After all the speeches by the President and his Vice President and the NAMs about the State of the Nation Address and in the Adjournment Debate what did we achieve as a people at the end of the day? What has our leaders done to take us to a better destination? I ask? I only feel more disappointed and betrayed by our leaders! They rightfully bemoaned the terrible conditions of our people but then what action was taken to address this national predicament?

All that I see is everyone washing his or her hands off the crux of the matter while blaming and counter blaming each other. Meantime uncertainty and frustration engulf the nation! Things have fallen apart. The centre cannot hold, and parts are running helter-skelter leaving the masses in the wild to fend for their daily bread on their own. We have a Government that only takes money out of people’s pockets through terrible taxes yet provide only poor quality or no public services at all. Serre Kunda heath centre is one example which was accurately and rightly lamented by Halifa Sallah!

One wonders what is the purpose of the Gambia Government? The current dispensation, i.e. the Government and the National Assembly came as a Coalition on the promise to give meaning to government. But then soon after victory they broke it up with each claiming victory and righteousness. No one is taking responsibility, and no one is willing to engage by any means to salvage the nation. The easiest part was to form a Coalition but the hard part of it was to show effective leadership so as to maintain the Coalition effectively in order to achieve its goal of system change as espoused in their Manifesto.

If they had properly structured the Coalition from the very beginning will it break up just like that? Some claim the MoU was signed while others countered that assertion, yet no one is yet to show Gambians a signed or unsigned MoU! Who do we belief therefore?

The Coalition was co-chaired by Fatoumatta Tambajang and Dembo Bojang yet at the very beginning of this Government both of them abandoned the MoU only to join Barrow as VP and advisor respectively! Why didn’t they advise the President to stick to their MoU otherwise refuse to join him? Similarly, Halifa Sallah was the initiator and convener hence the leading champion of the Coalition. Therefore, where the co-chairs failed why didn’t he also take up the urgent responsibility, by any means necessary to salvage the Coalition?

But what do we have today? One group led by Fatoumatta Tambajang together with PPP, GPDP, NCP and NRP said they endorse Barrow to stay on for 5 years while others such as PDOIS are neither for or against 3 or 5 years yet others such as UDP remain silent or publicly stand nowhere when it was their party leader Ousainou Darboe who was the first to in fact undermine the 3 years agenda when he unceremoniously defended 5 years. Therefore, today UDP cannot stand on the fence between 3 and 5 years. Meantime GMC dissociates from the 5 years camp but did not also say if it’s for 3 years while their party leader remains an adviser to the President who is the centre of this political hurricane.

Is this the kind of leadership this country deserves? Why are all these political parties and their leaders abandoning The Gambia in mid-air? One would have expected that at least one party or one leader will stand up to demand adherence and respect for their MoU and all of its agreements, not by lip service but in practice! Unfortunately, everyone keeps their hands off! Therefore, the confusion and dilemma in this country that Halifa beautifully described is caused by none other than they, the political leaders themselves!

Leadership is neither free nor cheap. Leadership is about matters of life and death. Let us not allow our leaders to play with our lives. Martin Luther King said a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus. Hence we should expect our leaders to be relentlessly and vigorously running after each other; pleading and crying out to each other with patience and humility just to get consensus for the good of the country.

My fellow citizens, let us hold our leaders accountable and punish them for their poor performance and poor leadership. Let us not buy cheap leadership full of bluff! A former American First Lady Rosalynn Carter once observed that a leader takes people where they want to go. But a GREAT LEADER takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to go. Therefore, our Coalition leaders cannot abandon the ship midway but must take this country where it needs to go.

Within three years our political leaders could have achieved a lot for the country even when they destroyed their Coalition. But for three years none of the parties of the Coalition has taken any pragmatic step to salvage the country through their NAMs in parliament. With or without tactical alliance there is nothing that stops these parties and their NAMs, if there is the will, to support a private member’s bill to amend the Constitution and other laws or bring motions on the floor of the parliament to scrutinize and discipline the Government.

Look let us realize that this talk about tactical alliance is mere diversion. What guarantee is there that a tactical alliance will work as expected? Didn’t we see some NAMs abandon their parties to side with President Barrow? Therefore, even if we have all NAMs under the Coalition ticket it could be possible that some will abandon the Coalition agenda to go with Barrow. Barrow did not abandon the Coalition agenda because of the so-called tactical alliance. Barrow would have done the same even if the Coalition contested the National Assembly election as one bloc. Therefore, the issue is not the presence or the absence of tactical alliance. The problem is that our leaders just reneged on their own agenda. This is the truth!

If we could have Hon. Sidia Jatta pass a motion to compel the President or his Vice to come to the People’s House and succeed why then did they not use that same power since April 2017 to change laws and combat corruption and tame the Executive? We had seen most NAMs support that motion even though they are neither PDOIS NAMs nor are they on a Coalition ticket rather they belong to different parties. Therefore, the so-called tactical alliance is not necessarily an opportunity or an obstacle.

