My Dear brother and respected Commander,

I send you greetings from Monrovia, the city of my sojourn for this blessed week of May, 27- 31, that happens to coincide with the last 10 days of Ramadan, 2019.

Indeed Liberia should ring a bell in your mind just like it did with me even before I deplaned at Roberts International Airport because this is the place where we suffered our first ever casualties in the field of war since we established our fledgling national army in the mid-eighties. May Allah bless the souls of the late Corporal Modou Bojang and Private Sama Jawo who fell to enemy fire at the onset of the ECOMOG regional peace keeping mission that entered this country in 1990, with the aim of quelling the horrendous Liberian civil war that would later spill into Sierra Leone with heart-renting consequences.

As we would say in our civil service parlance back home, “the subject of this letter refers”. You would recall that I dispatched part 1 of this correspondence about a fortnight ago with a promise to finish it starting with the premise that you may have one good thing going for you regarding your attempt at getting our armed forces involved in commercial agriculture. That thing would be the discipline usually associated with the security services. Alas, my inclination towards that argument was shattered by the ricochetting thunder of a trigger happy soldier who opened fire on an unarmed driver of a passenger vehicle for not stopping at a checkpoint in the Village of Kanilai, Foni Kansala.

The fact that both the perpetrator and the apparently unruly victim of this scary incident are both products of your institution tells a lot about the state of mind of our men and women in uniform. Don’t get me wrong Sir, I know you have hundreds  of highly trained and conscientious  officers in your force, but is it not the few rotten potatoes that render the whole bag of potatoes suspect?

In addition to the foregoing premises, I was privileged to listen to an interview by fellow Economist Dr. Gajigo concerning this subject matter on Kerr Fatou’s “The Brunch” talk show and he also made some important arguments, opining that your proposed venture into this agriculture project is not a good move. He averred that the company you want to partner with in this project is not fit and proper. He went on the record to state emphatically that the company you intend to partner with, AGCO, had been engulfed in bribery in multiple jurisdictions leading to heavy fines as penalties for their infractions of due process. Indeed given the low probability of financial success in this proposed venture I am not surprised that the company concerned could be involved in bribery in their past ventures. The economics term that hit my mind when I first heard about your planned venture was: rent-seeking behaviour! Therefore I feel vindicated that your proposed partner in this business Is allegedly associated with the foregoing unfavourable traits.

My dear brother, let me hasten to acknowledge here that I would not have come up with this sequel given the revelations and arguments advanced by other concerned voices including Madi Jobarteh. But I was alerted about a rebuttal by our so-called “Dr.” Henry Carrrol on this matter published by The Standard newspaper. As usual Henry Carrol was very obnoxious in his approach to a very decent debate we have been engaged in on this matter. Knowing how the Gambian psyche works, I thought it fitting to come up with this second part to diffuse the misinformation Henry Carrol spewed into this discussion.

In the estimation of many Gambians, Henry Carrol qualifies as the nation’s Chief Clown and he deserves a fitting coronation to that effect, for many reasons. So I would not directly respond to his rambling verbiage for the Mandinka proverb is true ‘Ning Faloe yeh e danfu e yaa danfu, faloe leh fisayaa ta e teh ti’ ( if a Donkey kicks you and you kick it in revenge, then the donkey is better/sounder than you.).

Yet the nation’s chief clown deserves some sort of finger-wagging. Henry is akin to the proverbial petulant kid who runs amok, farting around the bantaba, when the village elders are engaged in serious discussions regarding important matters of the community. Henry Carrol is trying to polute our national conversation with his obnoxious overtures but we cannot afford to entertain that in these trying times of ours. He surely deserves serious lashing to ‘tune him up’ if I may swipe some military parlance here. A few lashes commensurate with his biological age would be in order since maturity unfortunately does not necessarily come with age.

