Call it the absurdity of the year! The Gambia’s press corps has been yearning for freedom of operation for decades and one would only assume that once that freedom is finally earned, they would cherish and protect it like a piece of diamond or the first born child of a Kanyelengwoman and name it Maabally (untouchable).

Alas, Gambians are good at endangering their own good fortune. Indeed we have witnessed several cases of individuals and entities throwing their very own victory right into the jaws of defeat in New Gambia, but the press as a group should know better; and definitely a group that is well placed to enlighten the masses should never be in want of wisdom as a collective entity.

So what went wrong at the nation’s apex body responsible for the welfare and protection of Journalists in this country?

Those who are familiar with the set up at the executive committee of the GPU would not be too surprised. Their carefully choreographed election surely delivered for the wheelers and dealers of the GPU when close friends captured the key positions as the top guns of the media union.

As if that is not enough of a risk for the effective running of the affairs of this institution of the most crucial importance to our nation building process, executive members started showing their political colours way too soon. It is an open secret that Gambians know exactly which political party key members of the GPU executive dally with. Indeed the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson is right “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

The recent verbal assault meted out to journalist Lamin Njie by the current President of The Gambia Press Union Sheriff Bojang Jr. on the sidelines of the Ya Kumba Jaiteh case at the Supreme Court revealed a lot. Why would an innocent request for an interview on a matter so critical evoke so much negative emotion and palpable sense of vengeance?

There are many cases exhibiting the inherent malaise within the top echelons of the GPU and the space here would not allow a full rendition but a recent case is worth a mention. A local journalist with close blood ties with the GPU leadership was caught trafficking drugs but once the incident happened there was a quick complot among the leading journalists to hush that news and indeed they succeeded in making sure that the case, that was dropped due to interference from relatives of that journalist in the government, was ‘silenced’. If this case involved a non-journalist, it would have been all over the Gambian news cycle and in search engines.

With all the whistle blowing about the abuse of human rights during the former regime, some major media houses played roles, active and tacit, in the suffering of certain victims but you can be rest assured that those matters regarding the press will be muted in our current TRRC process. The case of the late Ousman Koro Ceesay was ‘investigated’ by a particular newspaper and declared an accident at the time; but was this matter mentioned in the TRRC’s investigation of that particular incident so far? The late Famara Jatta was fried as Finance Minister thanks to a case of unprofessional journalistic conduct. Certain people fell victim to circumstances due to the unprofessional conduct of certain media houses; this is a known fact. But there was no admission of guilt or apology about such unfortunate incidents to date.

We must acknowledge that the President of the GPU did publicly apologise for his unwarranted toxic attack on a fellow journalist. Personally I am not calling for the GPU President to resign but the silence of the GPU as an institution in this matter is deafening.

If we must make genuine progress as a nation, those tasked with holding others to account must behave in ways above board by all means. I am hoping the GPU as an institution will rise up to the occasion and use this particular case as an opportunity for soul-searching and rectification.

We are all Gambians and we must nurture the spirit of magnanimity and empathy that is characteristic of us as a cultured nation. But truth must be told and accepted for what it is if our collective conscience should remain healthy and resilient.

Momodou Sabally

The Gambia’s Pen

It all had the ring of a soviet coup, political machinations of the Politburo, the death hand of courter comitas and perfect plot of backroom operators. If it was not true, it could have been taken straight from a non-fiction book on the wrangling and wrestling of power at the heart of the soviet union. Or from a highly sophisticated sci-fic novel. But it is true, and it is real: the sacking of Ousainou Darboe, the big beast of the UDP, with Amadou Sanneh and Lamin N Dibba from the government of Adama Barrow. The Gambian media, for once, like a thermostat, not a thermometer, was able to shape public opinion, not reflect it – a sign of how an independent media can inform the citizenry, keep the-powers-that-be accountable and strengthen democracy.

Last Monday, most of the newspapers splashed on rumours rumbling on social media: that President Barrow sacked his scared cow deputy Ousainou Darboe. Like Joseph Gobbles, the suave, savvy and smooth propagandist of Hitler, Ebrima Sankareh, Barrow’s spin doctor pirouetted: the story, he claimed, is “false”, cooked up from the figment of the overstretched imagination of people.

