By Alagi Yorro Jallow

The Gambia appears to be a litter bin of big and small dictators and aspiring dictators. Even the pro-democracy heroes and heroines, the survivors/victims of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship, are so used to the perfidy around them that they see no reason to hate evil and its high priests. Twenty-two years ago, when pro-democracy war raged, and protesters were falling (GTTI April 2010, Westfield April, 2016 in the Gambia) and in Washington DC, at the United Nations in New York, and in  other parts of Europe; when pro-democracy activists protested human rights violations and suffering then people gladly embraced pain, could the combatants have imagined a privatized Gambia would be their lot at the end of that tunnel?

Nothing has changed — except that things have deteriorated beyond the awfulness of December1,2016. ‘#The Gambia Has Decided’: The Gambia is itself a corporate oxymoron — a paragon of paradoxes. It chooses and eats what nauseates it — and does so calmly without throwing up. A justice for survivors/ victims of the past government campaign drew attention to the rights of the victims of Yahya Jammeh to reparations, justice and accountability, which have continued to be neglected. Victims have largely remained in the background of hopelessness and melancholy. It’s a shame that Nogoi Njie, a torture survivor to come out publicly begging for assistance and medical treatment.  “As a mother, your world comes crashing down when you think the words and beatings at the torture chambers echoed, the various pain and emotions, that pierce your being, are unimaginable…feelings one wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. As a mother, you hope, pray, beg, and plead that your children beat this vicious hopelessness. You fight, with everything you have, to survive…watching your children suffer through the unimaginable, treatment-wise, to save life”. Nogoi tells her daily struggle.

The Gambia government must commit thorough into the plight of the survivors and victims and give them proper medical treatment that required rehabilitation to those who now acquired some form of disabilities because of torture and to repeal the Indemnity law; compensate families of survivors and apply rule of law by bringing the perpetuators to justice or sought forgiveness at TRRC.

These pro-democracy activists during dictatorship all sacrificed their personal resources, their comfort and most of all, they put their lives on the line to move this country forward. In character, they are different from the other cleptomaniacs whose actions and activities were at best, self-serving. Gambians can cry all they want, point all your abusive words and fingers at them, call them all sort of bad names, they will ever remain the true heroes and heroines of the new Gambia, for without their intellectual and financial contributions, our doom would have been sealed in the midst of those who looted public funds for themselves and their families alone. These great men and women of pro-democracy activists to this end they should be applauded, celebrated, compensated and honored.

How does it feel to live in a country owned by the privileged? There is no better way to feel it than to accept living in a dictatorship when thieves take charge of Saints: Just wondering how many of those political leaders, elected and appointed, across the executive, legislative and judicial branches and at the state and local government levels would be able to pass the screening if Gambians must match their entire legitimate income with the wealth they hold today. By this referring to civil servants and political office holders who have held position in public service since the advent of the January19 2017 alternative power class in the political stage of The Gambia. And yet, these are the same people and those in charge of governance and human rights affairs as a people and as a country today. Which way the Gambia? Where are the true heroes and heroines of the pro-democracy activists?

This tactical alliance government of President Adam Barrow has confirmed politics as the odium forest of the daredevil. It is a forest where the one with two children is left with one, and the mother with only one child is ruined, left empty handed. In new Gambia that only victims who are godfathers (or who have godfathers) came back with their heads uncrushed. The ones who naively thought they are in a democracy are broken, in debts and in ruins. They have felt what it means to be eaten up- gobbled by victims or heroes who are godfathers’ insatiable termites of destruction.

President Adama Barrow and his government need to urgently redefine politics and power and the linkage between the two with money. In addition, faith, beliefs and action require two-pronged approach: Counter narratives in terms of beliefs, and guidance and role models in terms of action without politics.

President Barrow must transform the hands that kill, maim and destroy, into hands that can save and rebuild new Gambia. Adama must do away with all the jargons in terms of peace-keeping, peace-making, peace-building, conflict transformation, etc. and come up with innovative sustainable framework for crises/conflict prevention and mitigation at local and national level. For the Gambia, continuous political restructuring with emphasis on subsidiarity is important.

The rights of the victims of the previous administration to reparations, justice and accountability have continued to be neglected. Victims have largely remained neglected: Nogoi Njie, Kafu Bayo, Modou Ngum are examples of torture survivors/victims of the past government and in urgent need of medical treatment. President Adam Barrow, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Justice ministry should work closely together to initiate and develop a comprehensive legal and policy framework on reparations for victims of the APRC government. This framework should strive to combine individual and collective, symbolic and material forms of compensation for victims, and other means of reparations that are suited to restore victims’ dignity and humanity. The proposed legal and policy framework should be adequately resourced by the authorities and through international assistance and cooperation. The process for developing the framework should not wait until peace and justice is achieved.