Let me confess here, Honourable CDS, that I hesitantly started this series of epistles addressed to you because of the respect I have for you and also the tough circumstances we face in our so-called New Gambia, where attempts at decent, honest conversations about matters of public interest are usually misconstrued for personal attacks. But I had to make bold to do this because we have made too many mistakes too soon in the past two years of this coalition government. Too many bad deals were signed; and the security forces are once again getting involved in the shedding of innocent blood (from Kanilai to Faraba Banta) even before the attempt at correcting the errors of the past government bears fruit. Therefore it is important that we advise one another and attempt to correct erroneous steps before it gets too late.

I will dilate on this situation in part 3 of this series. But for now let me seek your kind permission to fall out Sir?

Yours,

Momodou Sabally

Former Presidential Affairs Minister, Economist

Rex, my good pal,

Was it telepathy or teleportation? The fact that within 24 hours after I had finished the first part of my missive on the above subject (that included a lamentation about your literary disappearing act), you published the sublime inspirational poem “Ya Allah”before I actually released my epistle for publication?

Verily you need no occult inspiration to be able to  “write a thousand books with eyes wide shut” if I may borrow the satirical utterance of our literary ‘koto’, now turned merchant-of-horror-stories. Now I believe the prayer you requested from your Mouride Sheikh as reported in one of your many classic essays “Touba Redux”, that God blesses your pen, has turned into fruition.

Allow me to reproduce a stanza (or two) from your masterpiece so readers unacquainted with it may take a sip of the honeycomb that it is:

“Hear me

Mighty heavens

Hear me

Sand grains of the earth

Hear me

Waters of the great oceans

Winged spirits of the high above

Created with a fire without smoke

I speak to my God, Most High

Who sent His Messenger

By cavalry and by camelry

From atop a mountain sylvan

The thunder repeats His praise

Mountains crack in His fear

The sun dims before His splendour…”

As I write this sequel to part one of this epistle, I am reclining on my bed in a hotel in Monrovia, having accomplished my mission of delivering the keynote speech at the Federation of Liberian Youth’s 45th anniversary. In the background here are the sublime sonorous notes of the Tijani chanters reciting the classic poem of Mawdo Malick Sey, “Taissir”. I have not listened to its rendition for quite a while but since I played it once upon my arrival here in Monrovia, I cannot stop listening to this spiritual masterpiece.

Rex, There is something so profound, so uplifting and totally inspiring about this poem. The author makes good use of intertextuality as the masterpiece is well marinated with some of the finest traces of different versions of the ‘Salaatu alaa Nabi’ (prayers for blessings on the Prophet Sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam). Certainly the Tijani classic of Salatul Fatihi and myriad ‘Salawaat’ are well placed within this gem of a prayer.

I definitely would like to know more about the background story regarding this Taissir. Would you oblige and share some wisdom on this? I have known your inclination towards the Mouridian order and the only time I read something from you regarding the genre of these esoteric poems was one from that end you referenced as “Kun Katiman” from the blessed pen of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba. Oh may Allah shower His Grace and Blessings on the  sheikhs mentioned here, twine.

Back to the subject of this letter, as we progress through the final ten days of the Ramadan, I must confess that I am behind schedule in my recitation of the ‘Kaamil’ this time. Of course it has, somehow, to do with my travel out of the country. But my obsession with certain verses of the Quran also explains this. I can run through a hundred verses of the Quran nonstop within 15 minutes; but then one verse just catches my attention and that takes some five to ten minutes of reflection. But then is this not the way we are supposed to relate with the Book about which Allah says in the 29th verse of Surah Sad,  “This is] a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that they might reflect upon its verses and that those of understanding would be reminded.”?

Okay, my good friend, you may quite well accuse me of making excuses for my under-performance in my recitation this year-Lol! But the point about reflecting on the meanings and implications of the verses of the Quran is an important one worth noting. This is not supposed to be a race to the finish line. Would you not agree with me on that?