In fact, I strongly believe that it serves us better to have NAMs on party tickets than on Coalition tickets so that we could easily identify those NAMs who would betray the cause! Secondly it prevents non-Coalition parties from assuming leadership of the Assembly as Majority and Minority leaders. Today those leadership positions are in the hands of Coalition parties (UDP and NRP). But what use do they make of those positions?

Sadly, our political parties and their NAMs only watch as the President and his Government bastardize this country beyond repair! In multiple occasions this parliament should have passed a motion of no confidence in this Government or even impeach this President, yet they failed to do so.

Since January 2017 to date the incidence of corruption and inefficiency and disregard of the rule of law perpetrated by this Government beats imagination! Yet not only our political parties stay mute in most cases, but they also do not use their NAMs to bring the Government to book as we see in other democracies. Only once was a private’s members bill employed in the Assembly and it was by the Minority Leader Samba Jallow and supported by the entire House because that bill concerns their security of tenure.

If the Minority Leader could do that then what stops him or any other Member to also put up a bill to amend constitutional provisions that the Coalition had identified for amendment in their own Manifesto? But not only has NAMs failed to undertake such initiative but we have not also seen any party or NAM take the Government to court for corruption or call its supporters to protest the uncountable acts of misconduct by this Government!

Even when the President sacked a sitting National Assembly Member, we did not see the National Assembly undertake efforts to defend their colleague and constitutionality and democracy! It was Ya Kumba Jaiteh herself, not even her Party UDP nor the National Assembly, who took the matter to court! How then will we have good governance and sustainable development?

Even though the Vice President did appear to answer to issues in the State of the Nation Address yet the NAMs were not satisfied with both the Address and her answers generally. But what will NAMs do next about that? Every NAM did make very inspiring and apt statements, but will it just end there? Or will they take further action to discipline the Executive to address the urgent concerns and plight of the people? Time will tell.

Meantime our NAMs continue to refuse to lead and coordinate among themselves for the purpose of national salvation. The parties don’t talk to each other. The leaders despise and distrust each other but spend their best time ridiculing each other yet we expect this country will salvage. Countries that progress do so because various parties and leaders come together despite their differences to forge a common ground for national salvation. Why does this not happen in The Gambia? Let us not lower the bar for our leaders. Our country is crying for leadership, yet none is providing it! Unacceptable!

Let us bear in mind that it took our leaders 20 years before they could form a coalition that finally ousted the Dictatorship. They had formed NADD more than 10 years ago but destroyed it among themselves. Then they formed various tiny coalitions in 2011 only to be crushed by Yaya Jammeh at the pools. Therefore the 2016 Coalition must not make us forget they this coalition came on the heels of a history of massive failures on their part for 20 years thereby allowing dictatorship to thrive in this country.

Therefore, let us put pressure on these leaders to solve the mess they created by themselves. We cannot wait for another generation just to salvage the Gambia which is already more than 50 years old and highly indebted, poor, backward and corrupt! We did not ask these leaders to lead. They presented themselves and were elected by the people. We did not ask them to form a Coalition. They did it by themselves. It was on the basis of their word that we gave them our mandate and power. Therefore, they must deliver.

We don’t have the time and energy to listen to high sounding slogans and accusations and counter accusations. Let us tell these leaders that people don’t eat words. It is bread that people eat. We need water and electricity, good roads and good hospitals and better life and affordable cost of living. It is easy to claim victory but that’s just words. We need practical solutions. Leaders are meant to produce solutions! Nothing more. Nothing less. That’s all.

For The Gambia Our Homeland

By Momodou Ndow 

We all watched Gina Bass compete on the world stage and beamed with pride, despite the limited resources in Gambian sports. With virtually everything in Gambia chaotic at the moment, Gina’s performance gave us something to all celebrate. We all wanted her to take the gold medal and give us that temporary fix as we continue to search for a ray of hope amid all the chaos! 

Given her raw talent and tremendous effort to make it on the world stage, Gina’s potential is yet to be fully tapped into. There is more in her that needs to be unlocked. And in my humble opinion, a track and field scholarship to the United States would be her best bet. In sports, environment matters greatly, and is very crucial in your mental and physical training. The better and more nurturing the environment, the more you will exile. 

Most colleges in the United States that are participating in the NAACA already have proven track and field programs in place, and what Gina needs is a “proven program” that will propel her to the next level, and I don’t think such program exists in The Gambia. Gina needs to be around athletes that are equally talented or better to motivate and challenge her on a daily basis, not athletes that she is better than by a mile. 

The Jamaicans are known for running, but most of their runners come to the United States to attend college here and be part of the college track and field programs to enhance their skills. They go out and represent Jamaica from here and beat their American counterparts, they are in these programs with. This is also the case for runners from Trinidad and many other countries that have the raw talent, but doesn’t have a full fledged program to nurture and grow that talent. 

Gambia is not ready yet and wouldn’t be for a while, given the chaos, so Gina’s best bet is to try to place herself in a much better sporting environment that will help her grow to realize her full potential. She can always represent Gambia around the world from here, just like the Jamaicans and everyone else. So for those who are in the college system in the United States, try and see how you can recommend Gina for a scholarship for her to finally have a chance to be in the right environment that will take her to the next level and bring us our Gold. Gambia is struggling to provide the most basic needs, and an environment that would allow Gina to reach her potential is a luxury beyond her reach as a country.

