The Gambia is a land of pristine beauty neatly carved into two for a zigzagging river pouring crystal clear water from the Atlantic Ocean. A nation and region of people and places and cultures under Almighty God, pivotal to world events as humanity tethers towards the unknown.

The article was occasioned in response to press reports about the European Union (EU) scheme to manufacture homosexuality in the country. The Gambia, where a closer look unearths centuries old kingships and legacies under the banner of Islamic governorship.

But has the triumphs of fearless warriors as Foday Sillah, Maba Jahou, Sundiata Keita ever reached you?! How about extraordinary stories in Sheikh Omar Futi Tall, Sheikh Amadou (Touba) Bamba, Sheikh Ibrahima Baye Niasse, Sheikh Seedy Lamin, and many such blessings? And what of the rise of Islamic scholarship in later years as, Oustaz Omar Bun Jeng, Oustaz Barra Kanteh, among countless witness ‘colossal’ [sic].

The LGBT thing is “heresy”, unnatural to be exact! Condemned in Islam for an accelerant that ire the wrath of Almighty God. It breeds nothing good, except for destruction – thus, a duty of all of us to educate and protect our children & young people against deviant understandings.

It has to be emphasized that Islam has laws and set limits, intertwined into our every day life. Even before the advent of constitutional democracies, Muslim societies throughout Arabia & Africa erred on righteousness, as civility define social relations.

In Surah “Hud” of the Glorious Quran, Almighty God relates the story of the people of Prophet Lut ( Lot) who transgressed far beyond for the very abominable. Punishment came down for their destruction.

The Holy Bible’s position on the subject as far as Christianity is concerned is that “homosexuality is forbidden by God!”(Leviticus). It is a sin in all the Semitic Books – so why would mortal man ever think resourceful enough to change the Word of Almighty God for his barbaric delinquencies?!

The issue of human rights often comes up, but human rights by design is subjective. It is a social construct filled with desires and wish list tick-boxes. See how the West is filled with single women desiring for men. Surely, the solution is for man to marry more than one wife as eloquently laid down. But Muslims aren’t going around looking to impose will – double standards is the height of hypocrisy.

The narrative on human rights has been weaponized nowadays. For by choosing to impose such an flawed seed as LGBT issue upon a high cultured people and region as [Sene]Gambia, the EU has overstepped acceptable bounds on protocol. Any such directives tied to EU foreign policy and that of the United States does NOT make it any right, nor might. People need recognize Sub-Saharan Africa is quite unique, a special case as that: Had the ambassador better advised, or cared to trace through time on the country’s historical mat, he might have acted wise.

Making enemies of friendly states only loses you ground to China across Africa. A sensible advice is take note of an sovereign people charting their own course without outside interference. Contrarian to which you stand to encroach – and oppress – and violate – country specific laws. The statute the Ambassador was quoted as saying is lame, weakened on account of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs [Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations].

The Gambia government shall not allow nor legislate that which goes contrary to Devine Scriptures, Quran and Bible respectively.

After all, democracy only came to administer colonial borders, and with it, invent the corruption problem.

The usual channels of cooperation will need to address the unease; EU has to recognise The Gambia is a population highly devoted to one True God – Whose Command in the Glorious Scriptures transcends all other laws and pronouncements. For, whenever etiquettes on social conduct come into conflict with external accords, [Sene]Gambia values always take precedence!!!

It is an insult on the conscience of Gambians told to debate that we already knew to be deeply immoral; a deviant corrupted seed to Muslims and Christians alike. I call on the administration to protect a solid moral base in society given trends in the world. While this does NOT necessarily mean religious intrusion into politics, it sure damn well means stepping in to regulate against harm imposing cultures seen to pose threat to the country’s religious-cultural dynamic.

The Tourism ministry need speed up efforts to attract family-type visitors as with the Jawara Era. For it is vital to address the scourge of loose ‘items’ frequenting the shores of ‘Kololi’ for a bit of this & that: Learn from Egypt, enforce stringent laws to arrest and prosecute paedophiles feigning on helpless children. Govt and the police are held responsible for failing to prosecute child abusers; Impose mandatory sex-offenders register – be it diplomat, tourist, or resident!

The EU need recognize that raising the issue garners anger, offensive to the population. To drape the country’s flag in homosexual colours was provocative for which it knew. Ambassador Lajos ought summoned to the foreign ministry in Banjul to explain. And with this publication, I hereby put government on notice for a population dead set against it, with that, amplify the voices of millions of peoples of the region.

Gibril Saine

By Zakaria Kemo Konteh (ZKK)

We take no pleasure or pride in reminding ourselves of our dark, painful and difficult past. If anything, we were hopeful, upbeat and highly encouraged when our fellow citizens surmounted their fear, confronted their abuser, humiliated him at the polls and sent him into involuntary exile – a culmination of courage, patriotism and triumph leading Adama Barrow’s Presidency. The journey to achieving this victory was long and arduous and filled with the exploits, tears and blood and many acts of sacrifice of the patriots.

