FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
Fabakary B. Ceesay
3 July 2009
The protracted legal battle, involving the State and the family members of Mr. Kanyiba Kanyi, for the release of the latter from unknown custody since 18th September 2006, on Wednesday, 1 July, suffered another delay as the State failed to respond yet again to the request filed by applicant's counsel, Ousainou Darboe. The state has, on several occasions, failed to respond to the allegation that Kanyiba is in its custody and that the Court should order it to produce him.
When the matter was called at the Banjul High Court before Justice Wowo, on Wednesday, the Principal State Counsel, Mrs. Marley Wood, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), craved for the indulgence of the Court to grant the state an adjournment adding that the DPP was indisposed; that the DPP has asked for an adjournment for him to submit his report to the Court on the matter.
The applicant's counsel, Lawyer Darboe, did not object to the request made by the State. The application for an adjournment to enable the DPP to appear in court with his report was consequently granted by the judge.
It could be recalled that Mr. Kanyiba Kanyi, an employee of the Christian Children Fund (CCF), was said to have been arrested at his home in Bonto village, Kombo East, on the 18th September 2006, by security agents and could not be traced since then. His family took a lawyer, in late 2006, and then filed a "Habeas Corpus" (to produce him) against the State, specifically for the Attorney General, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to produce Kanyiba or released him custody. The State has always denied involvement and the matter continues to drag from one judge to another.
Since late 2006, three different judges had presided over the case. It was first taken before Justice Sanji Monageng and then to Justice Mabel M. Yamoa Agyemang and now Justice Joseph Wowo. Both judges Monageng and Agyemang have raised their concerns as to why the State has not been complying with the orders issued by court for the release of Mr. Kanyi. On the case, Justice Monageng had stated that "Human beings cannot disappear from the face of the earth like that," whilst Justice Agyemang also stated, "It is disappointing that court orders are flouted like that."
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