Former Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy did not surprise me in her testimony before the TRRC on Thursday September 3. Rather she confirms that indeed she lacks the moral fortitude to stand by her convictions, regardless. Her tenure as Vice President confirms what Michelle Obama noted that being president, or indeed holding any position, does not change you but rather reveals who you are. Indeed, Isatou Njie Saidy’s testimony only served to further reveal who she is as a human being – that she stands for nothing hence will fall for anything as Martin Luther King noted.

Isatou has not added any value to the soul-searching process that this country is undergoing through the TRRC. Indeed, if there should be any valuable witness in this entire process naturally that must be her after Yaya Jammeh himself. But she failed the nation today as she had always failed the Gambia when she served as Vice President for an entire generation!

Therefore, if there was a day in which she should have salvaged her soul and name that day was today! Yet she cannot because she lacks the capacity to uphold her conscience. The fact that she could work with Yaya Jammeh so closely and for so long was in itself an indication that Isatou Njie Saidy lacks any scruples to defend. This is why she could be used multiple times to injure the body and soul of the Gambia for 20 years without any scratch on her forehead.

Clearly Isatou Njie Saidy knows everything that was happening in her Government. But she merely decided to feign ignorance or claim forgetfulness or pretend innocence when none of these is the case. A Vice President is not a voluntary job or a nonconsequential position. No dumb person serves as a Vice President and the power of the Vice President is substantive. Hence Isatou Njie Saidy cannot act as if she was just any ordinary woman in the Gambia just like my grandmother in Bakadagi.

Isatou Njie Saidy is a well-educated woman with longstanding working experience in management, leadership and public service. She is not senile neither is she an uninformed human being. She is alert and she understands phenomenon around her quite well. Therefore, Isatou Njie Saidy cannot and should not have faced the Gambia only to pretend to be ignorant, forgetful or innocent of even one crime of her Government. As she noted the Gambia did not have many friends at the time and she knows why that was the case.

What Isatou Njie Saidy’s testimony therefore exposes and signifies is that the greatest enemy of the Gambia continues to be her sons and daughters who consciously and deliberately decide to sacrifice Mother Gambia with impunity. Hence her testimony must not be viewed in terms of its content but rather from her determination and willingness to continue to abdicate her sacred obligations to the motherland. Isatou Njie Saidy does not have to speak the truth in order for us to know the truth. Indeed, we know the truth already from the many other witnesses such that even if she never testified it will not subtract anything from the facts that are now public knowledge.

But it was important for her to tell the truth mainly to show respect for victims and demonstrate atonement for aiding and abetting tyranny hence vouch for her own salvation. This is where she lost incredible opportunity. Instead she only served to generate more disgust, more disrespect and more humiliation on herself forever. Today she stands far more disrespected and rejected in the eyes of majority of Gambians than ever before. Indeed, she has done great disservice to herself.

The lesson though that is to be learnt from this woman is that until today public office continues to be abused and public interest continues to be bastardised by public officers. The fact that three years after the end of the Yaya Jammeh – Isatou Njie Saidy Tyranny there continues to be the same malpractices and abuses within the public sector goes to state that change is yet to come.  It shows that until today there are many Isatou Njie Saidys in our public institutions at central and local levels who are determined to injure the common good.

Another lesson to learn from this despicable testimony is what public servants especially security officers must bear in mind when they perform their duties. They must realise that they must not carry out unlawful orders nor should they get over-excited in performing their duties. Public servants, especially those at the operational level must learn from Isatou Njie Saidy that when they carry our unlawful orders from their superiors, someday those superiors can completely wash off their hands and claim innocence. In that case it will be those officers who will find themselves lonely and alone to face the consequences of their actions.

Above all the testimony of Isatou Njie Saidy as well as former CDS Baboucarr Jatta go to highlight the fact that when unscrupulous men and women are in charge of public office, they turn the Government into a lying, abusive and criminal machinery. These two top public servants have shown us how the Gambia Government concocted lies just to cover up crimes that they consciously and willingly meted out to citizens. Their testimonies also show that indeed the citizens of the Gambia were not vigilant enough and by that shortcoming citizens have allowed such crimes to continue in their name.

Where Government has become the biggest liar and abuser in society it only serves to make the citizenry lose trust and confidence in the entire State. Where such is the situation it means the rule of law suffers hence create a situation where violations of human rights and plunder of public wealth becomes the norm. In that case no one is even safe again in that society!

Therefore, let Gambians learn from the testimonies of Isatou Njie Saidy and Baboucarr Jatta to become more alert and vigilant by constantly checking public servants from the President downwards. Let us religiously scrutinise each and every public institution from the Office of the President downwards. The price of freedom, they say is the eternal vigilance. Until and unless citizens are eternally vigilant there is no guarantee that we could avoid another round of dictatorship.

For the Gambia Our Homeland

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The Governing Council of the Pan African Youth Leadership Foundation has conferred an award for Most Influential Youth Leader on former Presidential Affairs Minister and youth empowerment enthusiast, Momodou Sabally.

