Giboro– In an effort to empower authorities to effectively respond to large-scale population movements, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) organized the first ever crisis simulation exercise along the Gambian-Senegalese border.

Held in Giboro, Gambia’s West Coast Region – which hosts the busiest border post with Senegal’s southern Casamance region – the exercise tested actors’ ability to effectively respond in times of crisis; in particular, to provide assistance to vulnerable migrants.

80 volunteers from The Gambia Red Cross Society (GRCS) simulated the migrants and first responders, with various state and nonstate actors called to the scene. Key to the simulation was the interaction between immigration, security, health and social welfare authorities to register arrivals, provide medical and psychosocial support and establish evacuation and shelter plans.

“Although it was good that we were able to control the situation in the border post early, we need to improve the coordination between all apparatuses” commented Edrisa Manneh, GRCS’ Volunteer Management Coordinator, in reflection of the exercise.

The exercise was meant to model the border turmoil brought by the political tension of 2016, in which over 45,000 Gambians fled to Senegal, as well as a 2011 upsurge of violence in Casamance, in which the region received 700 additional Senegalese asylum seekers, adding to the almost 8,000 in The Gambia.

“In 2016, we realized that West Coast is at the receiving point of movement between The Gambia and Senegal,” remarked Binta Sey, Secretary-General of the Regional Disaster Management Committee, highlighting the significance of emergency preparedness in the region. “In any crisis involving migration, Giboro bears the load more than any other town,” echoed Modou Jallow, community youth leader.

The exercise was preceded by a four-day workshop, where the committee updated its contingency plan, identifying population movement as one of the region’s top five hazards. The exercise was also followed by a debriefing with all stakeholders to document lessons learned. One key aim was to incorporate the Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster (MICIC)into the region’s contingency plan. IOM introduced the MICIC Guidelines to The Gambia in 2018 through a series of trainings. “You are successfully working together to increase the capacity of first responders to properly react in times of crises,” commended Carl Paschall, Ambassador of the US to The Gambia, at the workshop.

This initiative forms part of the Africa Regional Migration Program. Funded by the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and implemented in West and Central Africa, the project aims to build the capacities of state and nonstate actors to assist vulnerable migrants. Now on its third phase in The Gambia, the project adds disaster management to ongoing work in migrant protection and counter-trafficking.

For more information, please contact Miko Alazas at IOM The Gambia; Tel: +220 330 3168, Email: [email protected].

The Constitution of the Gambia states that the sovereignty of the Gambia resides in the people of the Gambia and from whom all organs of the Government derive their legitimacy and authority. This constitutional provision clear shows that each and every organ and official of the State is legitimate and empowered based on the will of Gambians and not based on the will of Allah.

The Constitution went further to state that there will be elections every five years for President and it is citizens who vote in those elections. Allah does not vote in the Gambia! Therefore, it is only the electorates of the Gambia who make or remove the President and not Allah. This means it is utterly false, dishonest and totally undemocratic for any person to claim that Allah makes or removes the President of the Republic of the Gambia. It is equally dishonest and false to claim that opposing that President is ungodly.

Hence the election, removal or the legitimacy and authority of the President and all other elected and appointed public officials in the Gambia are derived from the people of the Gambia and not from God in anyway.

Pres. Adama Barrow and Vice President Isatou Touray must realize that they are not servants of Allah when they occupy their political positions, rather they are servants of the People of the Gambia who elected them into office. Their election and appointment and consequently their removal lie with the People of the Gambia and not with Allah or any other person or devil that is not a Gambian!

In fact, it is blasphemous for any Muslim to claim that Allah makes or removes a president. Given the corrupt and dishonesty of many presidents it is therefore sacrilegious to accuse Allah of making those bad choices by creating bad presidents. Allah cannot be held responsible for the bad decisions of believers.

The Gambia is a sovereign secular republic. This means government or public policy, lawmaking or the delivery of public goods and services are not based on any religion or dictated by God. Hence to claim that God creates or removes the president is once again false and against the grain of our Constitution and the norms of democracy and good governance.

By claiming the divinity of the President, it means we are therefore raising the President beyond and above the scrutiny of citizens. By our Constitution, citizens have a right and a duty to hold the President accountable and transparent. The fact that we even have elections means citizens have a right and duty to question, disagree with or criticize or oppose a president. The Constitution went further to guarantee the right of citizens to freedom of expression, free media, peaceful demonstration, political participation and right to petition as well as mandate the national media to carry divergent and dissenting opinions all geared towards empowering Gambians to oppose and criticize their President and the Government as they like.

Is it that Adama Barrow d Isatou Touray now want to shut down the voices and opinions of citizens? Yet these are part of the people who stood up against Yaya Jammeh and his Regime for attempting to close down the voices and opinion of citizens not to oppose and criticize him!

When we therefore claim that Allah makes or removes a president then it means we are creating a president who must not be criticized or questioned or opposed. When we are unable to criticize or oppose a president or a government then it means we cannot hold accountable that president or government. An unchecked president or a government that citizens cannot hold accountable is what is called dictatorship. Hence these statements by Pres. Barrow and his Vice President and other politicians before them making similar claims are intended to bring back dictatorship in the Gambia for which we must not only be very concerned but also stand up to defend the Republic and its Constitution!

