So far the common post-conflict practice in Africa is to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as we saw in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia following their bloody civil wars and apartheid in South Africa. The Gambia on the other hand neither suffered a civil war nor an apartheid system. What took place in the Gambia were acts of gross human rights violations perpetrated by a regime and its henchmen. Therefore ‘Reconciliation’ is not a fundamental issue for our society; rather the Gambia needs to know the truth about those atrocities and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Hence what is required in the Gambia is a Truth and Justice Commission (TJC). In that process, reconciliation will emerge as a natural byproduct.

The reason the Gambia needs a TJC is because we must know how dictatorship was created and maintained in our society. Dictatorship is not a spontaneous reality that just drops from the sky. Rather dictatorship is a deliberate and calculated system that is built by men and women who have a duty to protect their society yet betray their society. Hence dictatorship is a betrayal of public trust, abuse of power and an act of selfishness that destroys a society and its future. Dictatorship is not merely about a dictator usurping and personalizing the state and public resources as a whole, but it is also a system where public servants, security officers and common citizens disregard and damage the rule of law to perpetuate a culture of violations and wastage of human life and public resources with impunity. Dictatorship therefore fuels and feeds on a culture of violence against the very citizens who live and maintain that system. This is why dictatorship is a self-destructive system.

A Truth and Justice Commission does not mean that there will be no prosecutions for gross human rights violations. No. Rather a TJC supports and makes even a stronger case for prosecutions of those who bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities and plunder of public resources committed during the dictatorship.

But beyond prosecutions, a Truth and Justice Commission will further expose more truths about dictatorship for which prosecutions will not be able or enough to expose. This includes how certain decisions, actions and activities were conducted which constituted abuse, but one cannot prosecute because not everything and everyone could be prosecuted even though those issues are significant. For example Yaya Jammeh knew the Constitution clearly states that the Secretary General and Head of Civil Service cannot hold another office for which there is payment. Yet he appointed a Minister of Presidential Affairs as part of the portfolio of the Secretary General. He even made the Secretary General the head of the APRC Party. Thus there have been many unlawful decisions and actions by Yaya Jammeh and many people also accepted those positions when they knew it was unconstitutional. These cases may not go to court but a TJC will help us understand how therefore Yaya Jammeh was running the state and how dictatorship was entrenched through the complicity of some Gambians.

We can also point to the way and manner he gave huge donations with money taken out of the Central Bank, or how he got businesses and farms and then made soldiers and public servants to work on them. We need to know how those decisions where made.

Even when we prosecute cases, the court may not expose fully how the decision to kill Koro Ceesay or Deyda Hydara or the April 10 Students or Solo Sandeng was given. Who actually gave the order? How was the order given? Was it through a written order or verbally or through some signs? To whom was the order given? These and many questions can only come through a Truth and Justice Commission so that we know the exact details of issues and actors. These details will expose to us the very heart and nature of dictatorship that will give us lot of lessons to learn. This also means prosecutions and a Truth and Justice Commission will competent each other to expose all sides of dictatorship and ensue all victims have some solace in one way or the other, i.e. either in the courts or at the commission or in both places

Hence a Truth and Justice Commission would help the country better to engage in self examination to understand why and how farmers were kept poor, or how our public institutions failed and how public resources were being diverted. This will help the Gambia to cleanse and reposition itself in order to build a new society. A TJC will also give more comfort and space to all sorts of victims to have their say. These include people who were wrongly sacked or their properties taken away or how they lived with the grief of losing their loved ones or tortured. Hence a TJC is a national conversation where citizens speak to each other from their hearts. This is how the commission will become a healing process hence reconciliation because the truth has been set free.

With a Truth and Justice Commission, we will also provide answers and clear doubts in the minds of those who still believe that Yaya Jammeh and APRC meant good for the Gambia. The TJC will show them that dictatorship is bad for any human being and society and therefore it would be immoral for anyone to continue to trumpet Yaya Jammeh and APRC.

Let us remember that there are many more Gambians who have been silent in their bedrooms for years yet crying every day and night because their son or father were killed, or their mother or sister raped or their property taken away from them or they were dismissed from their work only to drop in poverty and hardships. All of these people cannot go to court, but a TJC will uplift their souls and spirits as they speak about their ordeal. Their stories will make our citizens become more sober and reflective so that we can all begin to review our decisions and actions in the new Gambian we wish to build.