Sabally was recognized alongside other prominent trailblazers and trendsetters across Africa and Europe during the Africa-Europe Youth Leadership Summit on September 28 held at Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The award is in recognition of his tireless efforts in inspiring and empowering youths across the African continent and beyond as an international speaker, role model and leadership coach.

Sabally has been traveling around the African continent and beyond inspiring and mentoring youth leaders for years. He is a regular speaker at such high profile platforms like the Africa Students and Youth Summit, the African Youth Action Network, among other continental platforms.

This recent award follows another one presented to Sabally in Freetown in March of this year’s where the Confederation of West African Youths also honoured him for his leadership and Inspiring work geared towards youth development.

Author of several books in the inspirational genre, Sabally is a popular international speaker and leadership coach. He founded his own youth mentorship foundation called Sabally Leadership Academy (SLA) in 2015, and the impact of his work is now felt across many countries.

The action by the National Assembly to insist that the President is present as they discuss the State of the Nation Address is not only in the right direction but indeed also long overdue but highly welcome and necessary. There is a reason why a democratic state is divided into three separate powers – Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. This separation of powers is indeed the equilibrium that restrains each and every one of the three organs from abusing their respective powers hence guarantees that each and every one of them abide by the rule of law.

It is on the basis of this separation in accordance with the rule of law that there is transparency and accountability in the affairs of the State without which everyone in that society is at risk of abuse. The Constitution has mandated the National Assembly to check the Executive to ensure that it does not only perform its constitutional duties but in so doing also renders account as to how it is performing those duties. This is why the Constitution makes it incumbent upon the Executive to always report to the National Assembly which is also empowered to request the Executive to attend its sittings for effective oversight.

Therefore, if there is any institution that has the primary role to check and discipline the Executive first and foremost it is the Legislature. In multiple places of the Constitution, clear-cut powers have been given to the Legislature to play that role effectively and efficiently. It is the National Assembly that allocates and approves the use of resources by the Executive. It is the National Assembly that approves the creation of institutions by the Executive. It is the National Assembly that bears primary duty to advice and penalise the Executive for wrongdoing.

Therefore, if the Executive underperforms, or abuses its powers, or is mismanaging resources or violating rights or disregarding the rule of law and nothing is done to stop that then it is the National Assembly that must be blamed. Since Independence, the National Assembly has woefully failed to play its rightful role to check and penalise the Executive in order to ensure discipline and performance. It is precisely because of the failure of the Legislature that we had one man and his party govern this country for 30 years only to be replaced by a tyrant who misruled the country for a further 22 years and committing intolerable atrocities. It is due to the failure of the National Assembly that poverty, injustice and corruption are prevalent in the Gambia from Independence to date.

Therefore, the National Assembly must stand its ground and realise that it is the body that in fact governs the country. The parliament is the key decision maker as guaranteed in the Constitution hence they must ensure that their authority is respected. The President has a duty to answer to the call of the National Assembly by himself and there is no excuse for him to fail to do so. By failing to answer to the National Assembly it means the President would be in contempt of the National Assembly which is a clear and total disrespect of the Constitution as well as blatant flouting of all norms and standards of democracy and good governance.

I wish to therefore commend our Members of the National Assembly for making such a bold, apt and timely move to demand the presence of the President on the floor of the National Assembly. Failure to be present on the floor of the National Assembly would constitute a clear violation of the Constitution under Section 77 subsection 2 which states that the National Assembly may request the President ‘to attend a sitting of the National Assembly for the discussion of a matter of national importance’.

Therefore, if the President refuses to honour the request of the National Assembly this will clearly constitute a violation of a constitutional provision which is an impeachable offense. Section 67 subsection 1(a) states that the President can be removed from office for ‘wilful violation of any provision of this Constitution’. Therefore, the National Assembly must not waste any time to seek impeachment if the President fails to turn up to attend a sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday 25^th September 2019.

National Assembly Members have to realise that there is a purpose why we have a National Assembly. The purpose of the National Assembly is nothing other than to check and discipline the Executive to ensure that the rights and needs of Gambians are protected and fulfilled. It is in the protection and fulfilment of our rights and needs that citizens enjoy freedom, opportunities and development which must be provided by the Executive.

The Gambia is a multiparty democracy whose Constitution intends that only democracy and good governance based on human rights and the rule of law must prevail. The foremost institution with the ultimate responsibility and power to ensure that democracy and good governance prevails is the National Assembly. It is only when the National Assembly fails that bad governance and dictatorship prevails. This is because when the National Assembly fails to check and discipline the Executive this is when the Executive now becomes arrogant hence disregard of the rule of law and violations become prevalent hence impunity.

For the Gambia Our Homeland

This is what Pres. Adama Barrow said in speaking about “certain developments that are of concern to the Government and the people of the Gambia”,

“Recently, some people have been taking the law into their own hands to commit violent acts of destruction and attacks on property and individuals. Aside from the Faraba Banat disorder, violent incidents, including arson and murder, have been recorded in the Kombo Berending, Gunjur, Garawol and, most recently, in the Kanifing Municipality. Personal attacks on the government officials fighting crime in the country, such as the Assistant Police Commissioner and Head of the Police Anti-Crime, and arson attacks on his family home, the Bakoteh Police Station and within the Serre Kunda market area are not part of our values.”