President Barrow and indeed all politicians and citizens must understand our Constitution and be determined to defend the Constitution and the kind of political dispensation we have. The Gambia is a Republic as stipulated in the Constitution under Section 1. This means that there is absolutely no power, material or spiritual, foreign or alien beyond and above the Gambia.

The only Almighty Power in the Gambia are the People of the Gambia. It is Gambians who elect and remove elected public servants such as President, National Assembly Members, Mayors and Councilors. Allah has no hand in their election or removal because Allah is neither a citizen nor an electorate in the Gambia hence Allah does not vote or participate in our political system in anyway!

For the Gambia Our Homeland

This is not a biography about my mother.  It is just an attempt by a son to put on record an account of a remarkable woman so full of love, care and understanding, whom I am blessed and so fortunate to have as a mother.

It is difficult to know where to begin with this tribute to my mother for two reasons;

Firstly, on Tuesday 19^thof March 2019 when my brother Omar called me while I was at work to break the saddest news of my life, the passing away of our mum (Yaboi) my whole world broke into pieces, and the memory of that day is still fresh on my mind.

Secondly, another difficulty I find in writing this tribute is the fact that I have lived with my mother except for a brief period, throughout my life.   Where does one begin with such a tribute?

These are some of the challenges I face in writing this tribute.  There may be others but I feel like I am communicating with my mother in the process and I must carry on.

My mother’s name is Fatmatta Camara fondly known as Yaboi to many.  She was born in Banjul on the 19^thof October 1944.  Her father Ousman Camara (Baa) and her mother Aja Fanta Darboe (Mma) both of blessed memories originally hail from kiang wurokang.  My mum had five siblings all boys, myself Edrissa M’Bai (Bai), Ousman M’Bai, Omar M’Bai, Ebrima M’Bai (Bai Nyass) and Malick M’Bai.

My mum had a very special relationship with her mother Aja Fanta Darboe (our grandmother) affectionately known as Mma.  Their relationship was so special.  It was like two best friends.  She always used to give her mother long notices of the exact day she would be arriving in the Gambia so that she could start counting the days until her arrival. Once she booked her flight she would either phone and tell her, or she would tell me to tell her when she would be arriving.  The excitement of knowing that is a couple of weeks’ time my mum would be coming home for holidays was always a great joy to my grandmother.  Every weekend my grandmother would send us a hot bowl of porridge which she cooks herself.

My grandmother always calls me either Bai Sambang or Ndary M’Bai Sambang.  My mother simply calls me Bai (having been named after my paternal grandfather who was also referred to as the father of my village, Sambang).  These are two strong, remarkable women who did everything they could, sometimes even against their own comfort zone to make us comfortable in life.  They made us who we are today and we shall continue to be eternally grateful for their sacrifices.  May their gentle soul continue to rest in peace.  My grandfather Baa was a very quiet man. You could hardly hear him when he speak unless you pay extreme attention.  He was a man who was never in a rush.  In those days we used to grow corn at the back of the yard in Dippakunda. I could never escape Baa whenever I had with me roasted corn.  He would simply call me “Bai Sambang let me see that thing you are having”.  He would use his fingers slowly to take a few rows then return the corn to me.   Many years later I came to know what Baa was teaching me is the virtues of sharing.  I remember Baa passed away the day my uncle Ablie Camara returned home from the UK.  Although less than 10 years at the time I could very well remember the day. It was a very sad day and the first time I saw so many people in our compound crying.

I consulted my cousin Muhammed Singhateh about the exact date Baa passed away and he informed me that Baa passed away at around 8.30pm on 29^thDecember 1975. I can still fondly remember him sitting on his favourite chair in the living room in Dippa kunda.

Camara Kunda at Dippa kunda  was the base where we all grew up happily with our uncles and cousins as one family. On Saturdays and Sunday morning together with my uncles, cousins and brothers we would go to Manjai Kunda to fetch for firewood which was used for cooking.

As a child I have on many weekends been sent by mum to the Serekunda market with my uncle Alieu Sanneh (Nfally) to do some “Nduga” for her.  Because of the girls I was likely to meet at the market I never look forward to going to the market.  My mum would go to work in Banjul and after closing she would return home in Latrikunda to do her cooking using charcoal or firewood.  Today I would be more than proud to go to any market for her at any time.

After finishing her schooling at Methodist Girl’s High School (Later known as Gambia High School) she proceeded to Yundum college to get her teacher training certificate qualification before going to teaching at the Serekunda primary school.  The late S.W. Riley and O.D. Mbye  were her classmates at Gambia High School.  Miss Macmason was my mother’s first teacher in high school.

Her care for people led her into the field of nursing. She worked as a nurse for decades both in the Gambia and in the UK.  She worked at the RVH (now EFSTH) as a midwife and later as lecturer at the Gambia School of Nursing where with the Head of the school Mrs Palmer, together with Mrs Maram Bobb and others, she taught those aspiring to become nurses most of who later qualified as nurses and have been contributing their quota since as nurses in the Gambia and abroad.

Her boss at the Gambia School of Nursing Mrs Palmer saw potentials in her couple with her dedication to work.  She was given two full scholarship opportunities to further her nursing training abroad but missed both due to circumstances beyond her control. Scholarship in those days was not easy to get and having missed two opportunities she was told by her authorities that if she would not make use of the third opportunity which was a nine months course in the UK, they could not guarantee that she would ever be given any scholarship in the future.