If it was an act of displacement activity, designed to distract his master’s prey from jumping the ship of state before being pushed, well he succeeded. And Darboe, his sharp political acumen betraying him, believed in the false sense of security he was lulled in. It is akin to having your lawn being packed with tanks pointed towards your direction for complete obliteration and annihilation, and being told “ hang on a minute, don’t read too much into it, because it is a simulation exercise, working out ways to rescue you when Armageddon struck.” For Barrow and his team, pulling this trick was a stroke of genius. For Darboe, it was political miscalculation over-masticated. How could he not see it coming?

For months relations between Barrow and Darboe were enveloped in envenoms chalice. As president and vice president, they cut an odd couple. That their bromance degenerated into such pitiful state was extraordinary. To Barrow, Darboe was a self-admitted political god-father. The latter saw the former as a protege who would parachute to the direction pushed towards. But power pinches a paroxysm of poison into what could have been a solid political partnership.

I used the cold war analogy in my previous article to put into sharp focus the power struggle going on between the two. Victory of the  first skirmish, no doubt after the successful putsch of Barrow’s team, belongs to them – yet. Brace yourself up Gambians, fastened your seatbelts and shot your heads towards the direction of travel, because the fight over who will control the wheels of state will drone on until 2021.

The starting pistol was fired after the firing of Darboe and his political chums. It might come as a surprise that Barrow wielded the political knife, and scalped the head of his political paterfamilias, rendering himself a political patricide. There will be howls of betrayal, cries of heresy and damnation of apostasy against him for doing so. But are they justified? Are they politically sound? Could he not live with the causation and forget about the consequences his frosty relationship with Darboe wrought? To the eye of the politically uninitiated, the simple and straightforward answer would be: cohabitation, not casus belli, should be the modus vevendi. How wrong! To come to such black and white conclusions, risks being wrapped and woofed, into – to use the former British Prime Minister who deftly lifted the political fortunes of the political left moulding “the white heat of technology” in its favor , Harold Wilson’s phrase – you are either a charlatan or a simpleton. The former is risible. But the latter is reprehensible.

In our presidential system of government, like any of its kind around the world, there should be complete confidence and trust between the president and his deputy. The vice president serves at the pleasure of the president, must command his/her full confidence and abide by collective cabinet responsibility. To have a rivaled power block within government shatters the authority of the president, fatally undermines the authority to get things done and paralyses the machine of state. The buck stops with the president. The clue is in the name: the president presides, and the government governs. The vice president is like the other half of the president, responsible for deputising where instructed and authorized to. That was precisely why Barrow’s decision to sack Darboe was as bold as it was bang on point. By doing so, he has signaled to Gambians and the wider world that, contrary to conventional wisdom, he is not a  touchy-feely headless chicken. He has shown that his famous death stare exudes determination, his sombre face seriousness, his slow purposeful steps practicality and his clip responses in conversations a solipsistic sphinx with a riddle.

He could have decided, as president, to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to his authority being shredded, but he acted decisively, putting paid to that. He proves that he is made of steel, had balls of steel and a ruthless streak to unleash when push comes too shove. For days – weeks, even, it seems – he has been wrestling with the Shakespearian dilemma: to be, or not to be? To fire Ousainou Darboe or not? The decision to get rid of Darboe was a difficult decision, hence, as he pondered about the enormity of it, he dithered, equivocated and tergiversated. Like a Trappist Monk used to paying homage to a useful God that has gone rogue, diminishing any lingering hope and decimating trust – cornerstone foundation for faith – he turned against a Jupitererain salvation. No one can accuse him of not reaching out: he did extend a hand of friendship and frisson to Darboe and other UDP officials jailed by former president Yahya Jammeh on frivolous charges, after taking over power, using his presidential prerogative of mercy.

One reality of leadership is to face up to opponents, faces them down and fences them off. Ducking or diving from it is irresponsible and could lit the chateau castle of political power in flames. Politicians are, should be, realist, not fantasist fitting their political aprons on fantastical fictions. Reality is the yin and yan. You have got to have your feet on the ground, ears in the air and eyes on the horizon to be in tuned, on time and on target. As the leading American 20th century philosophical science fiction writer, Philip K Dick, stirringly quipped: “Reality is that, which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” That is the cue: if you believes in something, you have got to have the courage of your conviction, and do what is right, with the capacity to convince to hammer home your reasons to the people.