In the meantime, the Justice ministry and the Victims Center should initiate and create a national registry of victims of the APRC government to facilitate their access to free legal aid, psychological and medical care, support, and reparations.

Evidence has noted that most of the victims are the economically and socially vulnerable including men, women and young and   elderly and those that have been tortured, who continue to suffer stigma, social exclusion, and re-victimization because of the lack of reparations, medical treatment and assistance to overcome the impact of trauma and pain from the government. For these victims, the absence of reparations has continued to impede their ability to resume their lives and move beyond the trauma they have endured and continue to suffer. The Gambia is a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which affirms the rights of victims of torture to reparations and in fact creates a Trust Fund for Survivors/ Victims.

Since a legal framework for reparations for victims of the previous government will serve as the beginning of a process of compensation and dignification for victims. Also, that reparations have profound ethical and political implications and is an important component of the process of justice and accountability. Reparations for victims can also generate civic trust, re-establish the damaged relationship between citizens and the State, and ultimately help to consolidate the country’s democratic experience and the rule of law.

For the purpose of the framework and the national register victims should be defined to include persons who individually or collectively suffer harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, including the immediate family or dependents of the direct victims and persons who have suffered harm in intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent victimization.

By Gibril Saine

Catching sight of all the fanfare being thrown at the feet of a distinguished lady, Nogoi Njie, undoubtedly appears to be another of those moments required of us to contemplate, but question what occasioned such unacceptable state of affairs in the first place:

As fate would have it all started several years ago, if not decades. But for the sake of this grudge, my grudge at least, we shall limit the post to the ‘here and now’ ushering in ‘new’ Gambia, if that also mean anything these days. Given the bravery with which she marched on that procession facing guns and bullets of ”Jammeh’s” trigger happy bandit thugs disguised in uniform, Nogoi Njie, and a many like her sacrificed a life. Clearly, a gallantry act, selfless, marked by compassion for mother Gambia seeing to it that the country was rescued from the clutches of a blood-thirst tyrant. She and others like her, knew the dangers at hand but nonetheless persevered. And they have paid the ultimate price with own lives in the tragic case of Solo Sandeng, Femi Peters, albeit health scare / complications for others who lived

The arrest of the UDP leadership came to magnify that already lit candle looking to depose Yahya Jammeh. The struggle then suddenly metamorphosed into an unprecedented ‘Hotel kairaba’ convention in a unified contract for the ages. Certainly, an occasion to be fondly remembered, thus the coalition was born. It was the unknown quantity then, Adama Barrow, who was balloted to lead an opposition ticket as presidential elections approach. Every Gambian, man or woman, knew exactly what side they stood at that moment in history. But you see, time changes, man changes – except life it remains the same.

The sad case of Nogoi Njie, and a many facing worst scenario had me teared up, but to question man’s motives and attitude towards power-wealth dynamics. Although it is often said that man was born selfish, never had it occurred to me that the government of the day would stand indifferent, even careless, to the plight and grievances of the Gambian population. I see a selfish people running the affairs of a blissful land. A leadership lacking plans nor pride to fulfill the sacred oaths of duty owed to state – as if in a hurry to accumulate wealth for an escape to the clouds.

So, if the Gambia national anthem enjoin calls on us to brotherhood, may i be excused until such time that hypocrisy and selfish act was banished from the earth’s surface – the Banjul State House at least.

Even though my government has failed on its promises, it is still incumbent upon me to remain loyal to the state as dramatized in the ‘social contract’. And despite the fact that government has breached its side of the agreed terms, reneging on signed contracts & commitments made, we, the citizenry, shall maintain resolve take the higher ground working toward a prosperous Gambia anticipating elections to come. The noblest thing, if there’s any left, that the government can/should do, at least accord presidential style medical treatment to Nogoi Njie and her colleagues still suffering physical and mental scars off the thrones of Mile Two prison. Where is the psychological counseling and proper checks asked for young women fallen victim to years of horror during the APRC years, honourable minister?! Is it too much to ask for a dignified healthcare provision for citizens, with all the private jet trips and millionaire lifestyle the executive has led all year round?! Listen, the country only need five (5) advanced top-class teaching hospitals, one for each governorship, complemented by quality primary health facilities in towns and villages.