Cognizant of the deliberate, wilful and systematic insituatonal damage, impunity, mistrust and division amongst the citizenry, the architects of the transition were determined to set in motion various reform processes and programs necessary to get our country ready for a fresh start ahead of the general election. This New Gambia Project was to proceed with speed, total focus, serious dedication and profound efficiency. But the designed wholesale approach was threatened by a race for political power and dominance.

First to cause cracks in the hitherto formidable transition programs was PDOIS when the party bigwigs did not take cabinet positions. For a party that was very instrumental in selling the Coalition agenda to the Gambians to take a back seat when it was time to roll out the programs was serious betrayal of covenant they had with the electorates. They were allegedly not happy with cabinet-level positions offered to them and they decided turn their backs on their colleagues with spite! The excuse that PDOIS was going to serve better in the National Assembly instead was ridiculous at least and divisive at best. What better place there was to serve the urgent, transformative demands of the Gambians than in cabinet?

Another theory was that Hon Halifa Sallah and Hon Ousainou Darboe do not like each other. Their differences transcend politics and ideology. Hon Sallah was very proactive in the Coalition programs when Hon Darboe was in jail and he was effectively in charge but as soon as Hon Darboe came out and assumed influential roles and gradually eclipsed Hon Sallah’s position, the latter decided to go for the exit. But whether PDOIS principals refused to occupy what they had considered to be “inferior” cabinet positions or they were not offered any, what resulted was the beginning of a monumental fractious relationship within the Coalition. The party became the first visible and public opposition to the Coalition it helped created and put to power and receiving the infamous State House response ” It is easier to criticize than take responsibilities”. Thus, it can be safely argued that PDOIS was more interested in political showmanship than working together with the colleagues for the good of the country.

Then there is the opportunistic UDP that is complicit in shirking away the country’s historic responsibilities just to expand and flex its political muscles. From the beginning, the party’s commitment to the letter and spirit of the transition programs was questionable, arguably insincere, frustratingly insufficient and shockingly self-serving. In fact, UDP started preparing itself to replace Barrow as early as the formation of the new administration. Its principals worked in the government from Monday to Friday and rallied supporters on the weekends to discuss political strategies to replace the very government. UDP was the first to open its doors to former APRC top officials, creating both a new precedence and the eventual competition over APRC remnants. In doing so, UDP was sending a clear message that when it comes to politics and its attendant game of numbers, values and principles can take a back seat. What resulted from the UDP’s political gamesmanship was a party totally immersed in and focusing on expanding and solidying its base for the next election and very little to safeguard, strengthen and consolidate the gains of our nascent democracy.

Alarmed by UDP’s very clear and direct efforts to make him a one-term President even after initially backing him to renege on his promised serve only 3 years, President Barrow first employed appeasement strategy to win UDP over by elevating Darboe. When that failed, he went for the jugular by plotting a political coup in the UDP during its Congress with little success as the vanguards of the party resisted fiercely and Barrow had to withdraw. As he withdrew, he managed take with him some former disgruntled members of the UDP.

But Barrow wasn’t done. Although his assault on UDP was repelled, he initiated another sweeping and far-reaching plot and this time against our very institutions. To succeed in this treacherous process, he began firing and replacing UDP newbies with former spineless officials who have both the institutional memory and experience for anything and everything toxic – men and women with tainted integrity and questionable professional competence to carry out enormous systemic and systematic damage. Those who will mortgage our country to the highest bidder at a moment’s notice to satisfy themselves and a sitting President. After all, they were there for Yahya Jammeh and Barrow needs them too for the same reason : to help him in any way to get richer from state coffers and use the loot to finance and influence elections. Janneh Commission provides adequate clarity and papery-rail on their wanton and audacious schemes.

The Jawara-era elites – a group of entitled, mischievous and compromised cabal – and their children and grandchildren are also gradually making their way up and establishing their foothold. President Barrow is presiding over and coordinating this eerie, reprehensible comeback because he believes it will work for his self-perpetuating efforts.

Stuck in this political firestorm, uncanny recklessness and wholesale insensitivity is the vulnerable, helpless and battered Gambian people who have suffered for far too long and continue to be unwitting victims of vicious cycle of bad leadership, political opportunism and purposeful carelessness. We can’t continue in this path.

Thus, as we move forward, we must shun political blindness, embrace the bitter truth and chart a new way for political responsibility, accountable leadership and robust citizen engagements.

At the Paradise TV televised national discussion, and in its aftermath, the issue of the commencement of the Presidential term has dominated the public conversation headlines.

By section 100 (2) (c) of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia (the Constitution) the National Assembly (NA) is prohibited from depriving “…any person retroactively of vested or acquired rights…”.