The tussle between Barrow and Darboe reflected a battle between two strands of the UDP: the purist and the pragmatist. The purist wants to detoxify the government, and its institutions, from anything reeking of Jammeh’s vestiges. While the pragmatist – and Barrow belongs to this camp, as inferred from his public stance and statements – wanted to bury the hatchet of the past, focuses on challenges of the here and now, and get on with the job. It is the right approach. Even though it exposes the pragmatist to flaks of renegade revolutionalits, they are the sensibles going with the wind of history. Because the mandate given to the president from Gambians in 2016, under a coalition ticket, was for him to be president for all Gambians, not a partisan person. In twisting the knife on Darboe and co. he fulfilled his duty and responsibility to Gambians.

There is no point having epicaricatic delectation over the political misfortune of the political dinosaur, Darboe. He has been in the political jungle long enough to see this as a blip, a flash in the pound that will come to pass.  Down but not yet out of the political game, history records that his party still commands majority support in the country post-Jammeh. If the country is to go for election tomorrow, he will be swept to power in a resounding victory.

It is a straight fight for the heart and soul of The Gambia between Barrow and Darboe. Forget about Barrow’s Youth Movement. It is a fig leaf for the political vehicle he will ride on to fight re-election. If proof was ever needed: his decision to fire Darboe, throwing caution out of the window. Battled-hardened, ready and willing: he has signaled readiness to  go mano-to-mano with his former party, with all the consequences that entails. Political spectators, the race bell for the 2021 presidential election has tolled: on you marks, get ready, go! To quote the former French king Louis XV ( 1710-1774), who, so cocksure about his indispensability, simpered: “Apres moi, le deluge (which roughly translates after him, the flood, meaning  France would plunge into chaos). After the Barrow v.s Darboe showdown, expect both flood and political earthquake!

Amadou Camara Studied Political Science at University of The Gambia, and Currently Resides in The United States

By: Ousainou Mbenga

From the Gambian front of the African revolution, we want to inform President Adama Barrow that his braggadocious claim of being more powerful than Jammeh because he has the Gambia National Army (GNA), Police Intervention Unit (PIU), State Intelligence Service (SIS) and ECOMIG behind him is a delusion of grandeur. It was the Gambian masses whovoted you into office and not your state instruments of repressionand you betrayed them.

The presence of ECOMIG with your previous ‘Jungler’ – NIA infested national security and even yourrecently exposed gun-slinging ‘sponsor’, Abdourahman Jawara can’t intimidate the increasingly disgusted and betrayed Gambian masses. If you really want to hear the masses views; you haven’t done anything. Yourincreasing exhibits of power drunktendencies comes asno surprise. It is typical of the treacherous African petit bourgeoisie and its aspirants such as yourself. In just two years, you and your hungry pack of “get rich quick” administration are undoubtedly inspired by the rabid aspirations to build individual wealth at the expense of our impoverished and crippled Gambia.

Many among us never expected your regime to “drain the swamp” that Jammeh had turned Gambia into. Instead you protected and continue to dirty up the swamp with your selective and disingenuous constitutional reforms such as the “age limit” for the presidency while the repressive “public order act” is entrenched. Furthermore, you expose our veins for anyone to draw and drink the blood of the suffering masses in the name of “foreign investments” with the deliberate exclusion of the sons and daughters of our beloved Gambia as “local initiatives” for genuine and sustainable development.

Consequently, the Chinese, Indians, “newLebanese”, Turkish and a host of other unscrupulous investors control the livelihood of our people with no relief in sight. Your belief that these unscrupulous “foreign investors” are the solution to our wretched social conditions exposes your gullibility and “leadership” of questionable integrity. And itconfirms your treacherous intentions to only accumulate personal wealth and further cripple our beloved Gambia. The environmental degradation on land, sea and air are of no concern to your mal-administration. You continue to call upon the “diaspora” including exiles to return and contribute their “quotas”. But what will they return to? The foul swamp you adopted from Jammeh? The “diaspora” is now aware of your game and finally realize their blunder in your rise to power.

