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It was hard to believe that Her Excellency, Vice President Dr Isatou Touray also tried to dribble pass Honorable Halifa Sallah in a bid to seek the endorsement of the National Assembly (NA) in a second attempt for the appointment of an Ombudsman after the great Honorable Justice Minister Tambadou was last week tackled to a halt by the Serekunda East Lawmaker in a similar venture. Anyway unlike the combative justice minister who feebly tried without success to kick his way through, Miss Air Brussels ( as nicknamed in Hon. Demba Jawo’s book) never put up any counterargument but defeatedly walked away especially when the speaker Hon. Denton promptly adjudicated for the proper procedure. What a great team the Gambians have in the PDOIS NAMs who will not hesitate to challenge anything or anyone contradicting or violating the tenets of the constitution. Notwithstanding, I am still awaiting their move to address the illegality of the presence of ECOMIG/Senegalese combat troops in Foni Gambia that I still believe is unconstitutional, a threat to our national security and an abdication of our sovereignty to foreign nations. Damn, those murderers who killed Harona Jatta while the incident is still treated as nothing had happened.
Wasn’t Honorable Sedia Jatta phenomenal for openly admonishing the government to stop the heartless waste of the country’s meager resources on expensive luxury vehicles for their personal errands when the nation’s hospitals are still under equipped and without ambulances?
He probably doesn’t know, but it is now an open secret that President Adama Barrow has recently purchased 30 brand new vehicles for the “christening ceremony” of his newly formed political party, the NPP when there are no ventilators, adequate dialysis machines and simple thermometers in our hospitals and clinics at this critical moment. If it is within their jurisdiction, I will suggest a probe by the NA for a government printout of the money frittered away by greedy officials on per diems. It will give the nation a clear view of how economically destructive these vampires have been in these past three years. Hopefully the Gambia will reprioritize their prime concerns after the end of this pandemic.
Last week American immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci and New York governor Andrew Cuomo this week were asked the same question on when things are expected to return to normalcy in the USA in the wake of COVID-19 and they both responded similarly forewarning that the world and the USA may never again be back to the kind of normalcy we used to know after everything is over. They were further identical in recognizing the brokenness of the system they thought was so perfect but was laid bare before the whole world, thanks to the outbreak of the pandemic. That the people of color and minorities have been disproportionately killed by the virus when whites constitute the majority of the population. A lot of it is blamed on their disadvantageous social, educational and economic status pervasively institutionalized in the racist US system although supposedly unconstitutional. Governor Cuomo in particular thinks Americans should after this, holistically focus on addressing this unsustainable disparity time at striking a racial equilibrium.
I wish the Gambians will however take note and understand that after going through three years of subjectively redefining the Gambia’s political history, the current objective realities of our national shortcomings exposed by the global pandemic, deserved greater attention and wiser investment than the time and resources unwisely spent on fraudulent priorities.
Amazingly, the subjective concept that the Gambia’s 1997 constitution was all flawed and needed total overhauling by “chosen experts” for a new one at the cost of GMD 116 million is now being criticized by legal scholars like Lawyer Lamin Darbo as a mere plagiarized document. I am yet to read his paper but going through the critical analysis of its content by one Pa Louis Sambou in an article captioned The Finished Draft Constitution: A Long Overdue Lifeline or A Deadly Sinker, published by the Freedom Newspaper on April 6, 2020, I couldn’t but think that the whole exercise was another scam by a few to just rip off the nation.
Objectively the country’s health sector in particularly has been hemorrhaging into almost a coma and therefore was totally unjustifiable to spend that huge amount on few parasites for a job that may end up in the trash can. The amendments desired by the people in the 1997 constitution as highlighted in Mr. Sambou’s article were to re-contextualize the “Absence of state neutrality on religion, Unreasonable restriction to candidacy for the presidency, Executive excesses of the Presidency and the Perpetual occupancy of the office, Absence of legislative and judicial independence, Absence of press freedom and respect for civil liberties, Absence of effective Executive oversight”. Under thorough scrutiny, Mr. Sambou brilliantly illustrated how all the above objectives and more were either inadequately treated, impractical for implementation, contradictory in nature, an affront to international law and in particular to the Gambians in the diaspora or being just flat out dumb for the Gambians to endorse the 176 page charter. I recommend every Gambian to read the informative piece and will even plead with Mr. Pa Nderry Mbai to republish the paper for wider readership.
