Former Police Commissioner Paa Amady Jallow TRRC Witness Testimony made an inspiring and persuasive testimony on how the West African Migrants were arrested and killed. He uses the three forms of persuasion of public speaking elements: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos in his testimony.

I am moved and overwhelmed by the words and narratives of your testimony; watching your witness testimony at the Truth Reconciliation and Repatriation Commission (TRRC) hearings has great empathy, a balancing act for emotional intelligence and sympathy.

In my opinion, you gave a very accurate and compelling testimony. To my mind, something horrible has happened to those West African migrants allegedly killed in The Gambia. I find your witness testimony emotional and sympathetic. Anyone can be critical or not, but it is different after hearing your moving testimony.

You gave a narrative to the TRRC. You gave a story to the Gambian people. You reported to the whole world. You gave a record through your testimony for posterity. You butted up against a pretty seasoned prosecutor.

Moreover, your narratives can be reconciled, and they are “concordant” and “accompanying.” You did not contradict each other, the lead counsel, and that is supposed to corroborate. 

Here you are incredibly believable. Your testimony before the Truth Reconciliation and Reparation Commission( (TRRC) was inspiring and persuasive in how you narrated your role as police investigator representing the Inspector General of Police on account of how those West African migrants were allegedly massacred in the Gambia. 

Your role as the preliminary and supplementary lead investigator of alleged killings of those migrants and how your successful career in the law enforcement – the Gambia Police Force ending too early before your retirement and joining the United Nations policing mandate of Sudan is dominated by ethos (appeal to trust and authority) and pathos (appeal to emotions) reasons for unintentional crying when you cast your mind on the dead bodies found. 

However, I can also find some examples of logos (appeal to logic). Yet as the logic behind your argument, you proffered on your points to seem so straightforward and commanding that your audiences ( TRRC and the people watching on television and online), especially the lead counsel and commission that they cannot conceive your testimony as an alternative truth. 

You appeal to logic by relying on the audience’s bits of intelligence, the lead counsel, and the commissioners and offering evidence in support of your argument. 

You also developed ethos because the information makes you look knowledgeable. Sometimes, these modes of persuasion are mixed; for example, when you mentioned dead bodies found at the beach, your interview with the Daily Observer reporter Lamin Cham that the whole episode of “is a foul play” and attached great values promote, to be honest, and professional. 

In this case, you use both ethos, as you appeal to authority that justice must be served, and pathos, as you seek to stir the audience’s emotions toward justice before reconciliation. You also appeal to logos when you make logical connections between ideas or mentions facts supporting your views.

Your testimony was overly emotional, too raw, and extremely credible as far as I am concerned. Nobody could listen to your delivery of those words and talk about your police career frustration and its impact on your life and your family. 

You gave your heart to your work. You were traumatized by eight dead bodies found on the beach and pushed back on the idea that the gaps in your memory during your testimony were evidence of accuracy and credibility. Instead, you were common among victims of the previous regime.

Throughout your testimony, you appeal to trust and authority to mark the importance of honesty, justice, truth, and professionalism and give weight to your appeal to a more unified society.

By Alagi Yorro Jallow