When we create a Truth and Justice Commission that is open, credible and fair, it will then offer us great lessons about how to avoid another dictatorship. We will then know how to engage and relate with our new leaders and public officials. Many a time we create dictators without our knowing. There are many aspects of our culture and religion that are fertile ingredients for dictatorship. A Truth and Justice Commission will therefore enlighten and warn us about how we should use culture and religion in our governance and politics so as to avoid creating another dictator. We will also quickly see and expose those politicians and elites who wish to exploit culture and religion to impose themselves on us.

I therefore submit that the Chief Servant Adama Barrow and his Justice Minister to put together the necessary bill to take to the parliament for the enactment of the National Truth and Justice Commission Act so that work can begin to expose the truth and dispense justice.

God Bless The Gambia.

Madi Jobarteh

It is announced the passing away at the Medical Research Council, on
Tuesday, 4th July 2017, of Mrs D’Almeida. The great Lady was popularly
known as Ma D’ Almeida in academic circles, as a mark of respect for her
teaching career. Mrs D’Almeida was an educationist, an administrator and a
genuine academic.

So to say Ma D’Almeida has thought many Gambians at various schools,
including my own self at Armitage Grammar School at Georgetown in the
1970s. Thereafter she was lecturer and Vice Principal at Yundum College now
Gambia College and in her later years, she was a Senior Lecturer at the
nascent University of the Gambia (UTG). Her area of speciality was Gender
Studies, a course that she diligently handled with her astute knowledge of the
subject matter. Her dedication in this regard enhanced the cause of gender
emancipation in the country. Before her lecturing career at UTG, Ma was the
first Executive Director of the Women’s Bureau, established during the first
Republic to champion the cause of women status in the country.

At Armitage I knew her as a morally upright Teacher, who not only inculcated
subject matter knowledge but was resolute when it comes to enforcing rules
on punctuality to class, politeness, dress code, and moral standards. We owe
her gratitude for those moral values and social etiquette she inculcated in us
which undeniably made us we are today, responsible citizens of The Gambia.
No doubt, we would realise that such important moral values are fast
diminishing in today’s society.

When I met her at UTG where I started lecturing from 2002, I paid her the
respect she splendidly deserved. In return, I richly benefited from the mentor
hood of the wonderful mother who had done a lot by giving me knowledge
and shaping my attitude in society. Ma D’Almeida was a special character of
self-respect, gifted with immense drive for hard work. Besides, she
demonstrated her uprightness, as a matter of principle, in standing by those
who addressed the wrongs at the university during its tumultuous years.
Particularly during the war I waged against corrupt practices at the university
which resulted in litigations. I owe her unquantifiable gratitude for her
resolute support during the tribulations we were subjected to but vindicated absolutely and ostensibly.

As an academic, she belonged to the old genera, meticulous with English
grammar where every punctuation, word, or sentence mattered. She was a
prolific writer. Her works include a booklet published in 2011 titled “A
Succinct History of the Kingdom of Pachesi in the Empire of Kaabu”, an
historical work reminiscent of her days at Armitage as History teacher.
As years roll by, we were both at UTG, another opportunity we had to come
closer. Indeed, the more you are closer to a person, the closer one is to a
person, the more they appreciate each other. For us our closeness brought
better understanding, enhanced trust, and collegiality. Ma became more of a
parent to me, as an adviser in life and a mentor. She was more of a mother to
me. I visited her regularly at her Pipeline home behind the Fajara War
Cemetery, a gesture which she reciprocated many times at our home at Kotu
West Layout. My children equally paid her regular visits with presents. She
never forgot us at during Christmas and Easter festivities during which she
showered gifts on the children and the entire family. Truly a great bond existed
in between us.

Her passing away is indeed a big family loss and to the Gambian academic
community. But as no life is eternal, we take solace in her undisputed fortitude
of mind, as an educator who contributed immensely to the welfare of this
country and above all as a fine mother of character and deep religious
conviction. A mother who did all she could to push back the frontiers of
poverty and illiteracy that once engulfed the women and children of The
Gambia. We shall miss Ma D’Almeida but her memory will always remain
deep in our hearts.

On behalf of my family and particularly the young ones, Pa Abdoulie and Awa
Yombeh, who she was very fond of, we pray to God to grant her all the
forgiveness and lead her to heavenly paradise as a final resting place. Ameen.

Adieu Ma D’ Almeida!

Gumbo Ali Touray
Former Director of International Affairs and Information

Alagi Yorro Jallow

I am still struggling to get my mind around what democracy means for our collective future. I won’t try to sort it out here in a Facebook post. Alas! The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That is a dictatorship—the ownership of a government by an individual, by a group, or by any controlling private power is an anathema to democracy.