May I ask Pres. Adama Barrow whether it is our ‘Values’ to have police officers torture or stab citizens to death? Is it our values to have government agencies sell the natural resources of our communities? Is it part of our values to have public officials abuse their office and fail to address the fundamental social and economic rights and needs of citizens? Is this the understanding of the President or is he forced to say things that are not true and irresponsible?

By making the above statement, i.e. by claiming that some individuals have taken the law into their own hands, it means the President has now directly undermined the delivery of justice. He has served to potentially interfere with the independence and integrity of the Judiciary simply because he is the President talking and not an ordinary citizen talking about an ongoing investigation or trial. This is indeed a serious matter of concern for which the Chief Justice must confront the President for threatening the Judiciary.

To have the President of the Gambia call Faraba Riots a “Disorder” without highlighting the deep undercurrents that gave rise to that ‘Disorder’ is utterly unfortunate, misleading and irresponsible. This was an incident in which Gambians lost their lives because of the failure of the Government in the first place to secure the natural environment and resources of the people. The fact that the National Assembly ordered all mining activities to stop in Faraba and order the revocation of the license of the private company before the ‘Disorder’ speaks to the lack of transparency in the award of that mining contract. The fact that the President himself constituted a commission of inquiry whose report highlighted multiple cases of both central and local government failure including the use of force by the police shows that indeed Faraba Riots were caused by none other than the Government itself. Yet the President ignored the facts!

Therefore, the incidents that the President cited are all cases that touch on the heart of the civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of citizens for which the Government has the primary duty to protect citizens. While the Government has failed to fulfil its role in all of these cases, yet we now have a President who has the audacity to face Gambians to ridicule, blame and criminalise the people. How can the President only ask citizens to abide by the rule of law yet fail to address public servants and security officers to also abide by the rule of law? This shows that in his mind Pres. Barrow does not seem to understand the concept and nature of protests and riots.

Martin Luther King had said that riot is the language of the unheard. Let me therefore put it to President Adama Barrow that so long as his Government fails to listen, engage and solve the urgent life and death issues of citizens he will be forcing citizens to riot all the time. Therefore, it is misleading to only condemn protests and riots yet fail to identify and acknowledge the issues and concerns that propel such protests and riots in the first place.

It is precisely because of Pres. Barrow’s failure to identify and acknowledge the daily challenges of the country and speak to the urgency of those issues that his address became irrelevant and poor. The State of the Nation address is a constitutional requirement. In that address the Constitution demands the President to speak to the ‘condition of the Gambia, the policies of the Government and the administration of the State’. Did the President fulfil this requirement in this speech? Certainly not. Rather Pres. Barrow chose to ignore the real conditions of the people and only focus on what he considers his achievements.

His speech was hugely inadequate, misleading and utterly irresponsible. It is yet another great opportunity that the president lost in effectively leading this country. To merely list ongoing projects and routine government functions is not what is expected of the State of the Nation Address! Therefore, not only has the President lost a unique opportunity but in addition he has also caused huge waste of public and private resources. This is because both the Government and the independent media as well as individuals have spent so much financial and material resources as well as time to give the day what it deserved only to have an address that falls short of the standards of the day!

The civil, political, social and economic conditions in this country are dire. Only a uninformed President will ignore or downplay these conditions which indeed pose a clear and present danger to the very existence of this country. I was therefore painfully and disappointingly perplexed to hear the President claim that over the past year the only challenge his Government faced was the cancellation of the OIC Summit! Really?

Therefore, let me remind the President that foremost in the issues and concerns of the country is the blatant betrayal of the promise that the President himself made to Gambians. Therefore, why did President Barrow fail to speak about the three-year agreement that he and his Coalition partners made to Gambians in 2016? Instead of addressing this matter which is severely polarising our citizenry and generating fears with potential instability in December, Barrow decided to be completely silent about it. why?

Secondly the high incidence of corruption in his Government since he first took bribes by receiving 57 vehicles and houses in Senegal is a matter that require his explanation. Furthermore, the incidence of numerous anonymous donors continues to undermine public trust and confidence in his leadership which also needs his attention. The lack of transparency and accountability for the various contracts signed by his Government, foremost among which is the ID cards contract to Semlex and the ongoing presence of a Chinese fishmeal factory along the coastline are also urgent matters that citizens need to hear their President address.

Until now the President has not spoken publicly about the fate of the millions of dalasi lodged into his wife’s foundation accounts, yet Barrow decides to ignore that as well. The protests in Brikama as well as the gross failure and inefficiency of his Government to meet the social and economic aspirations of the people require the President to address those. Above all the issue of diplomatic passports, number plates and growing polarisation in the society all require the President to speak about them.