        THE SCRIPT IS FLIPPED!

Now that the Barrow / UDP hegemony (regime) is in a state of dissension, whether perceived or that it’s just our imagination as some “militants” would want us to believe, we see it as a  vindication from our informed analysis of the inevitable implosion of the Barrow / United Democratic Party (UDP) regime following its “tactical betrayal” of Coalition 2016 and the subsequent flip — flopping on the 3 year or 5 year term limit for the Barrow presidency.  As the genuine struggle continues, it is imperative that we know who to form a coalition with the next time around.

The apparent divorce between the opportunist “tactical coalition”, the once upon a time Barrow / UDP regime, has rendered UDP a mere appendage of the Barrow administration. An appendage can serve a function when intact but can be excised without posing any imminent danger. This is what Barrow has relegated the UDP to, take it or leave it role. Both the Barrow administration and its UDP appendage are bursting at the seams in their own internal contradictions, a crisis of blatant mis-leadership which to this date have shown us no direction but to return us to the swamps of “business and politics as usual”.

The intent, if we allow it, is to hold the Gambia hostage to substandard performance while unscrupulous practices are on the rise with no relief in sight. We must demand the best for our beloved Gambia. Their contradictions are not the makings of the Gambian masses but that of the most unreliable sector of our society, the impotent self — acclaimed “intellectual elite”, known best for their ravaging consumerism under the most wretched and despicable conditions the length and breadth of the Gambia. Indeed, the bug has also bitten Barrow, which explains his increasing pompous behavior of entitlement to a wasteful life style at our expense. A trail of betrayal is what the neocolonial state (colonialists in black faces) paved in Africa. The Barrow mal-administration is blazing that trail of betrayal.

To put it fittingly, the Barrow administration and its UDP appendage is as chaotic as the traffic on the horrible roads in Banjul and other cities and towns in the Gambia. Our beloved Gambia is deliberately being crippled by:

. Thoughtless and horrible plans or no planning.

. Indiscipline from the top to the bottom and back.

. Corruptibility – FaBB, 57 vehicles, chartered flights, Mansions, NAM bribery,

  Supplemental Appropriation Bill (SAB), bloated bureaucracy of sycophants.

. Lack of foresight and hindsight.

. Normalizing the abnormal.

. Mediocrity.

. Feather your own nest, to hell with all else.

. Arrogance.

. Youth abandonment, secret deals of mass deportations of Gambian Youths.

. 17 empty promises.

.  Begging and the dependence on AID.

.  Insecurity of our “national security”.

    2019 UP FOR GRABS OR REVOLUTION?

Recently, Barrow declared 2019 to be the “turning point” for his unspecified plans despite the catastrophic dead end turns that he has repeatedly made in only two years. As the whole world witnessed, Barrow’s first opportunistic turn in 2019 was the calculated inauguration of the not fully complete “SeneGambia Bridge” to appease Macky Sall and honor one of the agreements following the impasse of 2016. Known for their “secret society” operations, such as the secret agreement to deport Gambians from Europe and America, Barrow and his enabling administration has equally vanished the discussions around FAR Limited (First Australian Resources) findings of oil and gas reserves in The Gambia, just as the $78,000 that crawled into the FaBB foundation went off the radar of inquiry (“FATOUMATA KODOO LEY”). Barrow’scurrent strategy is to win us to take his side in the ongoing “power struggle” between him and his “political father’s” party, UDP. The Barrow administration and its UDP appendage represent the neocolonial state, not the interest of the people who “voted” them into office. Both Barrow and UDP are fighting to survive the political catastrophe of their own making at our expense. National governance is being held hostage by the raging internal “party politics” which all indications suggest has degenerated to name calling at tit-for-tat rallies while we wallow in misery.

The vast majority of Gambians will take neither the side of the Barrowregimenor its appendage, UDP but would rather defend the national interest of our beloved Gambia at all cost. The Gambian masses are awaken from the nightmares of the Jammeh era and will not fall for your empty promised “dreams” that are turning into nightmares. In the two years since the Gambian “voters” entrusted you with the task for a 3 year transitional period into a “New Gambia”, you and your enablers have stayed on the same disastrous path as Jammeh.