What I will say is that what happened can’t be explained simply as a failure of the political establishment—although it has failed spectacularly. Nor is it simply a problem of demagoguery or sycophancy—although both are alive and well and flourishing at this moment. Nor is this fledgling democracy simply a matter of humans being treated as disposable—like plastic bottles tossed in a landfill—as political and social media elites spew propaganda that encourages us to view “the others” as the enemy.

The problem runs deeper than all of that. The truth is we are stumbling badly in large part because we are just beginning to learn to walk. Roughly 22 years ago, we had a quasi-democracy; it was not a true democracy by any stretch. We still don’t have a real democracy. But we’ve recently managed to revive a new democratic-like system. In the words of William Faulkner, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Our leaders should be aware of democracy and avoid demagoguery but again be mindful of “clicktivism and sycophantism politics.”

It is said that humans are creatures of habit; perhaps that is why George Sanataya cautioned, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” On the other hand, maybe you agree with Mark Twain who said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” In today’s Gambia, with what rhyme and reason do we proceed? As we listen to our nation’s leaders and watch their ways, it is becoming quite apparent that history continues to repeat itself. Consider the following.

Our political leaders are often misadvised and misdirected because the majority of those they rely on to govern are demagogues and sycophants who hardly tell them the truth.

The extent to which demagoguery and sycophancy have taken over reality and stunted our political development can be gauged from the daily praising of failed politicians, so-called muckrakers, and spineless pundits on social media, often selling to innocent Gambians falsehood and propaganda to the extent that the wrong people are appointed to sensitive and important positions. No leader would say that things should not move forward in the country. The problem is the people around them, who don’t advise them well. I have observed that ninety-nine percent of people who hover around our political leaders are sycophants and praise-singers. Let us be frank with our leaders to get us out of where we are today.

Gambian politics is in trouble because the citizens have allowed deception, denial, disinformation, diversion, evasion, exaggeration, indoctrination, lying, media manipulation, mind control, propaganda, scapegoating and smear campaigns, which are the signs of sycophancy in our politics and governance.
I believe our democracy must be freed from the suffocating grip of an all-knowing typical “African Big Man” myth. Comrades Solo Sandeng and Solo Nkrumah, along with other folks, did not die for us to have a quasi-democracy. They died so that we can be free; they died so that we can reap the abundant benefits of a democracy. Think of Colonel Lamin Sanneh, Captain Ngaga Jagne and others who died fighting for our democracy. Gambians will spit on their graves when we let democracy slip away into the sewer of benevolent dictatorship akin to Yahya Jammeh. Never Again!

Gambia is a country ready to be taken—in fact, longing to be taken—by political leaders ready to restore democracy and trust the political process after all the bitter horrors of Yahya Jammeh’s rule.
The Gambian people don’t want a democracy that can’t guarantee its citizens one square meal a day, a democracy that can’t guarantee three hours of electricity daily, a democracy that can’t afford to allow people to protest, a democracy that can’t guarantee the freedom of the press and of speech and respect for the Constitution, a democracy that is standing on its head, a democracy that takes one step forward and three backward.

Let us never forget that the government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not President Barrow and government officials, but the voters of this country. The government is us; we are the government, you and me. We can heal the wounds of this nation or aggravate such wounds. We can bring peace to this nation or cause chaos to erupt in it.

We are very hungry for a new beginning. We want President Barrow to help “Make the Gambia Great Again” by making our institutions strong, as strong institutions would make our democracy great again. We want our leaders to build a thriving multi-ethnic, multi-faith, egalitarian democracy out of the rubble of dictatorship. Gambian people are interested in being part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the past several years.

The Budget….

In the past few days, the National Assembly Members have been scrutinizing the 2017 Budget Estimates. Although I’ve not seen and perused the whole budget estimate, I have seen that the budget of the Office of the President has been reduced by D158 million while the Ministry of Agriculture has been reduced by D3 million.

Mr President, the others like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs been cut by D10 million. I wish to raise concerns over the amount of money reduced from the Ministry of Agriculture. Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and majority of our citizens are engaged in agriculture. The advancement of agriculture translates into the advancement of the country.

Last week, while I was on a talkshow at Paradise FM Radio talking about the rainy season, some farmers called to express their desire to have assistance from the government. They said that as the last harvest was not good, they are even finding it difficult to buy rice at D1200 talk less of being able to buy a bag of groundnut seeds at D4000.00 with an additional D700 to be spent on fertilizer.

Naturally, if these farmers are not assisted by government, they will not be able to grow crops to the extent that will be beneficial to them and the country. The farmers are the ones who cultivate groundnuts, rice and other stuff that the Gambia exports in order for us to get foreign currency; but more importantly, it is the farmers who produce the food that we eat. As such, it is very important that we consider the farmers in the development agenda.