I am happy to have supported her in making the tough decision not to miss that golden opportunity, an unpopular decision which later turned out to be not only the right decision but also a blessing for the whole family.

While in the UK she worked in several hospitals such as Hillingdon Hospital and later at St. Pancras  Hospital for Tropical Diseases at King’s Cross.  She did morning, afternoon and night shifts.  Occasionally she would do agency work for extra cash to reduce the financial pressure that was ever present throughout her life.  These were tough times but my mum belonged to the old school which is to live by one’s sweat.  She never believed in begging people because she was naturally a shy person.

She retired in 2004 and continued doing agency work at various hospitals in London to reduce her debts before the banks went after her to recover their debts.  One of the banks later realized that rather than she owing them, they actually owed her as well as many of their customers.

It was a great relief to her when the bank eventually paid her because some of her financial worries were greatly reduced eventually.

She returned home in the Gambia in 2012 to live in the house she built many years ago but which she never fully enjoyed except for her occasional yearly holidays when she would spend between one month to six weeks.

Myself and all my brothers as well as others have lived with our mother for most of our stay in London at Windsor House.  I have lived with my mother at three different places in London, first at 68 Huntley street, Grafton Way and finally at Windsor House.

She had a large heart and would go all out to make life comfortable for everyone. While we were going to school in the Gambia, getting some books used to be a challenge so she was always running around bookshops in London to send us any request made over the years.  It was not only books, but whatever we needed.

I cannot recall how many times I have gone to the post office to receive a parcel sent by my mother, or to receive shipping with my uncles full of goods from the ports in Banjul to be shared amongst us all and not one item was for sale.  Even the newest baby in the compound would have his or her share.  The shipping would usually contain clothes, shoes, medicine, food stuff such as Digestive biscuits or cream crackers, tuna sardines, corn beef, giant size packets of Tetley tea bags, Imperial body soap, old newspapers, books  etc.  Sometimes the arrival of the shipping would meet her in the Gambia on holidays so that she could do the sharing by herself.  In those days even a Tetley tea bag from UK was not as popular as our local tea called “tea bush”,” mbor mbor”for some or “kingkiliba”for others.

For most of the time we were going to school she had been away but she always made sure that we were never in need of anything that was necessary and useful.  Every month she would either send our monthly allowance through the post or she would give a letter with cash to someone coming from the UK to the Gambia.  Sometimes she would meet these people usually Gambians, at the train stations or even at the airport and at short notices just so that our allowance is not delayed. On one occasion she enclosed over 250 pounds  sterling in an envelope and gave it to someone to bring for us but not having heard from the said person for days since his arrival,  I contacted him through the phone only to be told by his mother that the envelop was lost.  On my mother’s advise we made no issue out of that matter and that was the end of it.

At a time when it was not unusual to see the wives of some senior Government officials using official government vehicles to attend weddings and naming ceremonies, my mum would queue in the early hours of the morning near the Latrikunda mosque to join a GPTC bus to work where she was earning less than D1000 a month.

On one such occasion, while I was comfortably seated at the front of the bus, unknown to me my mum was standing at the back of the bus wearing her white nursing uniform going to work.  Assie Hydara, a neighbour and a student of Gambia High School who was also in the bus, drew this to my attention and I immediately gave her my seat.

This situation continued until the late Mr Abdoulie Mbacke who was then in charge of Transport at the Ministry of Justice came to the rescue of my mum to ease her transportation difficulties but only for the vehicle to take her to work and back home.

My love for Agatha Christie and my appetite for reading developed thanks to my mum who would send us any book she considered worthy of reading.  Be it newspaper cuttings, magazines, you name it, she would send them to us regularly.

When she was lecturing at the Gambia School of Nursing she would occasionally bring home copies of World Encyclopedia which broaden my understanding to the biographies of great American presidents especially.  It was from this period that I became intrigued about the lives of president Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter to this day.

I will never forget that cold winter night when getting an accommodation for me in London was becoming too difficult, my mum and I under the rains using the London underground, went all the way to Willesdeen Green, having read from a newspaper the availability of a room only to be told by an old English lady wearing thick glasses, upon seeing us that the room was no longer available.  My mum and I were both disappointed but she gave me the assurance that everything will be fine.  Few weeks later she was able to get me an accommodation in Chingford at Walthamstow, near the Dog Stadium with the help of my uncle Ousainou Camara, to live with a Sierra Leonean lady who I came to know simply as aunty Oumu, then living with her 10 year old son called Tokumbo. This was in 1992.

While studying in London I did all kinds of work be it as a waiter at Belushi’s Bar and Restaurant in Covent Garden or as coffee maker at Pret A’Manger at St Martins Lane, or by simply giving my name and phone number to Agencies to contact me whenever there was any job offers just to ease the financial burden from my mum’s shoulders which as far as I remember have always been present in all her life and never reduced.

I remember working for a Mexican Restaurant known as Chiquitos in Covent Garden for two days then I was asked to bring along my passport so that they could employ me.  I could not bring my passport because it was stated on it that I am not permitted to engage in any employment in the UK without a work permit which I never had.  I was never paid for my two days’ work.  Years later any time I go to London I feel tempted to go to that same restaurant and make an expensive order and after eating to quietly leave without paying.

