Exactly a year today (23/07/2005), 44 Ghanaians were either killed or went missing in The Gambia. These were not Ghanaians resident in The Gambia but were in transit together with other West Africans mainly from Nigeria and Senegal to Europe by sea.

Whereas it is important to address the issues that make our citizens to embark on such adventures to seek greener pastures, it is equally important to show that our citizens are our valuable assets no matter where they live or who they are.

We cannot forget that Ghanaian Governments have responded commendably to similar situations especially those that have occurred in other African countries such as Libya, La Cote D'voire and Nigeria. Just last week, our government also took the right step to initiate action to evacuate Ghanaians stranded in Lebanon.

However, with regards to the carnage in The Gambia, the action of our government leaves much to be desired. It does seem that investigations into the issue has died by the government failure to brief Ghanaians regularly on progress that is being made. For instance, when human right groups in The Gambia orchestrated the release of 4 of the surviving victims from Gambia jails recently, our government failed to inform the public and use the opportunity to brief us on the state of investigations. Our government also failed to use the recent AU summit in The Gambia to draw attention of the African leadership to the matter and express its disappointment with the uncooperative attitude of The Gambia government towards the investigations into the matter. Instead we only saw our government officials hiding behind the diplomatic curtain to merrily share jokes and parties with Gambian government officials.No wonder some Ghanaians in the Gambia are suspecting some "hand shakes" have taken place in the dark.

Could our government not have done better considering the facts on the ground before The President of Ghana sent a powerful delegation led by the Foreign Minister to The Gambia to address the situation last year?

Not less than 54 people were arrested and were last seen in the hands of the Gambia security officials.

The elders of Ghana Town (Ghanaian settlement in Gambia) handed 2 people who escaped the carnage to The Gambia police at Ghana Town on the 24/07/2005. The 2 were part of a group of 11, who witnessed the murder of the first 8 victims before they managed to escape.

The Gambian Government claims they have released the two survivors when the Ghanaian investigators and our foreign minister demanded to see them. Who is going to believe such an open lie? Does it make sense to release them when they are not legal residents and were the main witnesses of the murder case? If they were released, how come that up till now they have not been able to make contact with any of their family members, friends in The Gambia, Ghana Consular Officials, Elders of the Ghana community in Ghana etc.? Is it not obvious that Gambian officials are trying to bury evidence by either killing these survivors as well or hiding them somewhere in the country?

Another group of 3 escapees (escaped before the kills) were handed over to the Gambian police by the Ghanaian consular and his team. The Gambian government again claims they have released these survivors too when Ghanaian investigators demanded for them.

In this kind of situation, can these people be released or deported without a shade of evidence and in the absence of Ghana consular officials especially considering that they are illegal immigrants?

The Gambian government has also been clamping down on any local newspaper or journalists that publish any story on the carnage all in the attempt to kill the issue. The Independent and Daily Express newspapers were forcibly closed down for publishing stories on the issue and the editors put into detention.

So far, the Ghanaian Government has confirmed 44 of the 54 were Ghanaians and that they were either missing or killed. Who did the killing and why has not been made public or known?. Some contacts have been made with some of the relatives of those who were known to have died.

The time has come for our government to call a spade a spade. It must expedite action and attach the right importance to this issue. Our government must bring this issue to the attention of the international community including the United Nations and the African Union and must apply the necessary pressure on The Gambian government to co-operate in the investigations. The remains of the dead must be brought home for burial and the Gambia government must be taken to task to publicly apologise to the Ghanaian people and the right compensation paid to the relatives of the victims.

Our government must show us the value of our citizenship.