Subsections (a) and (b) of the same section precludes the NA from establishing “a one party State” or establishing “a State religion” respectively. Given the importance of the principles implicated, section 153(2)(c) of the Draft ring fenced the values therein protected from legislative vandalism by entrenching the provision.

Eager to remove the protected values from tinkering by “transient majorities”, the identical provision is entrenched both in the Constitution, and in the Draft.

Rather extraordinarily, a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) with five distinguished Barristers, including a Justice of the Supreme Court, ignored the clear command of 100(2)(c) of the Constitution, and 153(2) (c) of the Draft by mandating in Schedule 4 (5) (2) thus:- “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution or any other law or any rule of interpretation or rule of construction, the term of office of the person holding the Office of President as at the effective date shall be construed to include the existing term and the person may contest election for the Presidency for only one more term as provided in this Constitution after the expiry of the existing term”.

By coincidence, section 190 (1) (a) of the Draft states that “the President shall appoint the Chief Justice and other judges of the Supreme Court, acting on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, after confirmation by the National Assembly”.

After confirmation by the National Assembly!

In my view, assuming this Draft is given a pass by the NA and the people, even handed application of the law must mean that every serving judge of the Supreme Court must face confirmation hearings to maintain his or her judgeship.

In pondering the incomprehensibility of Schedule 4 (5) (2) when juxtaposed against 100(2)(c) of the Constitution, and 153(2)(c) of the Draft, I travelled back in time to a speech I delivered in 2006 to the Second Congress of Kombo Sillah Association, at the St Nicholas Primary School, Bristol, on THE RULE OF LAW, for a clearer perspective on this democratic value.

Those opposed to the incumbent President must work tirelessly to remove him from office but we must reject the use of unlawful means to achieving our political objectives.

“Mr President, Executive Committee members, the general membership of Kombo Sillah Association–United Kingdom (KSA-UK), distinguished guests, gentlemen and ladies. I am humbled by the honour and privilege of returning to Bristol at the behest of KSA-UK as one of its speakers this 27th day of May 2006.

Exactly two years ago today, European Dabananians, their friends, and well wishers, gathered in the Easton Community Centre to appraise and celebrate the widely acknowledged vision that goes by the name KSA-UK.

That first Congress, in this foremost city of the West of England, this informal capital of Dabanani in the British Isles, was a memorable and distinguished gathering with attendees from as far afield as one of the lands of the midnight sun.

For Congress 2, the Swedish contingent tripled, and spectacular further success is recorded with Finnish and Gambian representation. I am referring – gentlemen and ladies – to our distinguished and celebrated Dabananians in the persons of Jainaba Bah Jallow, Mamakaddy Bajo Coma, Bob Touray, Omar Chaw Touray, Fatou Touray. Yes you are right, and no I’m not hallucinating. I indeed confirmed from the President that non-negotiable exigencies have kept Jainaba away. As her commitment to be here with us was never in question, and if only in spirit, I’m happy to acknowledge her presence in this audience. If it makes anyone feel better, you have permission to double your eyes on MBC.

I wish to reassure sister Fatou Touray that she is not a victim of sexist discrimination in that the preceding line-up remains faithful to the protocol of first-past-the-post. Notwithstanding their majestic and time-defying elegance, the sister- and brother-duo in that line-up of personalities all inhaled our earthly breeze before the sister. If that rationalisation is unsatisfactory to her, I apologise profusely.

Mr President, distinguished members of the audience, I take for granted that no celebration of KSA-UK may be considered complete if done in isolation of recognising the organisation’s architects, and even more crucially, its expanding crop of sustainers. As a project in progress, and if only for keeping the power of vision alive, I now petition this convocation to applaud KSA-UK for maintaining its pride of place among Dabanani’s pantheon of civic champions.

When I accepted the invitation to this Congress, I did so for the primary purpose of engaging the intellect of a vital segment of Dabanani’s present and future leadership on a crucial matter of timeless significance to humanity in general, and to Gambians in particular.

I take no issue with the proposition that a full, vibrant, and complete community must have its sports personalities, its entertainers, and other artists, its blue- and white-collar workers, its farmers, its agitators, even its myriad of habitual offenders against generally accepted social and legal norms.

I also accept the proposition that no society can even begin to approach completeness in the absence of explicit rules which are understood by, and applicable to all without distinction. Stated differently, I accept the contention that no society can meaningfully endure in a climate where lawlessness pervades the spirit of its public life. And this notwithstanding the existence of all other requisite components for a full, vibrant, and complete community!

At this stage of the game, there are no prizes for guessing the transiting theme to my assigned task for today. In its collective wisdom, the Executive Committee of KSAUK prohibited me from commenting on matters beyond the scope of my competence. Anxious to avoid any misadventure on my part, the leadership of the organisation – probably ill-advisedly – went on to decide that I should discuss the doctrine of the rule of law. If you find my efforts wanting, please endorse my attempt at shifting responsibility and blame those who threw me in the deep end.