Teaching and Nursing being her background my mum generally love children and never want to see a child cry.  She shared all she had with the needy regardless of who you are or where you came from.

At the time she lived in London, whenever she goes to the Gambia on holidays she would try to reach out to as many people as possible and the same gesture was always reciprocated.

To say that my mum loves flowers is an under-statement. She could not live anywhere without having flowers around and nothing gave her greater joy than watering her flowers by herself. It has always been a common thing to see flower pots in our house centrally positioned near the window where they will receive enough sunlight.

She loved taking a walk to Regents’ Park which was just few minutes walking distance from where we were living at Windsor House.

Jim Reeves was her favourite and she would usually sing along when the music was playing.  Her frequent playing of Jim Reeves made me also fall for his music to this day.  Kenny Rogers, Jimmy cliff, Bob Marley, Youssou Ndour, Neil Diamond, Isaac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Nina Simon, Don Willaims, Ifang Bondi and Kinneh Lam to name a few were some of her favourites but gentleman Jim Reeves was top of her list.

Although we never went to watch any matches at Wimbledon, knowing my love for tennis my mum took me to the Wimbledon Museum and bought me some tennis memorabilia that are still with me more than two decades now.

Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Steffi Graf, Monica Sellas, Yana Navotna, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis were some fine tennis players she loved watching display their talents and skills in the finest art of sportsmanship at Wimbledon.  This was the time when the new tennis sensation, the William sisters (Venus and Serena Williams) were just beginning their professional career at Wimbledon.  At that time the two sisters were identified more by the colourful beads on their hair than their performance in the tennis court which they came to dominate for many years both in winning trophies and in rankings.

These are precious moments that I will always remember sharing with my mum.  I remember watching with my mum the historic victory of Manchester United at the finals of the 1999 European Champions League over Bayern Munich when they were one nil down until in the dying three minutes Manchester United scored two goals.  Many of Manchester United fans had already left the stadium at the time believing they lost the match.  What a jubilation I had with my mum that night.

We all used to say our mum’s headquarters was Camden town where she did most of her shopping for the simple reason that she could buy most of her fruits and vegetables at a more reasonable price compared to other places.  On a normal week she would go to Camden town at least twice.  Our meat seller at the corner shop Raja from Pakistan where we buy halal meat knew my mum’s favourite is either lamb chops or chicken wings.

My mum saw all of us as her children and her love for us was unconditional.  She did not only show us love and care, she treated all of us with the same love.  When one of my brothers then living in the US had an accident and was hospitalized my mum did not just offer him prayers, she flew to the United States on two occasions to give him the necessary moral and financial support he so much needed.

She never stopped caring for us at any time.  If we were not so fortunate to have a mother like her I can honestly say that our story today would have been different. She was like the roots of a tree (though not visibly seen) without the roots there would be no tree to enjoy the fruits or its shade.  She never enjoy taking the lime light and she never claim credit for anything.  She always like doing her own things unnoticed. I can safely say that my mum was camera shy because for her any publicity for anything she did was of less significance to her.  She was never comfortable in making known publicly or privately whatever good deed she did for people.  She was a very private person.

Her generosity and caring transcended not only to people but even to animals.  While we were living at Latrikunda (near the big tree) we had a brown dog called chips that my mum made sure was well fed on a daily basis.  My mum was so distraught when chips was killed by a car.

She was like Mother Theresa, generous to all and love sharing all she had with everybody, especially the less privilege.   She was more concerned with helping the needy than buying expensive jewelries and dresses for herself but this does not mean she never appreciated quality.  She knew exactly where to find quality whenever she needed one.  H. Samuel, John Lewis, D.H. Evans, Harrods, Burtons, and Argos were some of the shops in London she did most of her shopping.

Sainsburys, Tesco, and Budgens were supermarkets she used to go frequently using her ATM card.

My mum was not only the best cook I have known, food was never in shortage at Windsor House. A bowl of salad after meal, ice cream, fruits, a cup of tea, fresh orange juice you name it was always available. When it comes to apples granny Smith was my favourite but my mum would also buy golden delicious and coxes just in case someone prefers those ones.

Every December 31^stshe would make sure she record from BBC the important events that took place that year throughout the world in a video cassette and send it to us in the Gambia just in case we missed out certain major events in the news even though at that time I religiously listen to BBC radio with my black 9 meter band radio that she sent me.

Every year my mum would buy The Sunday Times newspaper either the last Sunday in December or the first Sunday in January just so that she could send me the Rich List which was usually published together with the Sunday Times at that time of the year.  I still have some of those magazines.

While I have no doubt that my mum has saved my life many times, I can still fully remember two painful incidents that without her swift intervention I could have easily died many years ago.  The first of these incidents happened when I was sent to Dankunku for schooling.  My brothers Ousman and Omar were sent to Bansang. I was exposed to a room with a mosquito net that had so many holes.   Naturally I got sick with malaria.  Until you get malaria you sometimes don’t know whether the constant mosquito noise on your ears that make you wake up in the middle of the night that is more painful and irritating, or the mosquito bite.

