GTTI law students Victims of miscomprehension

They were only doing what we call practicals. They were acting. And, unfortunately, they were misunderstood.

Last week GRTS television broke a long standing tradition. For the first time since it inception, the country’s TV crew of reporters was allowed into an unusual courtroom setting.

With their camera on, they made available the first opportunity for many Gambians, myself included, to grasp a view of the inside of a court of law in session. The real awe of the day was in fact not the presence of the TV camera in court. The law students’ society of GTTI had conceived a mock trial.

This means that students studying law at the school would act various positions in court; from prosecutors and defense lawyers, to defendants. By the accounts of those present, and indeed from what we saw on TV reports, the students lived up to expectation. You couldn’t tell if they were in fact students. But the prize was extremely dear for two of them, Kuta Balde and Charles Nzally.

Ms Kuta Balde, a young, beautiful lady, acted as the thief in the first trial. She was said to have stolen a mobile phone, while Mr Charles Nzally, quite a young and handsome boy, acted as the murderer in the second trial.

Presided over by Magistrates Mboto of the Kanifing Magistrates court, both cases went on smoothly. While the first trial, the theft case, was completed, and the accused sentenced to a jail term with an option of payment of a fine; the second one, the murder case, was adjourned to a later date and the presumed murderer bailed.

No sooner the students left the premises of Kanifing than calls and finger pointing ensued. Apparently people had misinterpreted the whole story, misrepresenting the genuine intent of a students group, preoccupied with a purposeful mission. As in the words of the president of the GTTI law students’ society, Mr Famara Singhateh: "we did not know the extent to which this could destroy our images."

For Ms Kuta Balde, "surprise, confusion and shame" are wrecking her persona apart. She believes that what has happened was the work of the few educated people in the society.

After news cast on GRTS it is the people that understand English that explain to those that do not understand it. Therefore, according to her, the so-called educated people take responsibility for this odious misinterpretation.

"We were only acting as prosecutors, defense lawyers and defendants, but unfortunately, because of misunderstanding, people out there see us as thieves and murderers." She is unforgiving for what she calls, illiteracy on the part of the educated few within the society, whom she said are responsible for misconstruing the whole tale.

Kuta’s kinsmen back home in Basse could not fathom why their daughter could steal a mobile. She went through a hell lot of pains trying to explain that it was only a kind of a theatre, that they actually did not commit the crimes. But she found that even on the streets, people point fingers at her as she passes, and that she still gets calls from relatives.

 She recounted that her uncle abroad called her, saying that he had received information that she (Kuta) had stolen a mobile. She said: "I have come to realize that some Gambians do not long for good things about others. If it were that I had been appointed as an SOS, my uncle would surely have learnt about that from me. But self-styled messengers only enjoy conveying bad news more than anything else."
 
Like Kuta, Charles Nzally, the student that acted as the murderer, finger pointing while walking in the streets has been a commonplace. "The worst thing that happened to me", he told me, "was that I was at home when a group of elderly people called at my father’s asking him if I was still in Mile 2." Charles said that he had to make it a point of going about to all the people he knows, letting them see him and know that he was not in detention.
 
The story was equally so for many other students who took part in the trial, including Yusupha Daffe, who acted as the Defense witness. During the mock trial, Daffeh gave his identity as a Christian and the Chief Security at the Youth Monument. "And in actual fact", he stressed, "I am neither Christian, nor do I work at the Youth Monument." Like his colleagues, he expressed disappointment about the manner the public has dealt with their story.

Students’ president, Abdoulie Singhateh, was however proud of his colleagues’ performance. He said that this was not the first time they had done such an exhibition, but that it was the first time GRTS had aired their proceedings.

"There is no difference between what we did in the past and this one, except that the last one was well organized. He boasted that it was the first time they started a case and closed it, as it happened in the case of the theft trial.

Mr Singhateh was not sure, however, if the act of misconstruing should be blamed on "the viewers or the newsmen." He further went on to say that it was of no interest for students who were looking forward to becoming lawyers to indulge themselves in criminal activities. "We did not know the extent to which this talent exhibition can destroy our images", he posited.

Another student, Sannah Sawaneh, who acted as the prosecutor, acknowledged that there was a big lesson for them to learn from this experience. He was, however, also upbeat about their performance. He said it show cases and exhibits their talents as lawyers, and that it demonstrates that they are as cable to take up their responsibilities as any body would in the field.

Beneath the flare, I sense the intent of the young law students. Apparently, they feel edgy about what they see as societal misconception about their capabilities. A case in point is the long standing issue of entry into the University of the Gambia Law Department.

As far as they are concerned, it is incomprehensible as to why universities and colleges in the western world could admit them directly from GTTI for LLB, while their own UTG can not see reason to do so, because they do not have credit in certain subjects. In the words of students’ president Singhateh: "we understand that it is a matter policy and we respect it.

We do hope, however, that some day it will be reconsidered." Singhateh and his colleagues, admittedly full of wisdom, have a lot in stock for the general public. His only regret, seemingly, is that their term of office was coming to an end. But he has the strong conviction that their predecessors would fulfill their mission.