As a concept, the rule of law is one of those political and governance principles whose ostensible embrace, by dictator and democrat alike, makes it susceptible to perverse interpretation and the confusion naturally attendant to that abuse.

I shall not waste your valuable time by engaging in a purely academic discussion of what constitutes the rule of law. Suffice to say that as the sanctity and the dignity of the person is directly implicated, the rule of law is a practical freedom and human rights concept open to objective validation, and as such, virtually any observer is capable of deciphering its presence or otherwise in a jurisdiction.

Mr President, distinguished members of the audience, I am happy to state that some of the thinkers who considered the concept argue that a cardinal element of the rule of law stands for the proposition that no person should be “punishable except for a distinct breach of the law established in an ordinary manner before the ordinary courts of the land”.

As the doctrine is substantive in nature, the point cannot be overemphasised that the rule of law is not about the promulgating process of law adhering to the formalistic niceties of bringing legislation to the statute books.

On the same close reasoning, another cornerstone theses of the concept states that no person is above the law, that “every person whatever be his/her mark or condition, is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals”. I contend that the assumption in the foregoing is the clear suggestion that for the rule of law to obtain in a jurisdiction, there must be a separation of powers in its public life. Simply put, the entity that promulgates a law should not at the same time interpret and enforce that law as that is tantamount to inventing a formula for arbitrariness and abuse.

I accept that there is nothing to stop us from discussing the rule of law in the abstract, in a pure academic context, so to speak. However, if the intention of KSA-UK in its selection of the topic is for the immediate and extended audience to gain a true appreciation of the genius, and fantastic wonder, of the concept, I ask for your indulgence in giving some practical dimension to a doctrine that is principally responsible for the existence of a tremendous human and material development gap between societies populated by the same human species.

For a dramatic demonstration of the rule of law in recent times, I suggest we foray into a systemic challenge to, and vindication of, the concept in the United States, that trail blazer jurisdiction of the all-encompassing principle of the sanctity of the human person. For the discernible student of modern international affairs – and we have many in this immediate audience and beyond – the United States stands for carnage and abuse. I accept the partial validity of any such observation, and for good measure, I readily concede that like our host nation, the United States stands legitimately accused of pervasive institutional racism against its non-Caucasian peoples. I am willing, at some future date, to discuss the institutional racism clearly prevalent in the United States, and the United Kingdom, in particular, and western liberal democracies, in general, but for present purposes, I am happy to confine my excitement to dilating on the critical significance of the rule of law in public life.

Without question, societies may be substituted for individuals in the contention of Italy’s Renaissance luminary and humanist philosopher, Pico della Mirandola to the effect that man, placed at the centre of the universe had the power “to degenerate into the lower forms of life, which are brutish … or to be reborn into the higher forms which are divine”.

I challenge you to juxtapose any Western liberal democracy, against any African country, and decide whether you observe the same level of respect to the dignity of the human person.

I return to the United States and the matter of a Florida woman, and her ordinary family for a classic amplification of the positive magic of the rule of law. At the centre of the Terri Schiavo (Mrs Schiavo) controversy was a severely brain damaged woman whose husband went to the Florida State courts to have her feeding tube removed on the grounds she would not have liked to live in the indignity of what is known as a ‘persistent vegetative state’. The courts agreed with the husband notwithstanding the strong protestation of Mrs Schiavo’s parents against removing her feeding tube on the hopeful grounds she could recover.

In defiance, and for the purpose of legislatively staying a Florida State District Judge’s order, and have the feeding tube reinserted, Governor Bush of Florida engineered and shepherded what came to be known as “Terri’s Law” through the Florida Legislature. On a legal challenge, the Florida Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional and had it vacated. The US Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of the State of Florida, and Governor Bush, with all his ostensible power and influence was decisively defeated.

As if the legal position was not adequately amplified at the State level, the monumental and bottomless system that is the US federal machine sprung into action at both legislative and executive levels. In line with his right wing social values, President George Bush – the Governor’s elder brother – signed a Congressional bill transferring jurisdiction from the Florida State system, to the federal judiciary, i.e., to a US District Court in Florida.

Accepting the logic and the thinking of the State courts, the Federal court ruled against reinserting Mrs Schiavo’s feeding tube, and upon appeal, the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower Court. Without comment, and for the second time, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the matter. In the final analysis, the feeding tube was removed, and Mrs Schiavo died within weeks.

Mr President, distinguished guests, gentlemen and ladies, as the United States is a secular society, I urge that you relegate your religious views on the matter to the recesses of your mind, and consider this heart wrenching case on the principles undergirding the rule of law in a modern democracy. As a justiciable dispute, the Schiavo matter fell squarely within the competence of the courts to hear and decide.