Even though communication at that time was not as good as it is today, no land phones in Dankunku no mobile phones then, how my mum knew I was sick I never found out but she instructed my uncle Alieu Sanneh (Nfally) to fuel my uncle Momodou Lamin Camara’s (uncle) vehicle and go pick me without any delay.  That was a distance of over 145 miles.  I was then staying with my aunty Bajen Awa.  Because of my critical health condition she could not object to my going back.  Upon arrival at Dippa kunda my mum used her thermometer to take my temperature.  It was unusually high.  I was suffering from cerebral malaria and I remember my mum telling me later that if I had not received medical treatment a day late there was no way I would have survived that sickness.

As far as I remember that was the first time I was given Nivaquine tablets to drink.  After drinking the tablets I developed a reaction causing me to scratch all over my body.  When the scratching was not helping the situation I decided to take shower. That was a bad mistake because the itching got worse. Later on anytime I got sick with malaria, I always take some piriton tablets first before taking Nivaquine tablets.

The second incident my mum saved my life was shortly after she left for her nine months course in the UK, malaria made another attempt of my life.  I was so sick and so weak that I could not walk, I had to crawl from the bedroom I shared with my three brothers and a cousin, to the toilet. This one also even though she was in the UK my mother again instructed my uncle Alieu Sanneh (Nfally) to use my uncle’s vehicle to take me to Dr Kurang for treatment forthwith.  Yes it is true that my mother made all the necessary arrangements before leaving for the UK for us to get medical treatment whenever the need arose.

Many years later when I come to think about how my mum knew I was so close to death due to suffering from malaria the only conclusion I could come up with is what I would call as a mother’s intuition.

My mum passed away quietly on her bed when three of her brothers Ebrima Camara (Burama), from South Africa who is next to her and Suwaibou Camara (Sai) from Australia, the youngest in her family, came to see their sister at Bundung that afternoon. My uncle Ismaila Camara (Soum) from Germany later came to see his sister (our mum) that very day.

My uncle Burama explained to me that she went quietly.  My mum decided to take her exit in life when all her brothers for the first time as far as I can remember were around in the Gambia  from South Africa, England, Germany, Sweden and Australia to attend the 40 days charity of their mother (our grandmother, Mma) who passed away on Friday 25^thJanuary 2019 and her 40 days charity was Tuesday 5^thof March.

Exactly three weeks after her passing my first cousin Lamin Camara from Sweden passed away in the USA on Friday 15^thFebruary 2019.  Before Lamin’s 40 days charity on Tuesday 26^thMarch my mum passed away one week earlier.

My brother Ebrima M’Bai (Bai Nyass) who live in the US, was here on holidays and had just left on the 9^thof January this year.  Within 48 hours after the death of our mother he was back home to share with us our great loss.  This just shows the special love we all have for our dear Yaboi.

She enjoyed watching David Dimbleby’s Question Timeon Thursday night.  She was never happy with the way Jeremy Paxmanusually put off students in his programme University challenge.  Andrew Marr’sSunday morning programme was one of her favourite TV programmes.   She enjoyed watching Mastermind hosted by Magnus Magnusson. Zainab Badawiand Moira Stewardwere some of her favourite TV newscasters.

She never missed any of our birthdays by sending a special birthday card as well as make a phone call on the day itself to wish us happy birthday however busy she was.

She had so many friends such Ya Haddy Gibril, Aunty NabihaFaye, Aunty Kaindehbut without a doubt Aunty Fola Allenwas her best friend, a friendship that started well before I was born.  I remember so many times when Aunty Fola would bring her basket full of fruits, and ‘Nanburoo’ every Easter.

She had a special liking for Christmas probably because being born in Banjul and growing up in Grant street she had so many Christian friends.  We were always treated with a special meal on Christmas day with plenty of nuts, fruits and drinks as well as listen to nice Christmas Carrols.

When I reflect on the past I am just so happy to have had the courage to stand for my mum and to have given her all the moral support she needed when many years ago she had to take some tough unpopular decisions which decisions years later have turned out to be not only right but a blessing to the whole family.  Whatever she did for us she did out of love and not because it was obligatory on her.

I am still using the nail cutter she bought for me since 1990.

No one can fully be prepared for the death of a person no matter how old or sick the person may be. The day my mother passed away and the day she was buried are two days I will never forget in my life.  Since her death I have visited her grave more than a dozen times.  My brothers Ousman and Ebrima (Bai Nyass) live abroad, so Omar, Malick and I after every Jumma pray meet at her grave at the Dippa kunda cemetery to offer some prayers for her and others.  I believe that even though she is gone she is keeping an eye on all of us every single day.

Certain things are better kept silent, painful as it may be on my part, I would be abdicating my moral responsibility as a son if in an attempt to make a befitting tribute to my mother I fail to state the pain and sufferings she had to go through for most of her life.  I am a living witness to some of the trials and tribulations of life she had to unfortunately go through.

On Sunday 28^thof April after the 5 O’clock pray we shall all gather at Dippakunda, Camara kunda at the family compound to observe her 40 days charity by prayers and recitation of the Holy Quran. We shall do so with comfort and satisfaction that we were very lucky to have been blessed with the kind of mother we had, so caring, so loving, so humble and so hardworking.

Although we lost a mother we are comforted by the fact that her only sister Ajaratou Ramatoulie Camara (Nna)  whom she performed the pilgrimage to Mecca  with in 1995 is here with us.

I will end this tribute with two quotations.