We commend the minister of finance and the National Assembly for a job well done. But we also call on them to even reduce more from the other ministries and the Office of the President but increase the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture.

We are calling on our youth to come home and stop the back way migration. In order to ensure that when they come home they stay, we need to provide them with jobs. The best way to do that [and the most feasible] is through agriculture. Let us invest in agriculture and education so that we will be able to stand on our own feet.

When we are able to do that then we can open ourselves to the rest of the world through foreign embassies. At the moment, we should think of reducing and/or amalgamating some of the embassies. That will cut cost. Use the money wisely for the priority areas.

It’s about austerity we say!

Tha Scribbler Bah

A Concerned Citizen

RE: Why Is Baboucarr Nani Sey Reporting to Serre Kunda Police Every 2 Days?

For the past two weeks Baboucarr Nani Sey has been reporting to the police every two days. No reason has been given to him as to why he should do that. Meantime his file is said to be with the police prosecution pending advice from the AG’s Chambers. If that is the case, what then is the value of this man reporting to Serre Kunda Police Station every other day? Is he reporting to the police because he is going to flee the country or is he reporting because he poses a threat to society? How does a man reporting to the police every two days serve the purpose of justice?

Baboucarr was first arrested on June 9 and detained until June 11 for a matter that took place at least three weeks earlier. That was when he chaired a press conference as part of a peaceful public gathering on May 15 to highlight the issue of a piece of land in Kololi in the interest of the public. After initially being detained and then bailed Baboucarr was charged with four so-called offences, i.e. conspiracy to commit felony, assembly without seeking police permit, destruction of private property and unlawful use of banners. Media reports say these charges were later dropped to only one, i.e. ‘illegal gathering without a permit’. However since June 15 Baboucarr has been reporting to the police every two days. Why?

Mr. Minister, the mere fact that Baboucarr is charged and not taken to court but asked to report to the police constantly is a violation of his freedom. This is a clear manifestation of police harassment of a citizen. By asking him to report to the police, Baboucarr is being forced to incur costs for nothing. His money, work and time are being wasted while his peace of mind tormented hence this tantamount to inflicting psychological torture on him. Such a practice of subjecting a citizen to this insidious form of control is characteristic of only dictatorships that must have stopped since this government took power on 19 January 2017. Citizens who damage the law must be charged and tried immediately but not inconvenienced through such control mechanisms.

The mere fact that the man is subjected to such unbearable harassment clearly shows the police have no case against him because the man has done nothing wrong. That means the police do not know what to do with this matter because there is nothing to do with the matter other than to free Baboucarr. Therefore the police are themselves acting outside of the law for that matter. This also means Baboucarr is now within his rights to sue the State and the IGP for unlawful arrest, detention and harassment thus constituting a violation of the Constitution as per Section 5(b) or be compensated as per Section 19(6) of our Constitution.

That aside, the case against Baboucarr raises a fundamental legal, moral and political question for all Gambians. To me, Baboucarr’s case speaks to the heart of democracy and sovereignty and the very basis of the change we achieved on December 1. The right to assemble and to demonstrate peacefully is an entrenched right in our constitution [(Section 25(d)]. This was what Baboucarr did to highlight how land that belongs to the people was confiscated by Yaya Jammeh only for KMC to then sell that land to a private enterprise. Neither KMC nor the private company was asked questions, but the person who raised the issue got arrested and subjected to harassment.

Baboucarr’s case brings to the forefront the case of Solo Sandeng and his compatriots, and the case of Ousainou Darboe and the UDP leadership and well before these two, it also brings to the front the case of Femi Peters in 2009. Today all Gambians celebrate Solo Sandeng and defend him for engaging in a peaceful protest on 14 April 2016. Two days later, Ousainou Darboe led his party members to march on the streets only to be arrested and sentenced for holding a procession without permit and unlawful assembly among others. In their defense they proclaimed the right to peaceful protest in our constitution as a hallmark of democracy.

Earlier in 2010 when Femi Peters was illegally sent to prison for the same offences in the Public Order Act, the UDP under the same distinguished lawyer Ousainou Darboe challenged the constitutionality of the Act in the Supreme Court. During the trial Lawyer Darboe likened Mr. Peters to Nelson Mandela who was also imprisoned by the application of the same unjust laws. Darboe described the Public Order Act as colonial and saying that if Peters were sentenced because of that law then the court would be perpetuating colonial legacy. Yet in 2017, a Gambian is once again facing the same law. Why? Where is our morality? Where is the legality?

