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Gambia News : Lang Tombong Tamba says he never had ambitions to become president
Former defence chief, Lang Tombong Tamba denied allegations of coup plot, said he had always been committed to the presidency of Professor Yahya Jammeh, and that relationship between him and other accused persons were professional.
The former chief of defence staff Lt. General Lang Tombong Tamba told a packed court yesterday that he never for once had any ambitions whatsoever to become the president of The Gambia.
Lang Tombong Tamba and seven other accused persons are standing trial before Justice Emmanuel Amadi of the Banjul High Court for attempting to overthrow the lawful and democratic government of The Gambia. While opening his defence, the former defence chief told the court that he joined the Gambia Armed Forces on August 1, 1986 as a recruit, and rose through the ranks to become a Lieutenant General.
He was also appointed as the chief of defense staff, a position he held until October 9, 2009 when he was removed. According to him, his responsibilities as the CDS were the administrative, operational and day to day running if the Gambia Armed Forces. He said the Gambia Armed Forces is composed of the Army, Navy and the National Guard and that the heads of these units reported to him, and ihe in turn report to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
He noted that at the time he was the deputy CDS, he was instrumental in foiling a coup attempt of 21 March 2006, and that he had led a team of loyal soldiers and officers to foil the coup at a time the President and Commander in Chief of the Gambia Armed Forces was on an oversea trip to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. He said the soldiers and officers that he led to foil the said coup on the 21st march, 2006 were Brigadier General Omar Bun Mbaye (2nd accused person), Lt. Colonel Lamin Bo Badjie (3rd accused person), Lt. Colonel Kawsu Camara (4th accused person) and some of the officers are still serving in the Gambia Armed Forces.
He stated that he knows the capacity of the Gambia Armed forces as a CDS and that he knows all the barracks which were part of his details. He said he used to conduct a tour to those barracks in order to familiarize himself with the personnel and to know the logistic requirements that those barracks need.
The defense counsel Lawyer SM Tambedou at this point asked him whether it is possible for 300 trained mercenaries can carry out coup plot in the Gambia. However, the DPP Richard Chenge objected to the question on the grounds that the said question was an opinion.
Before the defense counsel would reply this, the 1st accused person, Lang Tombong Tamba asked the court to compel the prison official standing guard behind him to relax, saying that he is not a criminal and he is not going to run.
The case continued as the defense counsel told the court that his earlier question was not an opinion as the accused person would reflect on his knowledge of the capacity of the Army to answer the question. T
he presiding judge stepped in by overruling the defense counsel’s question. Continuing his defense, the former CDS told the court that there had been about five coup attempts against the president since July 22, 1994. He said he had never been implicated in any coup attempt. “My relationship with the commander in chief of Gambia Armed Forces has been very cordial and I see him as a brother. I was trained and brought up by him in the Gambia Armed forces and also served under him before he became the president and as well as when he became a president. I have served as commander of State Guard for a period of 7 years.
I was responsible for all the security personnel who were providing security for the president and in other words, I was the head of his personal security for 7 years,” Tamba stated. He denied PW2 Rui Jabbi Gassama’s evidence that his (Lang) motive of planning a coup was because His Excellency was promoting women and appointing them in key positions.
He said this was not true and he was never involved in any coup plot. He stated that the president is not promoting women at the expense of the men in the Gambia Armed Forces. He told the court that during his tenure as CDS, women were promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lt. Colonel and Colonel. “So I had no cause to therefore hate the president for promoting women on top of men much more to talk about overthrowing him.
I have no ambition to become a president. I was highly involved in supporting activities and I was one time the 1st vice president of GFA. “I was the FIFA GFA security officer and the president of GNOC and also NISA. At the time I was a FIFA security and I have a deputy named Modou Gaye (5th accused person).
I later handed over to him when I was elected as the 1st vice president of GFA. As the head of FIFA GFA security officer, I was responsible for all the security arrangement during local and international marches. I worked closely with Modou Gaye (5th accused person) and we had always been in touch by telephone,” former CDS said.
He stated that Modou Gaye (5th accused person) was one time his instructor when he was recruited in the GAF and he trained him at the training school and that after graduating from the training school, he served under him. He said when Modou Gaye was deputy IGP and he was CDS, he had closely worked with him especially on occasions that he represented the IGP. He said they also communicated when he was CDS but their communication ceased when he was removed as CDS.
He narrated that their communication was purely on operational matters, that is if the president was to travel and he had a message for IGP but could not reach him and that he passed the message to former deputy IGP. “When a soldier was arrested by police for a certain reason and I cannot reach to IGP, I passed the message to him. When both of us were at the football association, I called former deputy IGP on many occasions on mobile phone to give him certain instructions with regard to security arrangement for football matches.
I have never discussed anything with the 5th accused person Modou Gaye other than what I have stated.” He narrated that the 5th accused person Modou Gaye visited him in Kololi a day after Tobaski in 2008 on his (Lang) invitation. He said he invited all the service chiefs namely IGP, NIA director, Immigration director, director general Prison, Chief of Fire Service, director, Gambia Revenue Authority, chief of Army staff, chief of Naval staff, chief of National Guard with all their deputies and the senior members of the Gambia Armed Forces in honour of Pakistan military advisory team.
He said the 5th accused person Modou Gaye was among those people and that he never attended any meetings with any of the accused persons in his residence to plan a coup plot. He denied that he ever conspired with 5th accused person Modou Gaye to overthrow the democratically elected government of The Gambia. The case was adjourned till Friday 21st May, 2010 for continuation.
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- all ways think about disappointment.if you disappointe people one day you would be disappointed and LANG TOMBONG TAMBA definatly disappointe us.but we knews that one will come for him.
(Posted on June 16, 2010, 9:38 AM pk tamba)
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