Indeed as I struggle with my progress on the recitation of the ‘Kamil’ this Ramadhan, I reached Surah Ra’d about a week ago and as usual, my obsession with the Quran, would make verses about it (the Quran itself) stand out whenever I come across them in recitation. I reminded you about a few such verses in part 1 of this epistle,  but verse 31 of this 13th chapter of the Quran, is particularly awe-inspiring:  “If there were a Qur’an with which mountains were moved, or the earth were cloven asunder, or the dead were made to speak, (this would be the one!) But, truly, the command is with Allah in all things…”

Sheikh Fadel my friend, is the above verse not worth pondering over for a few minutes, hours or even days and months? I hasten here to add, in conclusion, the Quranic refrain “innamaa yatathakkaru ulul albaa! ( But it is only the men of understanding that pay heed.)

Thank you for your attention, my good pal, and I wish you and yours a blissful  Eid al-fitr in advance.

Yours,

Momodou Sabally

Former Presidential Affairs Minister and International Speaker Momodou Sabally is set to address the youths of Liberia later this week as they celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the Federation of Liberian Youth.

Sabally who will be speaking on the topic Youth Development and Civic Leadership is  also expected  to meet top officials and stakeholders in Liberia to discuss matters concerning youth empowerment in Africa.

First established as the Urban Youth Council in 1974, and enacted as the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY)  in 1978, FLY is the national umbrella body of all youth and student organisations mandated to coordinate the activities of young people across Liberia.

It could be recalled that Sabally also addressed the All Africa  Students and Youth Summit in Kigali, July 2018 under the aegis of the All-African Students Union (AASU) and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Rwanda. He was recently honoured  with the “Most Influential Person” award by the Confederation of West African Youth  during a conference that he addressed in Freetown, Sierra Leone in March.

Inspector General of Police

The Gambia Police Force

Police Headquarters

Banjul

Dear Sir,                                                                                                          20 May 2019

Petition over the Arrest and Criminal Charge of 15 Citizens for Unlawful Assembly

It is with grave concern that we, members of ‘The Gambia We Want’ Civil Society Consortium, petition you about the matter involving 15 citizens who were arrested on 10^th May 2019 as they assembled along the Bertil Harding Highway opposite the Senegambia main junction. We have information that on this fateful day the group, calling itself ‘3 Years Jotna’ were waiting for each other in order to proceed to the Kairaba Beach Hotel where a meeting of Coalition leaders was taking place so that they could manifest their position in respect of the tenure of the Coalition Government. As they waited, all of a sudden officers from the TDA police station nearby approached the group by inviting them to the station where they pleaded with them to disperse since they did not possess a permit. As the group members decided to go home in compliance with the appeal they were immediately called back only to be subjected to arrest where officers claimed the instruction came from ‘the top’.

Our factfinding revealed that within a short space of time the IGP himself as well as some other senior police also descended on the station as these would-be protesters were being transported to Kairaba Police Station. We have also learned that in fact the group had written to your office on May 8 seeking a permit to stage a protest on May 10, but this was rejected on the pretext that the request should have come at least 72 hours before the planned date of protest.

Since their arrest and transportation to Kairaba Police Station on May 10, members of the group were charged with unlawful assembly, conspiracy to commit felony and prohibition of conduct conducive to a breach of peace. They have been since subjected to various interrogation sessions by both the police and intelligence officers. They were being asked questions as to why they joined the group, who are the backers and funders of the group and even going further to search the phones of these people. While they had obtained bail and asked to report daily to the station to which they comply however they were made to spend almost the whole day anytime they report to the station and to be subjected to further interrogation. Some of the members are suckling mothers who had to leave their toddlers at home only to spend considerable time unable to care for their babies. Other people were unable to go to work simply because they were kept waiting at the police station the whole time. While these conditions have put them in severe inconvenience one wonders what was the rationale for such treatment in the first place.

Upon consideration of the facts and the circumstances, we wish to therefore write to express deep concern and discomfort that two years after the end of Dictatorship in the Gambia, our citizens could continue to be subjected to such harassment and mistreatment from our own primary law enforcement agency. We are particularly worried that even when members of this group frantically narrated their story to your officers still the police could not provide the necessary supportive and responsible leadership to them. What is even more disturbing is the fact that members of this group had agreed with the appeal of your officers to disperse yet they could be so mistreated as if they were vagabonds from distant lands hellbent on destroying the Gambia. Indeed, we did not see any iota of leadership and professionalism from the police in the way and manner these citizens were handled.