I do not mean to be petty here but taking selfies and photo-ops with the respected Nogoi Njie is not the answer to her desperate plight or the many complex problems facing the country. The hypocrisy in and around Banjul is staggering – as clear as the midday sun.

By Alagi Yorro Jallow 

The National Assembly must enact a Human Rights Victims Reparations and Recognition Act and create an independent Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board to administer a compensation fund for the human rights victims of former President Yahya Jammeh. This fundamental legislative policy shall be intrinsic in our laws, such as a mandate of the Presidential Commission on Good Governance and Human Rights to go after the ill-gotten wealth of Yahya Jammeh, and the National Assembly to enact an Act providing for the reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations during Yahya Jammeh’s regime.
The sacrifices of the great stalwarts of democracy, who fought in the most adverse circumstances against Yahya Jammeh, traitor to the Constitution and to the republic, must be recognized and cherished by all generations of freedom-loving Gambians. The government of Adama Barrow shall acknowledge its moral and legal obligation to recognize and compensate all victims and families for the deaths, injuries, sufferings, deprivations, and damages they suffered under Jammeh’s dictatorship.

What is the price tag for all those lost years and agonizing suffering? And tell me, what is a fair price for the life of a mother, father, spouse, daughter, son, friend, cousin, or loved one? The biggest atrocity of Jammeh’s rule was the separation of wives from husbands, mothers from children, and the tearing apart of societies by killing and exiling worthy sons and daughters. What is the price of the empty chair that waits and waits for the beloved to once again sit at the table?

What is fair compensation for a broken nation? What is reasonable compensation for generational poverty and wholesale corruption in government, the twin legacies of this despicable dictator? What is enough compensation for families torn apart, this heartbreaking diaspora to which we see no end? But really, how can we compensate for interrupted lives? For water torture, electrocution of testicles and genitals, rape, dismemberment, solitary confinement, and years of imprisonment with no charges filed against you? For torturing you to within an inch of your life?

The state should have a policy to recognize the heroism and sacrifice of all Gambians who were victims of summary execution, torture, enforced or involuntary disappearance, and other gross human rights violations committed during the regime of Yahya Jammeh, covering the period from July 22, 1994 to January 19, 2017, and restore the victims’ honor and dignity. The State shall acknowledge its moral and legal obligation to recognize and provide reparation to all victims and/or their families for the deaths, injuries, sufferings, deprivations, and damages they suffered under Yahya Jammeh’s brutal rule.
There is no price tag, no words to describe the misery, anguish, and suffering of the thousands of Gambians who suffered from physical torture, incarceration, homelessness, economic deprivation, and loss of life. Yahya Jammeh’s rule is synonymous with a divided and plundered nation, in which people became deaf, blind, and mute, with low aspirations in life, in comparison with a segment of Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) supporters and their cohorts, who flourished and lived flamboyantly.

The assertions that Yahya Jammeh plundered the nation and violated the most basic rights of its citizens are not mere claims made on social media or over dinner conversations. They are, under the law of evidence, legislative facts that courts of law must accept as true, regardless of politics or even one’s preferred version of history. What this means is that given the status of our laws, with respect to Yahya Jammeh there can be no debate that he plundered the nation and violated human rights on a scale that required remedial action from the state.

There is nothing inspirational or worthy of imitation with respect to the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh, which can best be described as one of the darkest periods in Gambian history.

The National Assembly should enact the Presidential Commission on Good Governance and Human Rights and set up an administrative and judicial mechanism for recovering the money stolen by Yahya Jammeh and his cohorts. The fact that millions of dollars and other immovable assets have been discovered here and abroad proves the decades-long embezzlement. The Supreme Court should make a decision and recognize the thievery of Yahya Jammeh’s regime, characterizing it as a ‘well-entrenched plundering regime of twenty-two years.’

The National Assembly shall add to the Act providing for reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations during the regime of Yahya Jammeh. The government, in recognition of the horrors of the dictatorship, should enact a policy of using public funds to pay for Jammeh’s use of state machinery to inflict violence on Gambian citizens. The Gambian people must complain about the human rights abuses with respect to Jammeh’s regime and force the government to own up to the scale and intensity of the abuses inflicted during that period by offering reparations.

The Gambia is a Charter-State of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is, therefore, duty-bound to protect and uphold the basic rights of all its peoples. The Gambian government should value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect for human rights, pursuant to a declared policy and the constitution that prohibits the use of torture, force, violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means that vitiates free will and mandates the compensation and rehabilitation of victims of torture (or similar practices) and their families.

We owe new Gambia the valor and determination for the resumption of democracy and restore human rights and human dignity.

*This is the abridged version of the original version published last year.