All evidence shows that your ability to be corrupt will no doubt surpass that of Jammeh. The two sticking point examples that prove that you can be worsethan Jammeh are the $78.000 (D33, 000,000) that crawled into the bank account of your wife’s foundation (FaBB) and the cost of the chartered flight to attend the United NationsGeneral Assembly, which you defended as normal for a president to do.

  THE REVOLUTIONARY ALTERNATIVE

Emerging from 22 years of neocolonial terror in the Jammeh era, preceded by 32 years of suffering peacefully, a sum total of 54 years of “flag independence” punctuated by two coup d’etat and a miserable trail of mal-development, it is time for a revolutionary alternative to rise to the occasion and chart the revolutionary path for a genuine New Gambia.

We therefore, declare 2019 as the revolutionary turning pointfor our beloved Gambia away from the rudderless Barrow regime, its current appendage, UDP and all the enabling tapeworms, whether civilian, in the army and the incompetent “national security service” (PIU & SIS). This revolutionary turning point will present to the downtrodden masses the revolutionary alternative to “politics and business as usual”. We must reach and win the masses to revolutionary politics, the only politics that will change our lives fundamentally.

Following 22 years of terror, brutality and betrayal by the Jammeh regime and the deliberate continuation of that betrayal by the Barrow administration, the“New Gambia” is nothing but a mockery and an insult. With all the corruptible practices of the Jammeh era intact, such as the retention of the known killers, torturers and rapists from the army, junglers, police, NIA and civilian enablers, who would doubt that Barrow will unleash these gangs of thugs on us when we escalate our fight against his reactionary regime. We continue to witness the brutish arrogance of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and his thuggish Police Intervention Unit (PIU) making intimidating warnings against our rights to protest. All evidence and signs from the Barrow regime points to another disaster. Some of us will not idly sit by and watch the Barrow administration, its UDP appendage and its “tapeworm enablers” to drown us in the swamps.

Therefore,to what end we ask? Did we fight Jammeh for 22 damn years only to have the Barrow administration become another Jammeh in “sheep’s clothing”? The answer is a resounding, hell no! We fought the Jammeh regime and handed power to the most unreliable sector of our society. Our revolutionary turning point will be the “new beginning”in our beloved Gambia. This is the time to create a formidable and revolutionary opposition in the Gambia. The opposition that Jammeh said never existed — “I don’t have an opposition” Jammeh once said and to his credit, he was right. We must cultivate the conditions for revolutionary professionals to capture STATE POWER, nothing less. Anything short of capturing state power and the willingness to govern is a pipe dream and another betrayal of the aspirations of the Gambian masses for a better life with prosperity. The vast majority of our downtrodden people are fed up after 54 years of betrayal, we deserve the best our motherland has to offer. Let all the sons and daughters of our beloved Gambia rise up and join us in cultivating a revolutionary Gambian front for the African revolution.We will win!

WILL ALL THE DISCIPLINE SOLDIERS, POLICE AND INTELLIGENCE STAFF READY FOR REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE PLEASE STAND UP!

By Pa Louis Sambou     Sunday, 17^thMarch 2019

Since the coining of the phrase ‘New Gambia’ and its widespread use to reference this post Jammeh era, one could be forgiven for assuming that we are now a functioning democracy. Unfortunately we are anything but. The ‘Democracy Implementation Project’ (DIP) is not yet a foregone conclusion; in actual fact, it has not even commenced yet.

The existing state of affairs is a semblance of democracy which it can be argued is extremely volatile.

The Supreme Court of The Gambia (SCoTG) in the Case (Injunction application (SC Civil Court No: 001/2019)) concerning an interim application against an Executive act, in dismissing the application relied on the Public / Constitutional Law principle of ‘Presumption of Regularity’ (PoR). The PoR is a Common Law doctrine which it has to be said is widely used around the world. The effect of this legal principle is that the courts will presume that the official duties have been properly discharged (by the person / institution against whom legal action is taken) until such a time the challenger presents clear evidence to the contrary.