It seemed like just another waste of time and resources in an exercise that could have been done at the National Assembly with a fraction of its cost.
Invariably, our audit department could have done the work of the Janneh commission and saved us millions of dalasis while the AMRC handled the properties of Ex-President Jammeh, cheaper with better transparency and accountability.
As for the TRRC, other than entertaining the country with television and radio shows that only divided the country rather than truthfully reconciling us, I believe it was also another exercise that wasted the time of Gambians and squandered more resources that could have been plowed on better things.
The last three years were supposed to be an unprecedented golden period for Gambians; but one wonders whether what eventually prevailed was a mere fundamental shift in the currents of our history or an ephemeral vortex of good fortune.
Gambians were supposed to be dancing in the streets, thanking Allah for the good fortune of replacing a “dictator” with a perfect democrat. Instead, many Gambians are now furious and want another regime change by any means possible and as soon as possible. They are no longer comparing their bad fortunes under Jammeh to anything good under Barrow but rather their miserable and deteriorating conditions under this new regime different from that of their gratified contemporaries in the sub-region. Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal have offered their citizens free electricity and water supply for few months during this crisis while the Gambians are left in the woods to fetch for themselves because what should have been there in the reserves for a rainy day had been paid to Air Brussels and cashed on per diems.
I listened to an audio supposedly made by the Imam of Sukuta, Imam Baye, condemning the government for closing his mosques because of the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that it is Allah who brought the disease on his earth and can only be taken away by him. Hence it is illegal and ungodly to close the “house” of Allah where he felt everybody should now be congregating more and in larger numbers to pray for his mercy in these trying times. Actually, that was not the first audio I have heard trending on social media from angry Gambians denouncing the government for shutting down the houses of worship in the country due to the pandemic. To these people it is all about maltreating the poor and the underprivileged. That there is nothing significant to warrant such drastic measures. Conspiracy theories are being disseminated all over the world confusing even the most educated and sophisticated on what to believe or disbelieve about the origin and effect of the pandemic. And with only four cases in the Gambia, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the ordinary people suffering the brunt of its economic hardship to continue obeying the dictum.
Most Gambians have started defying the shutdown injunction meaning that if not enforceable the government will only prove its weakness or incompetence.
It is further exacerbated by the plausible criticism that this corrupt and wasteful government is up to no good other than on a ploy to get more foreign aid for their personal benefit.
Besides, they can no longer differentiate the Barrow government’s meddling in the religious affairs of the Gambians from that of Ex-President Jammeh’s who was brutally demonized at the TRRC for a similar action except that this is more globalized.
Remember when Jammeh wanted to use a scientific rationalization to have the Gambians agree to permanently observe the Eid prayers on a single day and stop the communal dispute on praying at different dates that at times would require government workers absenting from work for three consecutive days of public holidays? Politically inclined imams were encouraged by so-called human rights activists to defy the scientific reasoning by attacking the government for interfering in the people’s private religious affairs, despite its unsustainable and rather negative impact to the economy.
Logically, if countries eight hours in time difference with Saudi Arabia like the USA could agree to pray the same day with Mecca, why would Gambians disagree with Mecca only three hours in time difference from Banjul? Waiting to see the moon to determine when to pray has long since been outdated by the scientific and digital world. What happens in Mecca now can simultaneously be seen and heard in Kartong, Farafenni and Koina within the second on a cell phone.
Hence when politically motivated individuals conspired to defy such government dictates beneficial to the common good of society, capitulating to few violators is as counterproductive as surrendering the authority of the government to destructive elements. Again, a government must be able to enforce its proclamation or be considered spineless or inept.
Just like we are seeing today, governments are going by science to shut down the mosques and churches in order to avoid potential harm to public health and of course to national economies. Nonetheless, many Gambians including certain religious leaders would have celebrated any political leader who would remove President Barrow’s government from office and replace it with one that will open the mosques and churches to normal congregations.
And they would be all thrilled and willing to have Essa Faal at a new TRRC to grill Yankuba Sonko, Yankuba Drammeh, Miss Air Brussels and even Adama Barrow to explain why the government violated the rights of the Gambian citizenry to worship Allah freely. That no matter what, government has no right whatsoever to intervene in the way people should worship, even if the nation’s economic life depended on it.
Measuring the activities of government from the yardstick of how a law firm, restaurant, academic institution, industrial plant or even international organizations should be managed is one big mistake we often make.
