Deyda Hydara did not die a natural death: somebody somewhere felt he deserved to die and then plotted to get him murdered in cold blood on the 13th anniversary of The Point newspaper – 16 December 2004. And that person is still at large, probably reading this piece. It is a searing indictment of the system that the killer of Deyda Hydara is yet to be tracked down and punished after three years.

As we mark the third anniversary of his murder on Sunday, 16 December, we urge the Gambia Government to use all its resources to get to the root of the dastardly act that was committed three years ago. We have been expecting the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the investigating authority, to give us a pleasant surprise this year by announcing Deyda Hydara’s murderer or murderers. But all we have got as yet is silence – deep and mysterious silence. 

The NIA owes it to the people of this country and to the international image of the Gambia to resume its investigation into the murder of this law-abiding citizen, who spoke up in defence of the voiceless and the powerless in our society. It is not enough for them to come up with a preliminary report that is deeply flawed by absurdities. It is not enough for them to blame Deyda Hydara for his own death. Being trained investigators, they should not tell us about the clues they have stumbled upon; instead, they should discreetly follow them up and see whether they could help them to penetrate the supposed mystery of Deyda Hydara’s cold-blooded murder.
To insinuate that Deyda Hydara was inadvertently responsible for his own death is to sidestep the issue at stake. The issue at stake is that somebody shot Deyda Hydara dead on the night of 13 December 2004, as he drove home from work. It is that person that the NIA must find and make to face the music. 

Even if the NIA fails to get to the bottom of this most heinous crime against an innocent citizen of the Gambia at this point in time, we take solace in the fact that time exposes every falsehood; no secret stays hidden forever. The truth of Deyda Hydara’s murder, no matter how long it is concealed, shall be known someday to the eternal shame and disgrace of his assassins and their cohorts! Those who have Deyda Hydara’s blood in their hands shall never ever sleep the sleep of the just – they murdered sleep and they shall sleep no more!