“The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.”

John F. Kenedy.

“People will never truly understand something until it happens to them.  God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with him.” John Eliot

Until we meet again Yaboi, lots of love from your boys.

EDRISSA  M’BAI (BAI)

The initial testimony of Sanna Sabally exposes a malaise in our society that could be found widespread and deep – in both the educated and the uneducated populations. This malaise goes to explain in fact the bad governance and underdevelopment that this country has been experiencing since Independence unabated. Two issues reflect this malaise in Sanna’s testimony, i.e. the idea that the military has a duty or role to overthrow a corrupt government and that the Geneva Conventions are useless!

When Sanna forcefully and seemingly innocently claim the right of the military to address political issues means the man lacks basic understanding of the nature of democratic governance and constitutionalism in a republic.  This error in understanding the nature and function of institutions and processes can be found prevalent until today in the minds of many Gambians. For example, it equates quite well with the scenario where the current president just like his predecessor would sack a Member of the National Assembly on the pretext that the president nominated that member.

This misconception of the nature of laws and institutions and the power entrusted to public officers can also be found in even some well-educated lawyers and intellectuals who defended the sacking of a parliamentarian by the president. They claim, albeit erroneously that indeed a particular section of the Constitution justifies such action simply because he who appoints can also sack! Thus, in his ignorance of the very rationale and role of the military institution in a democratic republic Sanna could not find ever again any barriers, moral and legal to stop him from executing his diabolical objectives since he has already found justification for his actions on a misconception of institutionalism, constitutionalism and democratic governance.

Yes, the Constitution imposes a duty on all citizens to defend the Constitution, but one cannot just seek an outright overthrow of a government just because one perceives a particular government to be corrupt or violates the constitution. One will find that in any well governed state there will be abuses and excesses by public officials and the government as a whole at certain times. But in such states, one will also find processes and institutions of accountability that work reasonably and most of the time to ensure that there is redress. Furthermore, one will also find that the space is open and free for citizens and political parties to challenge that government in various ways. Thus, so long as accountability measures exist reasonably it will be difficult to justify a violent overthrow of a government especially by the military which is supposed to be under civilian control in the first place.

Indeed, the PPP Government of Dawda Jawara was not the best of well governed administrations in the world but despite all of its shortcomings there were institutions and processes that allows for citizens to seek redress and change things. Secondly the political space was open enough such that various political actors could engage in order to bring about change. This is not to say there were no incidences of corruption or abuse of power and violations of rights. They were there. But then given the Gambia’s overall history and context and the relatively open and reasonably democratic nature of that government it is fair to say that this was an emerging nation-state that did not deserve a coup at that time.

For example, we have seen how in the 1980s a journalist published a damning story about corruption involving key minsters, yet the journalist was not subjected to arbitrary arrest or his paper closed down. Even though his trial on sedition was not enviable however the journalist had his day in court and was eventually acquitted and discharged. This was in the 1980s!

Fast forward to 1994 to 2016 when if another journalist would publish the same kind of story under the APRC regime, there is no doubt that such a journalist would disappear, and the newspaper closed down as we saw many times during the period. Hence one could rather contemplate justifying a violate overthrow of the APRC regime than the PPP Government simply because the former closed all means for accountability and made political activity an extremely risky business while the former allowed accountability processes and the political space to remain open, peacefully.

Therefore, the narrative by Sanna that the military particularly has a duty to overthrow a corrupt government is symptomatic of the malaise afflicting our society when individuals harbour very narrow perspectives of reality only to reach extremely faulty and dangerous conclusions. In some instances, it is about being utterly subjective, partisan or sectarian such that one cannot see beyond one’s institution, tribe or religion. Rather we perceive reality and life as a whole in terms of our peculiar environment first.

The other misconception perpetrated by Sanna is the idea that the Geneva Conventions don’t mean anything. This is in fact more scary coming from a soldier when it is clear that the Hague Conventions 1899 and later the Geneva Conventions 1949 have always been active since when they were first conceived. Sanna’s perspective clearly begs the question as to what and how is the Gambian military trained? Is his perception reflective of the mindset of the generality of Gambian soldiers or not?

As a soldier Sanna should have been quite accustomed with the laws of war and prepared to solemnly abide by them thus reflecting indeed his level of professionalism and dedication to military culture. Any soldier who thinks even slightly that the Geneva Conventions can be disregarded even by an inch then such a soldier is indeed a criminal who must not serve in any military.

Hence this testimony clearly shows that Sanna Bairo Sabally must not have been recruited into the Gambian army in the first place if indeed the recruiters could have deciphered his mindset from the very outset. This testimony therefore calls for urgent security sector reform so that the women and men in uniform are properly educated and cultured. Great military women and men are those that do not only know how to use the weapon and fight well but also abide by the norms of civilized society as espoused in the laws and institutions that guide conduct in any walk of life.

At best I can only classify Sanna as a hugely ignorant man and at worst as an inherently evil person who must not have been allowed in the first place to get near the military much more hold any leadership position in the society. He has demonstrated that he lacks any morality and sense of humanity to realise that leadership is responsibility that must be guided by higher values and standards. Courage and bravery exist in a person when she submits to and defends those values and standard and not when she blatantly breaks values with impunity!