From the facts we have gathered it is clear that these people had no public address system with them, nor did they embark on a procession. In fact, they were merely waiting for their members with the plan to display messages written on A4-size xerox papers inside the hotel where the Coalition leaders were meeting. Therefore, it is evident that these citizens did not violate the Public Order Act or any other law in the Gambia. Why therefore subject them to arrest and severe mistreatment?

We hold the view that the Gambia Police Force is a foremost national human rights protection institution as mandated by the Constitution in Section 17. Furthermore, the Gambia Police Force is a public institution that derives its legitimacy and authority from the citizens of the Gambia whom it must serve with efficiency and professionalism in line with the values of transparency, accountability and responsiveness as stipulated in Section 1 subsection 2 of our Constitution. Hence police officers must be seen at all times to uphold the sovereign rights of citizens and abide by the rule of law when engaging citizens. For that matter we are highly perturbed and concerned that such malpractices as meted out to these citizens could come from none other than the Gambia Police Force.

In light of the foregoing, we wish to therefore call on your good office to:

1. Drop all charges against the fifteen persons charged forthwith;

1. Refrain from unduly interfering with the lawful exercise of citizens fundamental rights particularly of their right to assembly and speech;

1. Refrain from any acts in future that seek to violate the constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens, undermine the rule of law and abrogate the Constitution;

At this stage of our history and experience we wish that indeed the Gambia Police Force would have done away with malpractices that injure the rights and dignity of Gambians. The Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of assembly and association hence no Gambian must be subjected to any form of harassment for merely joining an association and converging at a particular place without the use of arms or violence. We had expected that police officers would have provided security for these citizens so that they can enjoy the rights stipulated in Section 25 of the Constitution as well as ensure that non-members or non-participants in their endeavour also enjoy their freedom of movement and other rights.

In conclusion we wish to receive a response to this letter as we monitor this case closely. Rest assured that we are determined to hold all public institutions and security agencies accountable in order to ensure true democracy and good governance in the Gambia. In that regard we will utilise all means and resources at our disposal and in line with the law to defend human rights, ensure public and security institutions and officers adhere to the rule of law and uphold the Constitution.

While counting on your cooperation we wish to assure you that we are a group of responsible citizens who are determined to fulfil our duties as required of all citizens in Section 220. In like manner we also expect and demand that police officers fulfil the duties of a public officer as set out in Section 222, particularly subsections 1, 2, 3 and 13 of the Constitution.

At the outset I demand that the Minister of Interior, the Inspector General of Police and the responsible officers at Kanilai checkpoint to resign or be sacked for the shooting of Ismaila Tamba. The act of shooting an unarmed citizen demonstrates an utter lack of professionalism and efficiency and gross violation of the right to life of a citizen that should not have come from a security officer. Mr. Tamba was not armed hence did not attempt to shoot the officer which means the officer’s reaction was unnecessary use of excessive force.

Much as Tamba must be held accountable for not complying with security officers at a checkpoint, it is still not a reason to shoot him when the officer could have avoided being run over by Tamba’s vehicle. If indeed Tamba was notorious for flouting the checkpoint the officers should have taken legal action against him well before now and not to allow it to become a pattern. But having allowed him to continuously flout the checkpoint it is unacceptable that they would address this matter in such a violent way.

In the bigger scheme of things, the shooting of Tamba exposes once more the urgent need for security sector reforms which has not been carried out by this Government with the seriousness it deserves. That this country would still have police and military checkpoints littered all over is an indication that the same dictatorial approaches to national security prevails. It is an approach that devalues human lives in favour of state security. It further manifests the perception that security is all about force and violence as if that is all that is there to contain crime and maintain peace. There cannot be a more faulty thinking than that!

This incident therefore brings to mind a similar scenario in 2015 when a taxi driver was pursued by security forces at a checkpoint in Manjai who also fired at the vehicle leading to the killing of a young beautiful soul, the Late Ya Binta Jarju. With this latest incident in Kanilai when Tamba was also said to have refused to stop leading to firing, it begs the question indeed as to the purpose of checkpoints in the first place. In other words, are checkpoints necessary and what should be their nature of operations.