These are among several other factors that are fuelling resentment and disillusionment in most Gambians. The incidence of wastage of public resources on foreign travels, ceremonies and procurement and maintenance of government vehicles coupled with high cost of living are the issues that one would expect the President to recognise, acknowledge and tell citizens how he will address them. But Pres. Barrow decided to ignore those issues completely! He has only succeeded to deliver a speech that failed to inspire, engage, provoke and build the confidence and unity of the people. In effect Pres. Barrow was merely speaking to himself!

It is three years now and until today his Government has failed to put before the National Assembly any bills for the reform of various provisions in the Constitution and other laws since they changed that single provision about age limit in 2017. It is indeed very late that the President would announce that in December 2019 he will put before NAMs the anti-corruption bill. Why was this bill not the first item put before Members since 2017? Is it that Barrow does not care about corruption such that he can make such a bill a non-issue?

I wish to call on NAMs to severely hold the President accountable for this poor, irrelevant and irresponsible address. Why is he coming at the latter part of the legislative year to address the Assembly? Why did he not come between January and March to lay out his policies and plans before the people’s house so that by the end of the year the National Assembly and citizens would be able to assess his performance. That is what will demonstrate responsible and accountable leadership that is committed to the development of this country. But what the President has demonstrated is that he cares less, if any about the progress and future of the Gambia.

For that matter I wish to urge Members to put a motion to demand that the President addresses the National Assembly only within the first quarter of the year. Failure to do so, I urge Members to boycott any address by this President or any other president in future who fails to deliver the State of the Nation Address within the first quarter of the year.

Let us demand open, accountable and responsible leadership and Government if we wish to enjoy the fruits of the Gambia. There cannot be peace and unity in the absence of respect and protection of human rights and delivery of justice. There cannot be peace and unity when the lives and livelihoods of citizens are threatened by the Government itself because of poor decision making and corruption. So far, the Barrow Government is notorious for poor judgment and corruption such that this Government today endangers the Gambia more than any other government since Independence.

If anything is keeping me up at night about Gambia, its how we’re completely out of touch with the realities affecting our lives, because we’ve simply been intellectually misplaced. We get preached daily that this world is only temporal and therefore, our focus and energy should be directed to the hereafter. Well this world is still here, and as may be temporal for individuals, it seems not to any viewer that looks through the broader view of the lineage of descendants. We must take part in efforts to make this world better place for us and posterity, and Prayer alone cannot facilitate this. We cannot just focus on the hereafter while outsourcing our thinking to others like the West to help us with solutions to our earthly problems.  Religion is a beautiful institution that aims to promote virtues of tolerance, love, peace, morality and integrity which are important cornerstones of any civilisation. They provide special effect that are stress reducing – control predictability, understanding causality, and the social support that comes with it. This convenience will no doubt resonate with Gambians, as is often demonstrated in our sense of reasoning, but it also promotes ineptitude, constricts our imagination, stifle creativity and innovation, and consequently solutions to our real life problems eludes us.

The reality is we live in an aggressively cruel universe – The one not only characterised by persistent poverty and pandemic disease but also, as revealed to us by our telescopes, a space that’s full of mayhem such as monstrous gamma-ray burst, matter crushing gravitational fields, deadly pulsars, matter hungry black holes, stars dying in supernova explosion, possibilities of asteroids and comets colliding with our planet. And ofcause those nearer to us such as earthquakes that bury us; microorganisms such as virus and bacteria that infects us; volcanos that incinerate us; cancers that eats us; tsunami etc. Our philosophy as Gambian is if prayer cannot protect us, let us be protected by coincidences.

While science is making tremendous strides in understanding the underlying principles of problems and providing solutions the for preservation of life and to better human experience, it is often deemed a competitor to our religious beliefs and treated with cynicism, scepticism and sometimes completely denounced by religion fanatics in our midst. The scepticism part is understandable as it is common amongst scientists themselves which is why the biggest bounty of praise and reward are accorded to scientists who’ve found flaws in established paradigms. The truth is religion and science have no common ground and the two are irreconcilable approaches to knowing. Because one employs experimental verification and study of objects and phenomena while the other is simply based on faith.  Religious scholars are yet to make prediction of events that has so far occurred. By prediction I mean precise statement about untested behaviour of objects and phenomena logged before it occurs. In science, we often here the weather forecasted, though not always accurate. Another approach employed by religious fanatics is to tweak the translation and interpretation of religious scripts in a language to conform to some scientific discoveries. Isaac Newton, the man hailed as one of the greatest intellect to ever lived, spent a significant chunk of his life trying to understand the nature of the universe using philosophies derived from religious scripts. It was a futile effort. Then came the wealthy billionaire Sir John Templeton who established the Templeton foundation that seeks out a myriad of widely published religious friendly scientists. The foundation’s pursuit is to establish harmony and consilience between science and religion awarding an annual cash price that exceeds that of a Nobel Price. No success is thus far registered. To me science is not a competitor to religion but a discipline established by the instructions of religion. God told “Igraa” to prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and made learning obligatory on us. Understanding cause and effect! That’s all science is doing. Religion should be confined to the service to God and the salvation of the soul, while science is supported by all to unravel the nature of this world to better human existence. Conflating the two, especially in a manner that seeks to discredit scientific discoveries is embracing ignorance and its self-limiting. However, a recent study in the US showed 40% of scientists in America belongs to one of the religions. This in reference to the finding that 90% of Americans belong to a religion, means either atheists somewhat gravitate to science, or science diminishes religious believes in people. Drawing a distinction between the two is the key.