Sanna’s blatant disregard for human life by perceiving everything in terms of ‘either-or’ or as a zero-sum game makes him erroneously believe that perceived and real enemies must be crushed to death simply because that is what the ‘enemies ‘would have also done to him. He has completely forgotten, in fact ignored the fact that he was the Vice Chair of the State that has legal and political obligation to protect the rights and lives of all Gambians regardless.

I find this perception quite disturbing and deep since one can find such narrative alive and kicking even right now in the way our political leaders and their parties and supporters relate to each other. It appears our society lacks the ability to attempt to understand each other in order to negotiate and compromise among ourselves for the good of the nation. When we hold positions of power there is a tendency in Gambians to unleash force and violence as a means to dominate and control all others which we erroneously perceive to be bravery and courage. Go to Gambian homes, communities and offices and you will see how in many instances the people who hold power use it to conquer and destroy fellow family members, colleagues or citizens!

Sanna has demonstrated, after 22 years in which he served at the highest level of leadership in the country including spending 9 years in prison that his mind is still weak and poor to comprehend and submit himself to the dictates of morality and the rule of law. His understanding of power is so distorted that he could only use power to unleash pain and misery. Sadly, he still cherishes that extremely polluted notion!

This testimony therefore has indeed offered huge lessons for our society for one will still find many Gambians who think and perceive the world in the same distorted manner as Sanna. There are many among us who either do not understand the nature of things in their proper context or if they do, they care less. This could be about God, ethnicity, religion, constitution, laws, human rights, institutions, power and sacred values and standards. How many of us misunderstand the very purpose of our institutions or merely condemn international institutions and disregard international law just like that? What difference are we with Sanna who also thinks that the military has a governance role or that the Geneva Conventions are useless?

This same distorted mentality in Sanna is the same distorted mentality we could recall in Yaya Jammeh when he would also lambast ECOWAS, AU, UN, Commonwealth or the ICC and even go ahead to remove the country from these institutions as he liked. Not that these are impeccable institutions but when you have leaders misconceive the nature and purpose of domestic and international institutions, processes, laws and norms then woe betide that society!

Is this a Gambian trait? Are we an arrogant people or do we just have low self-esteem? Is it because our education and culture are weak and poor such that we cannot develop critical thinking for the purpose of doing the good and just in the right way? We need serious self-refection.

For the Gambia Our Homeland

By Momodou Ndow

Sana Sabally took responsibility, but he basically blamed his actions on age, he was 27 years old. I am not sure what people should be doing at 27 years of age, but I bet killing and terrorizing people would be considered extremely abnormal and inexcusable anywhere in the world for a 27 year old to be proudly engaged in, regardless! Not only was Sana engaged in such horrific actions, he continually tried to justify them all through his testimony!

To try to accomplish his goal of justifying his brutal actions, Sana constantly painted a picture of war/battle, where one has to kill the enemy at all cost, including those who were captured and tied. In addition, Sana also continually attempted trashing the Geneva Convention at every chance and even called it “shit” at one point today.

In his efforts to further double down on his trashing of the Geneva Convention, Sana probably went home yesterday after being challenged by the commission’s chairman who expressed disappointment in his ridiculous bashing of the Geneva Convention and did some quick research, to try to clarify his position. So he returned today with the story of when the Emperor caught some enemy soldiers trying to scale the wall in Geneva in the sixteen hundreds and hanged them.

In Sana’s mind, the Geneva Convention, which was negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War in 1949, was “shit” because of an event that happened in Geneva in the sixteen hundreds. But it was that same “shit” of a “Geneva Convention” that rescued him and gave him the chance to relocate to Germany and realized his dream of being in the medical field. In essence, the Geneva Convention is “shit” when Sana Sabally is the law, but golden when Sana Sabally became victim!

Sana told us that he came to the TRRC to tell the truth about his role, but the truth was already established by multiple witnesses, and Sana only came to corroborate that “truth” and accepted responsibility. According to him, he was not going to lie because others who were there under his command knew what happened. Sana also told us that when he sees people beating their chest claiming to have kicked Goloh out (including the President), dafdey hahatie beh halangu. But it’s the same Sana who sat there beating his chest about how he is not scared of anyone and will take a bullet in the chest any day. How ironic!

Let’s not forget that Sana is now a professionally trained counselor in Germany; and what do counselors do? – they work with the mind and know how the mind works, so he came well prepared. He’s had years to be prepared for this day because he knew it was coming. His every statement was calculated, and his every defense reinforced, including the trashing of the Geneva Convention and the Junta’s right to take over the government at the time, despite the illegality of their actions.

In his closing remarks, Sana pleaded with the TRRC and the current government to intervene because the German project his was working on in Senegal was halted by the German authorities, and offered his psychotherapy service free of charge to his victims. Did the German authorities halt the project when “shit” hit the fan and they became aware of Sana’s crimes? With the Holocaust in their past and the human rights violations that happened there, the last thing the Germans want is to associate  themselves with such crimes, they will quickly distance themselves from it. And with Sana’s offer of psychotherapy free of charge, it is nothing but a case of “ma reye la beh parey jaleh la”, something the Junta was good at.