In the performance of its constitutionally assigned function, the judiciary at both levels of the American federal system withstood the combined overbearing pressure of state and federal legislative and executive power and upheld the rule of law. And to think that those decisions originated in single judges conclusively confirms the inherent magic of the rule of law.

More poignantly, state and federal politicians at both executive and legislative levels graciously accepted defeat and moved on. They fought a good and intense fight, but when all was over, they embraced the result by characterising it as a victory for the American system.

In full agreement, I say glory to the principle of the rule of law!

At the other end of the spectrum are political systems that treat the concept as merely subjective. Without prevarication, I look no further than our dear homeland for a jurisdiction where no more than insincere lip service is paid to the rule of law.

Notwithstanding President Jammeh’s protestations that his governing principles are fundamentally anchored in the rule of law, not to mention his Attorney General’s frequent pronouncements of the Gambia as a state with solid respect for human rights, the record is in direct contravention of the propaganda.

For starters, President Jammeh is on record as stating his rejection of any notion of an independent judiciary. In his trademark style, he categorically denied the existence of an independent judiciary “anywhere in the world.” Against the explicit command of what passes for our supreme law, i.e., the Constitution, Judges at all levels of The Gambian judicial system serve at the absolute pleasure of the President. The same goes for members of the Independent Electoral Commission, and all-sector heads of the security services.

Mr President, members of the audience, I urge that you regard the recent parading of alleged coup suspects on Gambia TV as the latest in a litany of instances manifestly demonstrating the absence of the rule of law in our country. If the Government is confident about its allegations, the proper venue for adequately ventilating those accusations must be High Court of The Gambia. It is instructive to note that a lawless former associate of President Jammeh filed a motion on the eve of the judgement in his criminal trial articulating his lack of faith in the judicial process that wrongfully convicted him of economic crimes.

I contend that because we reject the rule of law in our public life, we are missing out on the potential for perfectibility. A casual survey of this audience readily demonstrates the efficacy of the rule of law in determining how human skills gravitate to climates where they are least apprehensive of the violation of their dignity for merely articulating their legitimate political views.

I submit to you, gentlemen and ladies, that adherence to the rule of law is the foundation upon which nations survive or collapse. No matter what its resources, a nation that fails to embrace the rule of law has its foundations anchored in quicksand. Under even the most ideal of conditions, it must ultimately collapse under the slightest test. I contend that the racism and its attendant odds notwithstanding, you and I chose Europe, and America, for the compelling attraction that except for the vagaries of random criminal activity, there is no issue of being victims of state orchestrated disappearances, killings, unlawful detentions, and frozen economic opportunities for merely daring to have the “temerity” to freely articulate our thoughts.

Mr President, distinguished personalities, I note in this audience some of Dabanani’s finest sons and daughters, dreamers anchored in their vision for the socio-economic upliftment of their Atlantic seaboard community. No less committed in this regard are our brothers and sisters removed physically from the environs of St Nicholas Primary School.

Regardless of geographic location, and notwithstanding opportunity, the timeless issue for us as Gambians must of necessity address the question of how we order our public affairs along the lines of live and let live. There is no need to dilate on the proposition that no meaningful and durable security is possible in any public environment devoid of the oxygen of the rule of law. In the absence of security and the business certainty that comes with it, our dear Gambia will continue to be left behind in the stupefying pace of global economic events. In that eventuality, it amounts to mere hallucination to contemplate the survival, much less the development of our dear seaside community.

If that is a fate too harsh for you to contemplate, I urge that you enrol, one and all, as foot soldiers in the crusade for promoting and sustaining the rule of law in The Gambia.

I accept full responsibility for the content of this speech, and state for the record that these are my views and in no way represent the thinking of KSA-UK.

God bless KSA-UK, and thank you for the re-invitation to Bristol”.

And why this reminiscence of a speech delivered some fourteen years ago in the West of England. Merely to remind my compatriots that we must reject the retroactive application of a capricious law to a fellow citizen whose rights were vested.

A violation of the right of one is a violation of all our rights.

Let us settle our political differences at the ballot in 2021.

Let other Republics do this, but not public Gambia, and not in our name.

Schedule 4 (5) (2) must be excised from this faulty Draft!

Lamin J. Darbo

Put simply, corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It comes in many forms, including public servants taking money or favours in exchange for services. In The Gambia, it involves politicians misusing public money or granting public jobs and contracts to their families & friends.

Corruption can happen anywhere: in business, government, the courts, the media, and in civil society, as well as across all sectors from health and education to infrastructure and sports. Participants involve anyone: politicians, government officials, public servants, business people or members of the public. Corruption occurs in the shadows with the help of enablers such as bankers, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents and opaque financial systems that allow the corrupt to hide their loot.