In the past great minds will not hesitate to invoke God at the frontier of knowledge when dazzled in the sea of ignorance. Isaac Newton for example, when studying our solar system, was astonished, that the gravitational push and full between the sun and the the earth, and that of earth and other 6 planets cannot explain the stability of our solar system. He claimed God must once in a while jump in to get things in order. He said “The six planets are revolv’d about the sun, in circles concentric with the sun, and with motions directed towards the same plane… But it is not to be conceived that mere mechanical causes could give birth to so many regular motions… This beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being”. Then came the new breed of scientists who would not settle for Issac’s premise. A French astronomer and mathematician Perre-Simon Laplace came up with his “perturbation theory” that subsequently led to the discovery of the 7^thplanet Neptune whose gravitation field compensated in stabilising our solar system and allaying Newton’s dilemma. Albert Einstein also came up with a theory of special relativity that changed Isaac’s description of gravity. It describes gravity as the curvature of the fabric of space and time. That matter dictates how space-time should curve, and in turn, space-times dictates how matter should move. This is the most remarkable feed of thinking about nature to come from a single mind. From this, Einstein generated the famous equation E=MC^2 (Where E means energy; M means mass; and C^2 mean speed of light). This consequently led to a change in the geopolitics, as it led to the development of atomic bombs. There is no reason why Gambia cannot produce the next Einstein.

Human being are endowed with five common-senses and these are limited in their range of sensitivity. Our eyes for example can only see with the wavelengths of the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. We’re completely blinded to other regions such as the gamma-rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, radio waves and micro waves. However, with our ingenuity we can create devices and technologies that can explore objects out of the reaches of our senses to generate date that our common senses can allow us to visualise, analyse and logically interpret in pursuit of understanding our interaction with this world. Scientist have created microscopes by bringing together a multitude of magnifying lenses in which one lenses magnifies the image of the other, and so-forth, thus allowing us to see microorganisms that cannot be seen by our naked eye, but can kill us in few hours. We have seen how medical advancements in the West facilitated by science resulted in prolonging the life expectancies of their citizens.

With our common senses and level of intelligence, human beings often arrogantly portray themselves as the most important creatures in the world. That everything revolves around us. This is also consistent with our intuitive observation of our environment. That our earth is flat and the sun, the moon, and other planets revolves around us. This perception held amongst many scientists in the past until the telescope were invented. It revealed to us billions of galaxies different from our milky-way galaxy that are in constant motion, spinning at 142 Kilometres per second, and comprising billions of stars that are being orbited by trillions of other planets. It showed a universe that is not only expanding, but in acceleration that is being driven by the mysterious dark energy. What’s also puzzling is the revelation that we’re in fact not in the centre of the universe. We’re not in the centre of our solar system, our solar system is not in centre of our galaxy, our galaxy is not in the centre of all galaxies. So would God create such vast universe with trillions of planets that are billions of light years apart for nothing? Are there intelligent lives existing elsewhere? If yes, how do they look like? If no, then why not? As in living people able to form governments and institutions. Will they invade us? Life as we know it is carbon based (made with carbon). Carbon is an element on the periodic table that is able to form multiple bonds with itself and other element to create large complex molecules. Another thing I found intriguing is the universality of our universe. That everything in this universe is made up of the same substances we see here on earth, that are made from the elements of our periodic table. Thus, if an intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, it is conceivable that they may be also made of carbon and thus should. This should help narrow down on how they must look from the array of possibilities. There is currently an intense search for them. In addition to the approach of looking for bio-signatures that’d infer their existence, the radio wave of the electromagnetic spectrum is also being monitored as a mean of contact. The radio wave that we used to listen to radios, is the only component of the electromagnetic spectrum that transverse into space and travels across planets and if Aliens have a means of decoding the wave emanating from this planet, they ll be listening to our “mengbe-kering” shows. They probably have their opinion about us by now. If one has a rocket that travels through space with great speed with a radio, they will be able to follow and listen to the chronology of evens such as speeches starting from now to historical speeches such as the Martin Luther King speech in real time, as the rocket protrudes through the radio wave that escaped into space long time ago. There is currently an initiative monitoring 500 million radio signals in a pursuit to make or receive radio contact with exoplanetary species if they exits.

While scientific explanations such as the beginning of the universe “The Big Bag”, the beginning of life on earth remain speculations, a tremendous stride is made in understanding the nature of our universe using the physical laws of nature. Many benefits are already being enjoyed by the people in areas of communication, health, agriculture and economics; many more benefits to come some of which are in the prove of concept stage; the sequencing of the human genome that revealed, though the genetic code, the instructions of how we’re created and promises to provide cure for diseases that has plagued us for centuries such as cancer. We Africans should take part for our own benefit.

