kidnapped in Senegal, killed and delivered to Yahya Jammeh in pieces. His brother, Sarjo Cham, a UK-trained welder man, now established a workshop in their community in memory of his brother, and named it, Mahawa Cham Memorial Welding Workshop.

Sarjo Cham, who now maintains their family home in their home village of Masembeh, said in disappointment: “Instead, after six months in state custody, these suspected killers got released without formal charges. There was no trial… It was baffling.”

Mahawa Cham was a community worker in the Lower River Region prior to his stint as a parliamentarian for Kiang East. The village is 160 kilometers from Banjul on the South of River Gambia. Known for his community development work in both the district of Kiang east and the entire region of Kiang, his constituency nominated him as successor after a fatal car crash in 2000 left two members of parliament dead.

Buba Samura and Abdou Karamba Touray – two UDP parliamentarians were travelling to the provinces when they got involved in a fatal car accident. They both died, leaving their seats representative vacant in Kiang and Badibu, respectively.

Usually, such is followed with a by-election, to choose a successor. In this case, respected members of the community unanimously identified Mahawa Cham as successor. He was unopposed under Yahya Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party. Within two years, he recontested for a fresh mandate after the 2006 presidential elections. In 2007 National Assembly elections, Cham won for Kiang East.

However, he had witnessed a lot of cries – of abductions, disappearances, killings, torture and blatant abuse of incumbency by his own party. He wanted genuine representation for his people through politics. But what he saw was too much for a principled son of Kiang to bear and look another way. He threw away his loyalties to the ruling party and left politics at the end of his mandate in 2007.

Kidnapping in Senegal

When Mahawa Cham traveled to Europe in 2007, he joined pro-democracy activists and the rising campaigns against the Yahya Jammeh dictatorship. He returned to Gambia in 2009, just to be arrested and detained at the Banjul International Airport. His passport was held by immigration officials.

Upon his release, Cham’s family, fearing for his safety, smuggled him across the border throgh Southern Senegal. He continued to Dakar and sought a refugee status. In 2013, while travelling to Southern Senegal, Cham was kidnapped along with a colleague, Saul Ndow.

His community legacy in Kiang

To understand Mahawa’s legacy in Kiang, we traveled to his village of Masembeh, a settlement of between 60 and 70 compounds, with a primary school, a pipe-borne water supply. The Saudi Sahelian Project (SSP), a popular name in rural development in the 1980s and 90s under President Jawara’s rule, had provided several dozens of hand pump water supply for Gambian communities. In this particular community, the hand pump after decades of use, is now replaced with borehole and street taps.

Cham Kunda is located some 150-200 meters off the main Banjul-Soma highway, where the welding workshop is located. There was no signboard to indicate directions fro the highway. With rural electrification now operational in The Gambia, the village is among hundreds of villages to connect to the main power grid. This makes the once-isolated rural settlement a bit more vibrant, with majority of those in the cities and the diaspora looking back to the village to invest in reviving livelihoods such as agriculture and housing projects. In doing this, a welding workshop in the village becomes crucial.

For a man whose life under the PPP government had seen a lot of community development work. Mahawa’s memory will forever become indelible in this community.

“He was among the pioneers of Action Aid funded community garden in their village, that now boasts of up to 1,000 cashew plants and dozens of gmelina trees, in addition to a strong horticultural activity by the women for several decades now,” Sarjo Cham said.

Another legacy of Mahawa Cham was associated with the popular USAID funded food programme, which resulted in a mother’s club feeding project implemented by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in The Gambia. This has benefitted about a dozen surrounding villages that met at Masembeh, periodically to receive supplies meant for women and infants.

All of these happened before he joined politics. And when he did, it was the communities that came together and nominated him to replace the parliamentarian who died in a car crash. He became a natural choice for them based on decades of such community services.

Today, they remember him for so many of his roles, such as organizing grassroots football tournaments during the summer in Kiang East since the 90s. This is locally called Nawettan and brings teams from nearby villages to compete for a trophy.  Years after his death, the tournament is now named in his honour, Mahawa Cham Memorial Trophy.

Just like football, the Mahwaha Cham Memorial Welding Workshop, within a year, is already training kids in welding skills, besides apprenticeship opportunities given to some trained youths in the village. Community construction projects like the village’s market shed no longer has to be done in Soma, the nearest town about 20 kilometers away. Neither do building roofs, windows and doors.

“It is built in his name to bring such a crucial service closer to the people that Mahawa spent his life serving,” Sarjo said. “It is to honour the legacy of my brother; his life of service and sacrifice for Kiang and the Gambia,” he added.

Sarjo, who fully operating from abuilding purposely built for this workshop, heads five apprentices. They cut and bend irons, join them with such a mastery that buildings are roofed, windows are installed and doors are secured for the community.

Mahawa may not have lived longer to witness a Gambia without Yahya Jammeh. His legacy, however, will never be erased in the history of Kiang or The Gambia. In him, Kiang had produced a gentleman who didn’t stop at just serving the nation. Rather, he became a gentleman who sacrificed his life for The Gambia.