We ought to respect the hard fact that It is only governments that are endowed with the power and right to declare state of emergencies, curfews, martial laws and strictly enforce them for the welfare of a nation against the aspirations a tiny minority. In the process governments of course make mistakes that in the developed nations are considered normal, whereas in third world countries, are exploited by unscrupulous folks with the assistance of hypocritical foreigners to unnecessarily destroy their leaders and their nations.
George Bush invaded Iraq on what was later discovered to be bad intelligence that killed-in-Action over 5000 American servicemen, maimed thousands more and caused the suicide of uncountable number of post-traumatized ex-combatants not forgetting close to a million Iraqis killed and 2 million more displaced in refugee camps. Human rights campaigners demanded President Barack Obama who had all along opposed the Iraq war for its deception and recklessness to “TRRC” George Bush, but Obama new better at a time when the US economy was on a life support.
A TRRC against Bush would have been welcomed and very popular among many Americans and non-Americans alike; but it would have at best divided the nation and at worst tanked the US economy beyond recovery. Obama instead used the best aides of George Bush-not his Judases-to help his new government rebuild the economy to its best form and even became very friendly to the Bush family. That is how great nations are built in difficult times.
But just imagine the paradox of Gambians shedding crocodile tears when Jungler Omar Jallow aka Oya graphically explained how the late Baba Jobe was suffocated to death in his hospital bed and the same masses on another day showing their disgust when other Junglers said that their organization was formed by the same Baba Jobe and one Italian villain called Caso who trained them on how to kill enemies of the state. Is that a good or normal idea? Of course not. But is it a normal and standard government policy? Absolutely. What is also true in all rules of engagements is that illegal orders distinguishable from legal ones are illegal to obey; otherwise the executioner is as guilty as the commander who gave the orders. What about if Jammeh showed up and said that he had never ordered any Jungler to kill anybody just like Edward Singhateh did to escape any punishment on the killing of Koro Ceesay? Will he be treated like Edward Singhteh or like poor Yankuba Touray?
The CIA and America’s special forces kill thousands of people considered state enemies every year all over the world without George Bush, Barack Obama or Donald Trump losing any respect in the world. Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman runs a respectable government notorious for killing anyone proving to be a nuisance like in the case of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The crimes committed by America against humanity as categorized in such actions by international law should have had the International Criminal Court (ICC) put most American leaders behind bars, but who dares to talk about it much more to touch any of their war criminals? Ask the ICC prosecutors when they tried!
I was appalled by the story of how the late NIA boss Daba Marena and the late CDS Ndure Cham were killed but equally so when I learnt that they were behind the bad intelligence fed to President Jammeh that the Ghanaian immigrants captured in the country on July 23, 2005 were mercenaries paid to come and overthrow his government.
Be as it may it might always be a mystery or a subject of controversy among scholars still trying to establish the actual truth on how and why those foreigners were arrested and killed in the Gambia. If they were innocent travelers then the fault squarely rests in the hands of those service chiefs. But if they were mercenaries then they only had met the conventional fate of captured hired gunmen.
Coincidentally the month of July and in particular days before and after the 22nd were the most security-sensitive days in Jammeh’s calendar, not forgetting that Lt. L.F. Jammeh, Lt. Alieu Bah, Lt. Jarju and Sgt. Major Cham made an attempt to topple the regime on July 21, 1997 but could only kill two soldiers on patrol around Brikama before three of them were pursued and captured on their way back to Cassamance. By the way, those three officers were among the nine prisoners killed in 2012. The Junglers explained how former Justice Minister Lamin Jobarteh was present at the killing range but was never called for questioning at the TRRC because he is accordingly a lawyer and a close friend to the legal camarilla managing the TRRC and a blood brother to Mr Madi Jobarteh a very vocal human rights campaigner mortally opposed to everything that Jammeh had ever done as a leader.
Finally, the APRC was a civilian government that derived its original principal leaders from the AFPRC an organization of regime change founded in the military barracks and continued to maintain certain attributes of a military government characterized by a life and death rigmarole.
But I know that we have transcended that era like most African countries had and should have been easily remodeled into something better and inclusive instead of the dogmatic inclination to delegitimize the past up to surrendering our sovereignty to Senegal.
Thanks for reading, until next time. And I apologize to all readers offended.
Samsudeen Sarr
New York City