In our Republic the power to enforce the law falls on the justice delivery system first and foremost which comprises the police and the courts primarily. It is the police that has the authority to arrest anyone provided there was a crime committed or about to be or suspected to have been committed.  The police have the same authority to therefore detain and then impose charges on suspects for prosecution before the courts. It is the courts that have the sole authority to therefore declare the innocence or guilt of suspects who stand before it. Therefore, the police and the Court are indeed very powerful institutions.

The decisions that the Police and the Court make can have lasting impact on the life and future of persons with whom they come into contact. By arresting, detaining and prosecuting a person means a heavy burden is put on the liberty and reputation of that person. Similarly, by sentencing a person to jail time does not only significantly limit one’s liberty and dampen dreams but could as well irreparably injure one’s reputation and potentially end the life of that person.

In light of the above the Police and the Court therefore cannot afford to make mistakes or abuse their power for doing so means irreparable damage to the life of a human being. We have seen, for example in places like the US where people are jailed for decades and even sentenced to death only to discover years later that in fact, such persons never committed the crime for which they were jailed in the first place. A very sad episode is where you find many people who were jailed when they were young only to be released in their old age because they were wrongly arrested and tried and then unjustly sentenced. It is for this reason that we must closely check the Police and the Court as they perform their functions.

Indeed, the Police and the Court are hugely important and necessary institutions without which we cannot call a society a civilized society. This is because in the absence of the Police and the Court to dispense justice justly it means therefore citizens would have no choice but to take the law into their own hands in order to solve their grievances. But with the Police and the Courts present we are all restrained knowing full well that these institutions will protect us or repair the damage we have suffered due to a violation of our rights or property in any form. Hence the Police and Courts are utterly important, necessary and they deserve our full respect and support.

That notwithstanding, the Police and the Courts are also known to have been one of the foremost instruments that have been used to harm citizens. For example, in the US the Police and the Courts have been used to criminalise Black People and then sentence them to jail time or death because of racism. In fact, in the US the police can literally shoot you to death if they fell like it and especially if you are Black and then claim self-defence! Similarly, we had seen during the Yaya Jammeh Tyranny how citizens were unlawfully arrested and then unjustly tried and sentenced to several years or death. This was why the terminology ‘Mercenary Judges’ emerged as Jammeh hired and paid foreign and local judges to do his bidding to silence anyone he did not like.

The current case of 37 citizens and non-citizens clearly manifests once again the impact of the decisions and actions of the Police and the Courts. The Gambia Police Force first arrested these people in questionable circumstances and then imposed life-impacting charges on them. Knowing full well that a Magistrates Court cannot decide charges that are considered capital offences still the Police went ahead to put them before the magistrate, unjustly and unlawfully. The Police already knew that a single decision of theirs could potentially deprive a human being of his liberty, reputation and wellbeing.

On its part the Magistrates Court also knew that the charge of arson is not an offense it has the mandate to address. Yet the Magistrate ignored the law but went ahead to decide the matter by sending 37 souls to prison on remand. For that matter it is now several weeks that these people are languishing in jail when there is no reason for them to be there other than a single, albeit unlawful decision by a magistrate.

Today the justice delivery system decided to withdraw the case against 30 of these detained young people because of the huge outcry against their arbitrary action. Why did they withdraw the case if indeed the Police were sure that indeed these young people committed the crimes of which they accused them? The Attorney General as the chief law enforcement officer in the Republic knows full well that indeed there is no case against these people. But by sheer abuse of power they deliberately arrested these people only to subject them to untold suffering. This is unacceptable.

Therefore, I wish to put it to law enforcement and judicial officers to always ensure that they are fully aware of the law and understand the law as their own name. They must ensure that in every decision or action they wish to take they must meticulously review all factors and sides just to ensure that their decision will be squarely lawful, right and just. They must bear in mind that any single mistake they make in their decision, advertently or inadvertently has the potential to destroy a life. Any law enforcement or judicial officer with conscience and committed to the cause of justice should completely avoid making another human being to suffer just because of your lack of due diligence or blatant abuse of power.

For that matter, ultimately the efficiency and accountability of our law enforcement and justice delivery officers and institutions rest with the citizens when they stand up to ensure adherence to the rule of law. We must check the Police and the Courts at all times with deep interest and concern just to ensure that they are acting within the law and the powers stipulated therein. This is for our own interest as well as the benefit of these police and court officers and society as a whole.

We cannot afford to have a justice delivery system in which the rights and dignity of citizens will be at the mercy of a single person just because he or she is a police officer or a magistrate or judge. We are a Republic in which the sovereignty of the Gambia resides in the people. Law enforcement and judicial offices like all other public servants derive their legitimacy and authority from the people and therefore perform their functions in our name and for our welfare.

For that matter we cannot and must not accept to have public servants such as police officers and magistrates and judges transform our authority given to them to harm us simply because of their failure to apply the rule of law or abuse their powers. That is a contradiction in terms that must not exist in a Republic. Therefore, let us insist that the Police and the Court apply the rule of law in full at all times knowing full well it is only when the rule of law is followed and adhered to will we have our rights fully respected and protected. Otherwise our rights hence our sovereignty don’t mean nada!

For the Gambia Our Homeland