Under president Barrow’s government, the rising incidence of corruption scandals has helped to erode trust, weaken democracy, hamper economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty and environmental crisis. Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if we understand the way it works and the systems that enable it: In January 2017, barely four weeks in office for the coalition govt, the managing director of Gambia Revenue Authority, Yankuba Darboe, was the first to burst in a ploy to be in president Barrow’s good books. It involves GRA without ask or need using collected tax revenue to purchase two brand new cars for the presidency. The resultant public outcry led to the said cars being handed over to GRTS. But it didn’t stop there – our problems only just began.

Weeks later, scandal broke out at GAMTEL where the leadership paid lip-service to leakage and waste in the [infamous] call termination sim card scandal. A senior government official told me at the time that the parastatal was losing one million dalasi (D1,000,000) every week amid the furore. The amazing thing, how cowardly, was the total lack of respect to rules & protocol by then management never cared to brief parliament and the press on the crisis. A lot of money was lost during that three month stretch; many had gotten rich in a most daylight robbery of the Gambian people – again, no police probe, nor any legal action against the culprits.

Next stop NAWEC – billions of dalasi was stolen from the national electricity and water carrier by former president Jammeh & his acolytes.

Shares were sold and resold, accompanied by millions in dividend payments without any (public) announcements. So, what is the fate of the cartel today? Has remedial measures flagged up by the Janneh Commission pertaining to the issue implemented? Despite the dark days of old, hope still reside on the vision & reform agenda under the new director general, Alpha Robinson.

To much appreciation – The EU Banjul office continues to work hard mobilising millions of euros to help stabilise the economy. The operational niceties on small scale development projects under fund for this new turn of events, although a slow burner in terms of job numbers, indeed is a welcome development. But even whereas funding came in the form of budgetary support on external debt, import cover has been enhanced. From the get go, ambassador Lagos has been instrumental, except for lack of foresight and ambition from the government.

Writing from a public-opinion perspective, one is at a loss as to naked corruption by the spineless bunch residing at the Department of Health. It has become ever apparent why The Gambia continues to fail against development set targets. Where is the police commissioner in all this to effect arrest on a most white collar crime?! You would think that our society and politics rotates on the idea that we are all in this together – utilitarian values so to speak – reflected in the goodness of a people powered government. Lack of transparency necessitate institutionalization of an independent anti-corruption Commission as a matter of urgency.

What concerns most is the implementation phase of the Janneh Commission report or the lack thereof. The advent of COVID-19 has succeeded to distract us off an adhoc set up by parliament, yet parliament seem so powerless to act upon its findings?! The National Assembly has to challenge & summon the Commissioners, show strong teeth impose its will on the Justice ministry. The ‘House’ still has the power to summon the president for questioning if ministers fail to provide satisfactory responses on critical issues concerning the status of seized monies, assets, cars, houses, and lands.

The blame, for now at least, shall apportion at the feet of a timid National Audit Office ( N.A.O), whom by the way one had heaped praise just recently. Its leaders ought to know that exception to the rule should NOT exist as far as remit or investigative reach is concerned, to include budgetary spending lines across the executive branch. While it is true that standards have slipped as opposed to what obtained in the Jawara era with respect to rules & regulations, do not be despondent.

Gambians should be reassured that most civil servants are morally good, ethically upright. Critics shouldn’t rush to paint the entire stream with the same paint brush, but for a spoilt rotten few, selfish as ever.

Under president Barrow’s leadership, the law has failed to prosecute blatant corruption cases, to have emboldened the appetite of would-be thieves ever too ready to profit on the taxpayer. The million dalasi question worth ask is why is the president still refusing to speak UP condemn corruption in his administration???

The writer, Gibril Saine, is based in the United Kingdom

As we enter the Paradise TV day on the Draft Constitution (the Draft), further observations on the document are in order.

From non-constitutional material packed into the Draft, to intra-document conflicts on the same issues, and between those the copy and paste of Kenya 2010, and the 1997 Constitution of The Republic of The Gambia (the Constitution), the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) took the country on a tour de force on how not to draft a national constitution.

To start with, the whole of page 2 on “The Republic” and “Sovereignty of the people” can nicely fit into a one-line sentence. A surgical knife is needed to trim the Draft of its needless fat. Chapters III and V are more suited to the basic education curriculum than in a nation’s preeminent legal document.

Lest I forget, Chapter XVIII on the National Commission for Civic Education is another scandalous surplusage. Who listens to this kind of big brother outfit when the print and electronic media, and the WhatsApp, and other chat groups, are doing an excellent job educating Gambians about every facet of their national life, their rights as citizens, and on other human-interest issues.

Chapter IV is exceedingly porous and invites tremendous abuse of the nationality sector. No sensible nation manages its nationality system in such a cavalier manner. For example, section 15(3) states:- “a child of not more than eight years of age found in The Gambia, whose parents are not known, shall be presumed to be a citizen of The Gambia by birth”.