In my view permanent checkpoints are utterly unnecessary and in particular there must never have been military checkpoints unless when there are serious emergencies in which the normal law enforcement agencies cannot handle. Checkpoints are temporary mechanisms used during conflicts or disasters or other forms of emergencies. After the conflict or emergency is over, the checkpoints are removed. In any case checkpoints are not for normal, peacetime democratic societies.

It is only under dictatorships that checkpoints became permanent feature of the security system. Dictators all over the world mount permanent and uncountable checkpoints as a means to intimidate the population and to protect their regime. This is why under the APRC Regime, the Despot Yaya Jammeh brought the culture of checkpoints all over this country. His intention was never to promote and protect citizen rights and freedom or ensure security. We all know that checkpoints had never improved the security of Gambians under his regime, rather what we saw was how Gambians disappeared, or got arrested, tortured and killed all the time while drugs littered the entire country despite the proliferation of checkpoints.

With the coming of the new Government it was our expectation that we would have seen system change by reforming the security sector so that they become instruments for the expansion, protection and enjoyment of rights and freedoms by citizens. It is rather unfortunate that Pres. Adama Barrow rather decides to continue the same approach as his predecessor which is why we saw our security forces shoot to death Gambians at Faraba in June 2018 and now the shooting of Ismaila Tamba. For how long shall our security forces continue to shoot our unarmed citizens?

Those who claim that checkpoints provide some security for the society must think deeply and critically about the state of security and role of checkpoints in this country. A close scrutiny of these checkpoints show that they are instead points of corruption, harassment, waste of time and resources for citizens. Hardly do these checkpoints detect arms, drugs or criminals unless if they have a tip-off. Try to express a different view with a soldier at Kudang checkpoint and you will realise how second class you are as a citizen in your own country!

It is common knowledge that criminals or those transporting illicit goods usually avoid the checkpoints by using backstreets in the community. Even when they check, most of the time officers merely peep inside the vehicle or beam their torches on passengers or just wave drivers to pass. Just pay attention at Denton Bridge to realise that the checkpoint there is useless but only good for causing traffic delays thus causing people to be late for work and business.

The security of this country like any other civilized and democratic society cannot be ensured by checkpoints. Rather we need more investment in law enforcement to provide

better policing methods. This means addressing the welfare of police officers, improve their working conditions by equipping them with modern tools such as scanners and other crime detection tools as well as training them more in intelligence gathering and analyses.

Above all there is urgent need to provide political education to our security personnel so as to re-orient them from that colonial and abusive mentality that underpin security agencies to realise that they are servants and not oppressors of the people. In that regard there is need to provide training on community policing methods and human rights education. Furthermore, we need to equip our law enforcement with more vehicles, motorcycles and horses among others to be able to move around quickly.

The shooting of Ismaila Tamba could have been therefore avoided if our security officers were better trained, equipped and oriented towards modern law enforcement methods and human rights. Why this is not the case until now is a question we should pose to the Office of the President.

For the Gambia Our Homeland

Honourbale Minister and my dear brother,

I greet you with the salutation of Peace “Salam” in this holy month of Ramadan.

I penned my first missive addressed to you titled “On the Proposed Salary Increment: letter to the Finance Minister” almost 6 moths ago;
and I am yet to receive a response from you.

It was  but a note of caution regarding the unusually bold move you spearheaded to increase civil servants’ salaries by the huge proportion of 50%. While acknowledging the need to increase salaries, I did aver that a major jump of the magnitude you proposed would create unintended consequences that could actually negate the perceived welfare increase envisaged form the salary hike.

Alas, you dug in and went ahead with your audacious fiscal misadventure. The fundamental question in my letter was the issue of funding the proposed salary increase within a highly taxed business environment. I received no answer from you but the quantum jump in excise taxes was a clear indication of where you were trying to source the extra resources for your fiscal binge.