In this specific case the Justices of the SCoTG presume the revocation of Ya Kumba Jaiteh’s nomination by the President a lawful act until such a time (at the hearing of her petition) evidence is presented to suggest otherwise. I must state with some degree of reluctance that the reasoning behind such uncomfortable determination / judgment is very problematic: The application of the principle is deeply flawed and, the legal precedent it sets is very adverse to our democracy and a leap into the dark.

The Flawed Application of the ‘Presumption of Regularity’ (PoR)

‘Presumption of Regularity’ (PoR) is a deference doctrine. Its application is dependent on the existence of a functioning constitutional order, not a semblance of it. The existing constitutional order (the 1997 Constitution) is widely discredited. This is evidenced by the ongoing consultations to have it replaced, an exercise which commissioned by the current Attorney General, endorsed by Parliament (hence the Constitutional Review Commission Act (CRC) 2017) and spearheaded by a SCoTG Justice who ironically was a sitting Judge on this matter under review. Even more farcical, the Attorney General who on the 11^thDecember 2017 stood before Parliament (to present the CRC Bill) and denounced the existing Constitutional order as being unfit-for-purpose appeared as Defence Counsel defending the very constitutional order he already denounced and pretending that the respective denunciation (by him) on the 11^thDecember 2017 never even happened.

It is widely accepted that the existing constitutional order is unfit for purpose and, the current political state of affairs exceptionally extraordinary. Therefore the application of the PoR in circumstances which are anything but ‘Regular’ adversely narrows Judicial scrutiny and widens Executive indiscretion. Given what our country is reeling out of (30 years of terribly bad governance and a subsequent 22 years of bitter dictatorship) this is very worrying.

The remedy for our unworkable constitutional and political order is not the application of an off-the-shelve Constitutional Law principles as usual but the adaptation of such principles as dictated by circumstances.

Courts have in recent times departed from the PoR in key cases. In the case involving CNN and the White House (WH) (following the revocation of the WH press pass of CNN journalist Jim Acousta) the Court, departed from the PoR and ordered for the temporary reversal of the revocation as an interim measure. The same was the case in almost all of the 50 cases following the attempt by President Trump to implement an election manifesto pledge (the ‘Muslim ban’). The PoR is certainly not applicable in circumstances which are extraordinary or not the norm.

The SCoTG ought to have on this occasion adopted an implicit neutral approach in deciding the legal question before it rather than erroneously making a determination relying on the PoR which key precedent(s) from around the world suggests is inapplicable in extraordinary circumstances.

The Precedent is a Adverse to Democracy and a Leap into the Dark

Never mind the respective parties and the underlying politics behind this specific case (both of which are, as far as I am concerned wholly  irrelevant and insignificant in the public interest argument I put forward here), the effect of this ruling from the highest Court of the land presents very gloomy prospects for the future and until it is overturned it will have the adverse effect of frustrating (if not inhibiting altogether) future legal (interim) action(s) against ultra vires actions by state agents / agencies. This is most certainly the polar opposite of what is in the public interest.

From the ruling on the subject of the constitutionality of the Public Order Act (which the SCoTG endorsed as constitutional), then the riling on the issue of False Publication & Broadcasting (which the SCoTG also endorsed as constitutional) and now this unfortunate precedent. For a post dictatorship Supreme Court, this is a very uncomfortable trend and track record which must worry us all.

The SCoTG appears to be too Conservative, resistant to progressive change or, the Justices are simply too unduly hesitant to progressively develop logical Judicial precedent and caselaw consistent with 21^stCentury democratic society.

There is indeed  credence in the suggestion that the SCoTG is gradually and inadvertently opening Gambian society up to the very risks and excesses it is meant to protect it against. This must dread us all.

By Molefa Touray

Thousands of viewers at home and abroad were thrown into a major shock when Sheriff Junior, the president of Gambia Press Union verbally assaulted Lamin Njie, the editor of Fatu Network. The assault happened on a Facebook live video coverage when Lamin Njie appeared to ask the G.P.U president about his take on the outcome of the Kumba Jaiteh case before the Supreme Court.The award-winning journalist snapped and rained insults on the innocent reporter. Sheriff junior even went as far as telling the reporter to “fucking put the mic down”. The profanity laden video went viral with over twenty thousand viewers watching and many more sharing it on whatsapp .