Thus from a moral and political standpoint if Baboucarr Nani Sey is not freed immediately then it means this new government of which you are the chief legal adviser and the Attorney General would be perpetuating colonialism in the Gambia. If this persecution of Baboucarr continues then it means we are saying that the imprisonment of Femi Peters and Ousainou Darboe and all the rest of our compatriots in July 2017 were justified. It means we are saying the April 14 protest by Solo Sandeng was illegal. This is the moral and political question that Baboucarr pose to all of us as citizens.

Let us remember that the Coalition stated in their MoU and Manifesto that they would repeal all laws that are unconstitutional and impede human rights. We commend the Government for having conceded that sedition is unconstitutional a few weeks ago. But for this government to show that indeed they understand and mean what they say about system change, then the Public Order Act must be disregarded and all efforts made to repeal it immediately.

The Public Order Act and Sedition are colonial laws found in all former British colonies. While many countries have abolished these laws others have not yet done so. For example the Gambia and Nigeria are yet to abolish the Public Order Act. But in Uganda, the Constitutional Court declared sedition unconstitutional and undemocratic in 2010 as the Gambia also did in 2017.

In light of the foregoing, I wish to put it to you that the sovereign rights of Baboucarr and all Gambians for that matter are being violated with impunity if this man remains under State harassment. The continued seizing of Baboucarr over this matter threatens the rights of each and every Gambian. The heart of democracy and good governance is the right and ability of citizens to freedom of expression, freedom of association, right to assemble and the right to demonstrate peacefully. Any law or government that seeks to limit or take away these four freedoms in anyway means dictatorship.

If this matter goes any further then it means we have eroded all of the gains we have fought for over the years until today. Conscience and the law dictate that Baboucarr be set free and all charges against him be dropped. To make him to continue reporting to the police is harassment and abuse of his rights.

In the Service of the Nation
…………………..
Signed: Madi Jobarteh

Alagi Yorro Jallow

Successive governments have left us with a tax regime so complex it verges on a chaotic system. Which is exactly why we should be suspicious of politicians who talk imprecisely about tax avoidance and tax evasion – or who muddle the two terms, or use them interchangeably.

Tax avoidance and tax evasion is what we do when we fill in tax returns and carefully recall the legitimate expenses with which to reduce taxable profits. Tax avoidance and tax evasion is illegal, and it’s immoral. Most people expect, and are not fully prepared, to pay their due taxes. Not wanting to pay more tax than that isn’t something to be proud of. It’s dodgy or morally questionable or anti-social. It’s naturally evil.

The word beautifully describes the nonsensical, Alice-in-Wonderland world where people who seek legitimately to minimize tax end up being impugned as selfish, criminal, unpatriotic and the rest. Tax avoidance and tax evasion is not something that just the wealthy and the politicians can take advantage of. Whilst there are some big names that have squirreled away piles of cash in offshore bank accounts and taken dodgy tax avoidance and tax evasion procedures, there are also people like poor or middle-income people who have paid as much as they can into their pension fund to secure a reasonable standard of living (i.e., not on the breadline) once they have retired.

But the biggest irony is that those doing the impugning are the very people who created our tax system with its endless layering of tax rates and allowances, and the fiendishly complex interrelation of the two: tax evasion and tax avoidance.

The tax system now works in such a way as to produce numerous cliff edges where, for instance, a tiny increase in earnings results in a huge jump in tax. In several cases the extra money earned would result in marginal tax rates of well over any amount.

Who would not act to try to avoid these and other tax traps: there is no “spirit of the law” unless you know exactly what was inside each lawmaker’s head at the time they voted for a law. There are laws made by National Assembly. If the laws made by National Assembly have more holes than a teabag then that is the fault of National Assembly, and there is no point in them whining about it. Either something is allowed or it isn’t. What next? How about we have “aggressive law avoidance” for people we don’t like, doing things we don’t like, but who are not breaking the law? It is up to the government to write tax legislation in such a way that it cannot be exploited through so called loopholes. The law on taxation is too complicated with far too many concessions which leads to exploitative schemes which then must be decided in court.

Aggressive tax avoidance sticks in the public craw as much as the drunk driver who kills someone then gets off on a technicality or the politician maximizing expenses. The public has a very good strong sense of what is right and wrong.

The answer is to significantly cut public spending and significantly cut the rate of integral taxation. There would then be little incentive for taxpayers to put so much effort into avoidance, and practically none to encourage taxpayers to take the risks of evasion! But of course, the politicians do not and will not do it, because their profligacy and corruption has no limits.