Given the natural lag effect of policy moves on the obvious macroeconomic variables concerned, I was waiting for the half-year mark to elapse before I write another sequel to my letter but the natural laws of economics were not to be too kind to your misadventure and so the results started to kick in much earlier than I had anticipated. I don’t know which marabout you are visiting to cure this malaise but his answer to you should be from the words of the Nigerian author Ola Rotimi: “the gods are not to blame!”

With an unprecedented excise tax hike of up to 650% on alcoholic beverages, our trademark national brewery has no choice but to start packing up and close shop because the tax burden will certainly be unbearable. With a projected loss of 200 jobs and further negative effects on our very fragile tourism industry, your costly fiscal bravado (if you don’t reverse course) will surely hurt thousands of workers in an economy where unemployment is already too high.

With the latest media reports indicating that your ministry intends to negotiate a solution to this problem with the management of the directly affected company, Banjul Breweries, I would say “better late than never!” But then the question will arise as to where would you source further tax revenue to compensate for any reduction in the excise tax revenue that would be lost if you reduce the excise tax rate?

Which other sector or industry is going to be your target to slap exhorbitant tax rates on to compensate for the loss of revenue to be naturally anticipated should your consultations with the brewery lead to the expected conclusion?

A May 9, 2019 report on Foroya newspaper states that your Ministry has already increased “prices of petrol and diesel … for the third time in 2019”. This move, and its obvious pervasive effect on the general price level, is symbolic of the tough times ahead for our macroeconomic situation. Even if such price hikes are induced by exogenous factors, such scenarios should not come as a surprise for the international macroeconomic environment is a critical factor to consider in coming up with your budget estimates. With endogenous and exogenous factors rearing their ugly (inflationary) heads so early in your budget implementation schedule, do you have a message for Gambian businesses and the masses other than the ‘maa tei’ narrative coming from your permanent secretary?

This situation is really worrisome. The whole country stands to suffer because of your wrong fiscal moves and the effects will not be limited to the brewery and its stakeholders. This is a very sad and unfortunate situation you have visited on an economy that is already struggling with the effects of unrealized revenue projections anticipated from grants.

Honourable Minister, may have inherited last year’s Supplementary Appropriation Bill that created a firestorm, even tough you handled it in the worst way possible; but the excise tax imbroglio and the attendant effect it has created in the beverage (and by collateral damage (eventually) the tourism/entertainment sector) is entirely your making because the 2019 budget is your budget and you went ahead with this fiscal misadventure knowing very well that the fiscal our turn of the previous year was all but satisfactory.

And one more thing before I bid you good bye, please do not go ahead with your suspected alleged plans to remove that young senior staff at your ministry who is bold and honest enough to disagree with you based on professional/policy grounds. Last time your tried that kind of game, it did not end well- the collateral damage was overwhelming. Let us learn from our past mistakes and chart a fresh path of policy sanity with broad, open, and tolerant mindsets regarding our diverse opinions on the way forward in our common and collective task of nation building.

Yours, in the service of the nation,

Momodou Sabally
Former National Budget Director, research economist.

Here are 20 Key Highlights of the Promises contained in the Coalition Manifesto 2016. It is this Manifesto that Candidate Adama Barrow backed by Seven Coalition Political Parties and the Independent Candidate Dr. Isatou Touray sold to electorates to vote for them into power.

A review of these promises would indicate huge betrayal as the Coalition President and his Government including its constituent Political Parties have failed to carry out these reforms they promised. For example, they claimed in their Manifesto that they will repeal the Public Order Act and also release anyone jailed for violating the Public Order Act yet today the Coalition Government goes ahead to arrest and charge citizens for violating that same Public Order Act. What a betrayal!

Since assuming power neither the Executive nor the Legislature – both institutions controlled by the Coalition President and Coalition Political Parties – never made any attempt to reform the Public Order Act. No single member of the National Assembly placed a private member’s bill to repeal the Public Order Act. No single Coalition political party ever suggested the reform of the obnoxious Act since 2016 and even when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of this bad law, no single Coalition political party issued a statement to raise concern over that judgment or even organize its members to protest the judgment.