Apologizing on his Facebook page sheriff junior wrote: “A video showing me snapping at Lamin Njie, a journalist with Fatu Network has been going viral on Facebook since early this afternoon. In the video, I got frustrated after he insisted on interviewing me about the Supreme Court ruling on Ya Kumba Jaiteh’s case earlier today, and I used profanity.From the bottom of my heart, I take full responsibility for my behavior and I want to unreservedly apologise to Mr. Njie and the management and staff of Fatu Network for my behavior”

Reacting to Sheriff Junior’s viral video Matthew K. Jallow, a Gambian writer and social critic wrote: “I find a rather disturbing video circulating in social media where the president of the Gambia Press Union, Sheriff Bojang Jr. used curse words in reaction to a journalist seeking his views on a salient subject matter. This is a serious breach of GPU’s unwritten moral & ethical codes. I think it’s in order for the GPU Executive to meet and censor Mr Bojang, and to ask him to desist from such very disrespectful behavior, as it will tarnish the good name of the GPU as a body”.

Also reacting to Sheriff junior tirade against a fellow journalist, Sainey Darboe the editor of Gunjur News Online called for the resignation of Sherriff junior as he has lost all moral grounding to lead the press body after attacking the very people, he is elected into office to protect. “The profanity-laden assault on Fatu Network editor, Lamin Njie, by no less than the president of Gambian journalists, Sheriff Bojang, defies conceptual grasp. To have a GPU president who didn’t have qualms about launching a vitriolic attack on a fellow journalist, memorialized in a viral video, is nothing short of an insult to the memories of slain Gambian journalists like Deyda Hydara and Chief Manneh.”

The furious former Editor-in-Chief of Standard newspaper- Gambia called for the resignation of Sheriff junior as GPU president:  “And let me put it better: If he cannot conduct himself with decorum at the point of supreme challenge he doesn’t deserve to represent Gambian journalists. It is high time for  Gambian journalists to put an end to his presidency because he has dishonored the position and profession by his contempt of all journalistic ethics and basic human decency.”

By Sana Sarr

Friday, March 15, will now be a memorable day in the history of Gambian politics. In Caesar’s Rome, it’s the day the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar to beware of. It’s also the day Caesar was literally stabbed in the back by his most trusted friend, Brutus.

President Barrow vs Vice President Ousainou Darboe and UDP – I don’t think anyone will accuse President Barrow of reading, much less of being a scholar of Shakespeare, but students of literature will appreciate the coincidence that he chose March 15 to finally fire his mentor, trusted “friend” and Vice President, Ousainou Darboe – the same man he once called his “Political Father” and the one who dubbed him the “Moses” that came to deliver Gambians from the clutches of tyranny. Social media went wild with many of Darboe’s UDP supporters calling Barrow a traitor and many UDP critics celebrating the president’s move. Some neutrals expressed concern at what impact such a fallout will have on the country. To the keen observer, this fallout could be seen from a million miles away. You cannot encourage me to cheat on my wife with you and then expect me to be faithful to you. After Barrow, with the encouragement and support of Darboe, broke away from the MOU and all his coalition allies including his campaign promise of a 3-year transition, we did not require a soothsayer to predict that Darboe himself would eventually be a casualty.

Personal and political party interests aside, I think the fallout is a net gain for Gambia. In my blog of February 27, I explained why Darboe continuing to serve as Vice President does not serve the best interest of the nation, so i won’t bore you with the same reasons. Proponents of democracy place great value in the existence of checks and balances. If a strong opposition is good for democracy, then this fallout is a huge push towards having a strong opposition. UDP supporters may be upset that they’ve lost a Vice President (and two ministers), but Gambia just gained more than UDP lost. The opposition has gained a strong voice – the leader of the majority party in parliament. Now out of government, Mr. Darboe is no longer restrained and is free to stand stronger and speak louder in holding the government accountable. His political experience and professional experience as a lawyer will be more useful to the nation as a critic, activist and political leader than as a mute yes man to President Barrow. He will no longer turn a blind eye to Barrow’s many transgressions, but will speak up and challenge him where necessary. If Barrow tries to bribe members of parliament with cars from “anonymous donors,” Darboe will be there to advise the majority UDP members to reject the “gifts” and call out the President. Now when Ya Kumba goes to court, she will have one of the veteran legal minds and prominent faces standing by her side. Now Mr. Darboe can spend more time organizing his political party in readiness to challenge Barrow and his big advantage of incumbency. A loss for UDP? Maybe. A loss for Barrow in the long run? Perhaps. A win for Gambia? Absolutely!