In conclusion, Sana was a 27-year-old who thought it was justified to stage a military coup to correct the corruption, and part of that correction was to kill, torture, and abuse citizens. And also once in a while, find nurses who skipped work and went to their boyfriend’s houses, knock on the door (pam pam), tell them that you were Chairman Sabally, and dragged them back to work. Waiting for them to show up to work was not an option. Throughout his testimony, Sana talked about forgiveness and reconciliation, but he forgot to mention justice. Yes Sana came voluntarily to tell the truth that was already established, but telling the truth doesn’t exonerate anyone from the crime of murder, and that’s why there is no statute of limitation for murder. Let justice guide our actions!

PS: Sana wants Gambians to know the truth and judge for themselves, so I did just that.

Dr. Ousman Gajigo

This question is not being posed for the sake of just being provocative. It is a real question that we must seriously ask ourselves for it has implications for the future of democracy in our country. When Gambians went to the polls in December 2016, they faced three choices for presidential candidates: Yahya Jammeh of the APRC, Mama Kandeh of the GDC and Adama Barrow of the Coalition. Given these choices, the Gambian people voted for the coalition led by Adama Barrow.

For that coalition to come into existence, the 7 opposition parties and one individual came to an agreement. Without dwelling on the details of that agreement, suffice it is to say that there would have been no coalition without an agreement of some sort among the parties.

An understanding of that agreement is that the parties would form and be part of the government. It is hard to fathom that any party would have agreed to form a coalition had there been an understanding or even a hint that Barrow would unilaterally dismiss any of them from the government.

Everyone knows that the reason Adama Barrow ‘resigned’ from the UDP was because that was one of the decisions made when the coalition was being formed. That is, the flag bearer of the coalition would not be representing any single party but symbolically representing everyone by belonging to no party. Other than this reason, there was no other explanation for Barrow resignation from the UDP where he was a deputy treasurer and had unsuccessfully contested a national assembly position under the party.

It is also important to note that a critical member of that coalition is the UDP. It is safe to say that had UDP not joined the coalition, it is highly unlikely that a much smaller coalition composed of only NRP, NCP, PPP, PDOIS and GMC would have won the election. In other words, the size of UDP as a party is highly pertinent to the success of the coalition. For instance, it is highly unlikely that the participation of Mai Fatty or the Isatou Touray (the independent) were as decisive in the victory of the coalition over the APRC. While it would be against the spirit of the coalition to remove any of those two from the government against their will, the reality is that the political strength and the size of the average support for the coalition government would only be minimally affected if that were to happen.

Why is it important for us to be concerned about Barrow’s lack of respect for the agreement that led to the coalition formation? Recall that it took years of fruitless attempts by various Gambian groups to bring the opposition parties together. Many of us witnessed the painful experience of NADD. Whatever the details of the agreement that brought the parties together in 2016, there must have been conditions in this last coalition negotiation that convinced the parties to put aside their reservations and finally form a coalition strong enough to defeat Yahya Jammeh. Given that Barrow has decided to treat the articles of those coalition agreement as toilet paper, what are the implications for future of coalition formation should we face another autocracy?

In 2016, Gambians voted for the coalition – a coalition that selected Adama Barrow. Adama Barrow did not form a party, nor did his charisma, such as it is, propelled the opposition to victory. Any other leader of the parties that formed the coalition would have ended up as the president of the country for the simple reason that the Gambian electorate had decided that the time was up for Jammeh.

Having decided to unilaterally kick out of government other key members of the coalition, there is a strong case to be made that Barrow’s government no longer has moral legitimacy. I have no doubt that his government can legally serve out the rest of the term legally. But a man who cannot respect an agreement that was instrumental to achieving the position he now holds is an individual with no integrity. And such a man should not be trusted.

This lack of integrity is also evident by the types of individuals Barrow has now surrounded himself with. As we begin to count the billions of dalasis squandered by Jammeh, the dictator’s key enablers such as the minister of finance continue to be the key advisers of Barrow. Individuals such as Seedy Njie, who were willing to plunge the country into a civil war and supported Jammeh to the very end are now among the key officials and advisers of Barrow and his youth movement. In other words, Barrow hungers for power so much so that he does not mind whom he associates with. One is left with little doubt that were Yahya Jammeh to return today and offer his support, he would be embraced just as key members of administration have been welcomed by President Barrow.

Adama Barrow appears to have grown a convenient amnesia about the events that led to the ouster of dictator Jammeh. Lately, he has taken to falsely and unashamedly announcing that he singlehandedly removed Jammeh. Witness his recent claim to Kombo East supporters that while other opposition parties and figures have tried unsuccessfully to unseat Jammeh for 22 years, he succeeded in just a matter of months. Within a matter of just few years, this man has managed to convinced himself that it was all about him.

Such delusions of grandeur are some of the defining features of budding autocrats. We should be aware that not all autocracies come into being in dramatic fashion like a coup d’état. Elected individuals can and have morphed into autocracies.

Given that Barrow has shown no scruples to go against the agreement that the transitional president should only rule for 3 years, should we be confident that he would honor restrictions on his length of rule? Do we have reasons to even believe he would respect term limits when the time arrives? We would be fools to take him at his words but he has already demonstrated that an agreement with him is not worth the paper it is signed on.

Ousman Gajigo is an economist. He has held positions with the African Development Bank, the UN, the World Bank and Columbia University. He holds a PhD in development economics. He is currently an international consultant and also runs a farm in The Gambia.