Unreal!

In the established serenity of our socio-political realities, there is no basis for this but it competes in the irresponsibility department with section 21(a) thus:- “An Act of the National Assembly may make provision for registration as a citizen of The Gambia of a person who, on or before 31st December, 2019, was born in The Gambia of non-Gambian parents if the person had, since his or her birth, lived in The Gambia”.

On intra-Draft conflicts, section 42 on “Protection of right to property” frontally collides with section 260(1) on “Land ownership” to the effect that “All land in The Gambia belong to the people of The Gambia collectively as a nation, as communities, and as individuals”. This latter provision introduces an ambiguity notwithstanding the clear command of section 42.

In the area of pensions, section 193 (1) states that Judges may retire at 65 years and shall retire at 75 years. However Judges are categorised as members of the public service (section 262) and public servants SHALL retire at 60 years (section 270). As members of the third branch of government, it is better to remove Judges from the public service rubric.

It may be that there is something every Gambia likes about the Draft but as a whole document can it be endorsed. Provisions that are supposed to be cohesive are pulling in different directions thereby adversely affecting the stability of the system.

May be its Kenyan engineers should be urgently summoned to stabilise the Draft for the CRC

On the demarcations, the Executive is headed by the President, the Judiciary by the Chief Justice, and the National Assembly, the direct ambassadors of the people, by an unelected outsider. Its pensions are also left for separate legislation when the President and Superior Court Judges are sumptuously catered for in the supreme law of the land.

The Judiciary was the constitutional orphan under the Professor but on the look of things, the Draft has shifted that status to the occupants of the impressive building on the immediate approach to Gambia High School.

I wish all a memorable Paradise TV conversation day on the Draft.

With malice toward none!

Lamin J. Darbo

When one looks at the rising number of Covid-19 positive cases in Sudan, listens to the circulated videos from the Sudanese Minister of Health, then one must conclude that, over 175 Gambian students living in an unimaginable conditions are all potential carriers of the Coronavirus.

It’s very disheartening to hear the announcement made my Alhagie Modou Joof on the National TV that all Gambians will be evacuated in countries considered as hotspots within 48 hours and still know for the fact as a former executive of the union that, students in Sudan -who are left to die on their own- will be the last on the Government’s list.

These students are bonafide Gambian citizens whose parents are paying taxes without default and as such, they do not deserve to be given a blind eye. Doesn’t it echo to the Gambian authorities? “to prove man’s brotherhood”

These students will be working with Government as if they are asking for a favour but rather asking for their constitutional rights. We are forced to question if the values embodied in our National Anthem have no corresponding reflection in our lives as Gambians.

I visited some Gambians on Sunday the 3rd of May 2020 in Khartoum, and spent the night with them, I looked at the degree of danger they are expose to, I can’t be in silence anymore.

I spent the whole night observing and talking to some of these students and it hurts me to see people having no hopes to be rescued by their own Government, which is the continuation of the systematic discrimination of the Gambian Government towards the assumed second class citizens of the Gambia who are referred to as ARABIC students. The mind boggling thing of all is in Khartoum, Sudan, there are Gambian Christians and Muslims, girls and boys studying Medicine, Nursing, Law, Economics, Islamic sciences, Education, Sharia, Administration Engineering and so on, but all are treated the same as if the previous administrations and the current one have no hope in anyone studying in the Arabic language regardless of one’s specialty.

If any of these students happen to be a victim of this pandemic out of negligence and ignoring of their voices by our own Ministry of Higher Education, we shall hold authorities accountable for the degligency to our last breath. It is unacceptable and we would not relent to expose such discriminatory practices of the elite Ministry. #justice-for-all-or-for-none

Today, students from Sudan are in the front line of the socioeconomic development of the Gambia like any other Gambian graduating overseas, the likes Dr.Basiru Gai in health, justice Omar Secka in Judiciary, but who can forget the former minister of Higher Education Dr. Abubakar Senghore to mention just a few, thus they are in Education both Basic and Higher Education, Diplomatic core etc…, but the attitudes of the Ministry of Higher Education towards the Gambian students in Sudan is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated under our watch.

Let’s say all of them are Madrasa students -which is not the case-, does it mean whenever a group of Gambians decide to study in Islamic schools they must be deprived from their rights by their own Government whose primary responsibility is to guard and protect their constitutional rights?

As a final year Law student, when I look at article 26 (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 which states “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their Children.”

It is further mentioned in the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam Adopted and Issued at the Nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Cairo on 5 August 1990,

ARTICLE 9

(a) The seeking of knowledge is an obligation and provision of education is the duty of the society and the State. The State shall ensure the availability of ways and means to acquire education and shall guarantee its diversity in the interest of the society so as to enable man to be acquainted with the religion of Islam and uncover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of mankind.