Ya Kumba vs President Barrow – The Supreme Court of The Gambia also made a ruling in the case of Ya Kumba Jaiteh, a nominated National Assembly member who is suing the President for revoking her nomination from the country’s legislative body. The court ruled that Ms. Jaiteh should abide by the President’s decision and that her newly nominated replacement can be sworn in to begin duties while the court makes a decision on whether the President has the power to revoke her nomination. To many, especially Ya Kumba’s supporters, the ruling is an indication that the court will side with the President. Many are angry and have started accusing the Supreme Court of aiding a Barrow Dictatorship. The topic has been one of great contention even among legal scholars. Many, including the President of the Gambia Bar Association, argue that the President does not have the right to revoke the nomination of a member of parliament once the individual has been sworn in. Many others argue that the same powers the president has to nominate a member give him the right to revoke the nomination. I’m no lawyer so I’ll trust the judiciary to do their job. My personal opinion though, is that since the elected members of parliament can be recalled by the constituents who sent them there in the first place, it only makes sense that the nominated members can be recalled by the constituent who sent them there – in this case, the President. Despite that opinion, I will respect whatever decision the Supreme Court makes. I hope other Gambians also learn to trust the process and respect the court. Storming the court to express one’s anger can be seen as an attempt to intimidate the judiciary and anti-democracy. We should also note that it’s not a dictatorship simply because you did not get your way. Is Barrow right? Maybe. Is Ya Kumba right? Perhaps. The court will decide. The good I hope will come out of this is that the biggest party, the UDP, will now join the rest Gambians to work on making constitutional changes so we no longer have any nominated members. The Parliament is supposed to hold check the powers of the President. It therefore makes no sense to allow a President to handpick 5 members, including the Speaker, to be in the body.
I hear some argue for the nominated members to represent certain minority groups who may otherwise not be represented in parliament. While i am all for inclusive representation, I don’t think the system as it currently is is the solution. For starters, at no point since Independence has the President ever filled those seats with minority groups. It’s always been privileged people or political carrots for the President’s political allies. Second and more importantly, if we want minority representation, then how about allow those minority groups to elect their own representatives? That’s a lot more empowering than giving the President powers to nominate. I hope this move by Barrow is a reminder and an inspiration for all of us to fight hard to stop allowing nominated members inside a body of elected representatives.

Gambia Press Union President vs Journalism – Finally, we saw the video of Sheriff Bojang Jr, the president of the Gambia Press Union, thrown F-bombs at a journalist who simply asked him for commentary on a case at the Supreme Court. Mr. Bojang screamed that the journalist was “reckless” for asking him to comment because he (Bojang) was not a lawyer…and then told the journalist to “f**king put the mic down.” Of all the day’s stories, this one was the most disappointing to me. Journalists around the world continue to face harassment and persecution, including death and imprisonment at the hands of authoritarian leaders. Gambian journalists in particular have been murdered, tortured and sent into exile over the past 2 decades. As the nation emerges from such times for journalism and freedom of the press, journalists need all the help they can get to build the confidence to do their jobs without fear. Nobody should understand this more than someone who assumes the position as leader of all the journalists, and the editor of his own paper, The Chronicle, in the country. It is therefore sad and shameful that Mr. Bojang, for whatever reason, acted in such a manner…and the calls for his resignation are highly justified!
To his credit though, Mr. Bojang was quick to issue an unreserved apology to the journalist he abused, all journalists and all Gambians. This apology supports the many who came out in his defense to attest to his character as a decent guy and argue that his resignation would be a loss to the Press Union. While i take their word for it and hope Mr. Bojang stays on, I must say that his actions are utterly disappointing and I hope he learns from the moment and uses the video to teach how not to treat a journalist. I hope he works extra hard to prove his supporters right through his work at both the Chronicle and at the Gambia Press Union.