As citizens this Manifesto is therefore your tool to monitor and hold accountable the Coalition Government and Coalition Political Parties in order to ensure good governance and democracy in the Gambia.

20 Key elements of the Coalition Manifesto

1. Coalition candidate Adama Barrow will serve for only three years at the head of a broad-based and inclusive Coalition Government aimed at conducting constitutional, institutional and administrative reforms;
2. The Coalition Government would work towards delivering quality and relevant basic education that is free, accessible and compulsory.
3. Primary Health Care (PHC) focusing on the basic health needs of the population will be the basis of the health delivery system of the Coalition.

1. The transitional government shall treat all Gambians equally regardless of gender, political, religious and tribal affiliation and shall respect and protect the fundamental principles of humans and people’s rights;

5. The Coalition Government shall establish a body of jurists and competent personalities to review the constitution with a view to cleansing it of all provisions which are inimical to democracy and the rule of law;

1. To make NAMs accountable to the electorate, an Act of the National Assembly shall be enacted to provide the procedure to enforce Section 92 of the Constitution which provides the right to recall representatives to the electorate.
2. A freedom of Information Act shall be enacted to strengthen media oversight.
3. An NGO Act shall be enacted to promote Civil Society oversight.
4. The Coalition government shall open the public media to divergent views and opinion as required by Section 208 of the 1997 Constitution.
5. The Coalition Government shall repeal the legal requirement of political parties having to apply for permits before using amplification facilities and instead introduce a consultative mechanism that enables the police to determine which party has the user right to a meeting place on a first come first serve basis.
6. The Coalition Government endeavours to propagate legislation to revoke all provisions of a law criminalizing speech including libel, sedition, false news and false publication within six months of assuming political office.
7. The Coalition Government states that the Public Order Act gives too much power to the Inspector General of Police and does fetter freedom of association and assembly. The Coalition Government will repeal any provision in the Public Order Act which is not reasonable and justifiable in a democratic society such as those which hinder peaceful procession to highlight public grievances which are the main tool for exercising civil society oversight over the governance process.
8. The Coalition Government shall repeal Section 114 of the Criminal Code which relates to giving false information to a public servant. The Coalition recognizes that Section 25(f) protects the right of every person to freedom to petition the Executive for redress of grievances.

14. The Coalition Government will enact a Freedom of Information law in consultation with the GPU and the media fraternity to enhance access to official information and strengthen media oversight of governance. This will facilitate transparency and accountability.
15. Within a month from assuming office the Coalition Government will set up a Commission of Inquiry into the places and conditions of detention before and after conviction with the objective of putting an end to torture, rape, inhuman and degrading punishment or treatment and poor conditions of imprisonment.
16. The Coalition Government shall grant general amnesty and release all those jailed in relation to charges of treason, false news, false publication, sedition, libel, Public Order Act offenses, giving false information to a public servant.

1. Protect civil servants and disciplined forces from being use for partisan political objectives.
2. Empower the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) both in terms of human and financial resources for them to become more apt to conduct civic education programs on a nationwide scale.

19. The Coalition Government and its agencies will respect and uphold human rights as provided in the Constitution, ECOWAS and AU protocols and International Conventions.
20. The Coalition Government will conduct civic education on print, electronic i.e. radio and television, social media and any other outlets, singly or in collaboration with other stakeholders, to promote tolerance of diversity and national reconciliation.

These and many more are the promises contained in the Coalition Manifesto 2016. Until citizens are familiar with this Manifesto and use it to monitor the Coalition Government and Coalition Political Parties the Gambia shall continue to be a victim of poor governance, weak leadership and increasing poverty and underdevelopment.

There cannot be system change until and unless the provisions of this Manifesto are implemented. Let us demand that Pres. Adama Barrow implement this Manifesto. Where he fails to do so let us demand that our political parties use their representatives in the National Assembly to effect system change by reviewing and repealing existing laws as well as creating new laws and using their full powers in the Constitution to discipline the Executive which is already notorious for abuse of power!

Read the full Manifesto today and start fulfilling your constitutional duty of holding elected and appointed public officials and public institutions accountable.