An Open Letter to Ba Tambadou: A Cry for Justice, Fairness, and Reflection.

I watched with mixed emotions as you appeared on For the People and By the People Show, declaring that you had no evidence to believe Alhagi Kurang’s claims, and that the public is merely “running with the allegations” found in “The Republic” article about you.

 I listened to you speak about due process, about evidence, and about how dangerous it is to condemn someone without proof and you further stated almost through tears about how your name was dragged through the mud.

But I couldn’t help but feel my chest tighten with a familiar pain because you once did exactly that to me in 2019 when you rushed to make a public statement on my person as Minster of justice. Did you give me more time ?

You now asking for Mustapha Darboe to have given you a bit more time. But when you were in a position to do same did you?

You, Mr. Tambadou, issued a premature press release against me without a shred of evidence. You didn’t call for an investigation. You didn’t ask for the facts. You didn’t extend to me even a fraction of the caution you now demand for yourself.

You did not protect my presumption of innocence, nor did you seek justice in its truest form. Instead, tlyou constituted a police investigation panel ebfore a singke offical compalint was made against me,you opened a public telephone line housed at the Justice Ministry inviting the country to accuse me openly and anonymously. You turned me into a headline before I had a chance to speak.

Now, I ask you Ba: Why didn’t you ask those girls to go to the police with their claims if they were serious? Why didn’t you wait for evidence? Why didn’t you urge restraint or thorough examination before branding me in public? Did my employer protect my right to fair justice? Did you as chief legal adviser to my employer sought to protect my constitutional rights ?

You ran away with unsubstantiated social media allegations with absolutely no shred of evidence whatsoever and in my life time I have watched you shed tears publicly twice when same was done to you. First with the diplomatic passport scandal and now with the “wanterring” of Jammeh assets of which your were the chief supervisor by virtue of your position as Justice Minister.

You stood then as the gatekeeper of justice, and in that moment, you wielded power not to protect the innocent or punish the guilty, but to react to noise, to fear optics, to act politically at my expense. You didn’t give a heck about my person or my career or even the pain I and my family had to go through.

And now that the noise has turned toward you, suddenly due process matters. Suddenly, we must be cautious. Suddenly, we must be principled. Where were those principles when I needed them?

I write this not to see you fall. I take no joy in your pain. But I need you to know that justice is not a garment we wear only when convenient.

 It’s a sacred duty. You taught me, through your actions, how deeply it hurts when those with power wield it carelessly.

You owe me not just an apology, but a reckoning.

You owe this country a commitment to fairness that does not sway with public opinion or personal position.

You spoke on national television. Now hear this: I too am a citizen. I too deserve dignity. And I will not be forgotten in the name of your redemption.

With truth and pain,

Melville Robertson Roberts Esq.

Derbyshire

England