(b) Every human being has a right to receive both religious and worldly education from the various institutions of teaching, education and guidance, including the family, the lower school grades, the University, the media, etc., and in such an integrated and balanced manner that would develop human personality, strengthen man’s faith in Allah and promote man’s respect to and defence of both rights and obligations. And Gambia is one of the signitaries to the aforementioned declarations but why are we discriminating against our own sons and daughters, with the clear knowledge that it’s a violation of their basic fundamental Human Rights?

And for the records I’m speaking as a Human Right and a social justice activist and a Student as well in Sudan, not on behalf of The Gambian Student’s union in Sudan (GAMSUS).

How comes the Government of The Gambia both former and the current be sending thousands of dollars from taxpayers money to other Gambians in other countries with better conditions, but the Government needs to be BEGGED for 365 days to send $300 only for these students whose conditions are no secret to even the apparent blind Government of the Gambia? How do you have a Gambian in Morocco receiving in between $1200 to $900 with respect and to just send $300 to those Sudan after months of literally begging, emails and letters to the ministry can prove that. This is injustice at the highest form by the Government against it’s own citizens.

The student leadership continued months ago since the pandemic began, sending uncountable notifications about the conditions of The Gambian students and frequent demands for their stipends to the authorities but nothing has been done! #Justice-for-all-or-for-none

I’m looking forward to hearing the voice of the student’s leadership to continue demanding the financial support for these students in Khartoum during these difficult and critical moments in human history or to the total evacuation of all Gambian nationals who are kept in Khartoum for educational purposes but no longer doing that for the past two months.

If we can sit and watch our fellow countrymen and women suffer without doing anything to support, our patriotism and loyalty to the land we claim to be from MUST be questioned.

Thanks to everyone for the support!

Our voice can go beyond our imaginations but we can’t realise that until we speak.

The writer, Ibrahima S. Ceesay, is Khartoum based activist, pan-Africanist and a final year Law student in Sudan.

I was left bemused by recent press release issued by government as to reasons advanced for rash redeployments of civil service personnel. A big breaking news story swirling idly to a smart device at hand behoves technological dominance in the world of politics today.

To put it mildly, the administration’s moves are quite unusual. Even while the head of state has authority to reshuffle the pack as he sees fit, an executive order should be judged purely on certain sets of criteria & etiquettes contingent on result-policy engineering. I felt that the changes lack those merits, therefore, an overstretched executive hand.
Apparently, the president went about tampering with the civil service stream slicing and dicing his way through specialist technicians sent packing to unfamiliar roles, or distant shores. A classic executive overreach, antithetical to the Ethics and Ethos of democratic rule.

By choosing to effectively sack & exile seasoned experts from the centre of gravity – for soft ball players at his beck & call – the president, in essence may have not broke the law per se, but has run counter to its spirit thereof. Surrounding oneself with ‘Yes Men’ to sing praises on the dear hail leader – does NOT develop a country. I stand here wrestling with my conscience on these difficult words – for the respect one attaches to the office of the president!!!

In the United kingdom, success within the civil service is premised on continuity with minimal interference. An element of professionalism runs high, with neutrality what it swears by. After a thorough recruitment process, junior entrants from the lower grades will move around in an effort to equip them new skills cross-department, certain (sensitive) areas of government. Confidentiality is paramount of course; that these talented graduates later specialise in one’s entry line as leading experts, thereby, institutional memory is kept in tact.

The Barrow govt, for reasons known to it, has developed a rash addiction to reshuffle experts from post without the need nor rationale. A smart govt would not have removed the foremost expert on international trade in the case of Permanent Secretary Dampha. Given that competitive trade is the bedrock of 21st century economies, and the cornerstone of success – how has that move help the country???

Worst of all came to be the removal of Abdoulie Nyangado, head of Strategic policy. The man is a raving technocrat with multiple years in leadership roles. His team, I learnt, is the brainchild behind multi-faceted development projects with partner institutions all over the country. Again, how does such a loss of talent help advance the country???

I thought Fatu Camara’s take on the affair summarised it best; as with the sacking of SSHFC boss, Manjang. The idea that people participate in government on the premise to take as much as possible from the system makes me very sad for our country. Sincerely, I hope the president will revise himself, rescind according – put interest of the country above his.

The Gambian people need to look inwardly, reflect on issues and the causes of poverty. The population seem so distracted, even when China continues to exert considerable damage on its conscience. But hey, the black appears to be its own enemy, unfortunately.

Fellow Gambians – As the month of Ramadan impresses upon the Muslim world, no amount of money gives solution to an everlasting life. Let each one of us rush to do as much good as possible impact upon lives of our nearest & dearest. Profound gratitude to frontline nurses & teachers dedicated to the national interest. More than ever, I stand very much inspired, reaffirmed in the service of country.

The writer, Gibril Saine, wrote from United Kingdom.