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Halifa Sallah's Presidential Dream- Will He Sweep the Polls???
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Halifa Sallah's Presidential Dream- Will He Sweep the Polls???
Halifa Sallah's Presidential Dream- Will He Sweep the Polls???
Sallah and Sedia Jatta Became the First Causalities Of The 1994 Military Coup!!
Magistrate Mboge's Historic Verdict Revisited...
 Lawyer Darboe Might likely not Qualified To Run For The Next Elections Due to Over Age-Legal Minds Hinted....
Freedom Newspaper Profiles NADD'S Halifa Sallah
By Pa Nderry M'Bai
Halifa
Sallah is one of Gambia's finest, humblest and charismatic politician.
A great orator and also prolific writer for that matter. A University
professor, Sallah is described in many quarters as a man of wisdom and
father figure in the West African country. Thanks to Halifa Sallah,
Amie Sillah and Uncle Sam Sarr the likes of President Yahya Jammeh
and others were saved from being destitutes and social mess in our
communities. Sallah, Sillah and Sarr contributed immensely in shaping
the lives of outcast kids and underprivileged families, who at one
point or the other nearly misses their way in life. These kids comes
to school hungry and can hardly afford to pay for their school fees.
Some were drug addicts and violent youth men in our streets. Thanks to
the counseling they received from Sallah, they turned out to be
productive members of society. Halifa and Uncle Sam used their own
money to support these neglected kids, who are today found in various
sectors of society. Some of these people who benefited from Sallah's
and Sarr humanitarian gesture could be found in government, the media
and civil society. President Jammeh happens to be one of those people.
Sallah says he is confident of winning!
Sallah's Political Legacy unquestionable
Back
in 1994, Halifa Sallah and Sedia Jatta were the first causalities of
the military junta. They were the first Gambians who had the daring
mind to openly challenge the junta. The decree that banned political
activities was tested by Jatta and Sallah who refused to give up
publishing and circulating the Foroyaa Newspaper. Even though many
Gambians were afraid to speak out against the junta, Sallah and Jatta
never minced their opposition against military rule. In what was seen
as a defiance to the said decree banning political activities, Sallah,
Jatta and other Foroyaa staffers were seen in the streets of Banjul
selling the hard copy of their newspaper. The junta at the time
perceived Foroyaa as a political arm of the opposition PDOIS. The
action of Sallah and Jatta angered them to great extent that they had
to press criminal charges against them. Both Halifa Sallah and Sedia
Jatta were arrested and charged by the state for violating the said
draconian decree. At the time, many lawyers in the country were not
comfortable engaging the junta and hardly handles politically
motivated cases. Halifa and Sedia represented themselves in court,
which attracted local and international attention.
Magistrate Mboge A Great Legal Mind.
Magistrate
Lamin Mboge, who is often called by us Niaminarians as "Bella" was
placed under test by the former military junta. Mboge who newly
graduated from a Nigerian law school was given a challenging assignment
by the state to try Halifa Sallah and Sedia Jatta. Mboge was pretty new
in the bench, but this never bared him from discharging justice with
fairness. A very principled and fearless magistrate. Mboge was never
intimidated by the strong presence of NIA officers in his court house
in Banjul. He was all the time focused and in control of his court. I
witnessed the trial of Halifa Sallah and Sedia Jatta from the
beginning to the ending. The said trial was historic in the sense that
Both Sallah and Jatta used the court to lecture ill trained police
prosecutors and their hand picked witnesses about the law. The two are
legal minds. They mastered the law to the tip of their fingers. The
police prosecutor had problems at some point comprehending the legal
expressions or jargons if you want used by the two renowned
politicians. The said trial was a big humiliation for the state. They
were reduced to laughing stock by Sallah and Jatta. The two insisted
that they have no case to answer and their actions of publishing and
circulating the Foroyaa Newspaper was permissible by the laws of the
land. Uncle Sam Sarr was in court to pen down the proceedings for
hungry readers who were eager to know what transpired in court. The
Foroyaa Newspaper reported the said trial verbatim. Anybody interested
to refresh his or her mind about the said case can access their
archives. Magistrate Mboge being new in the legal profession was made
popular over night by Halifa and Sedia by their historic arguments in
court. People hardly attend other courts in Banjul,but only Mboge's
court. The said case exposes Mboge a lot and he no doubt learned from
the divine knowledge of the accused persons provided to him free of
charge.
Magistrate Mboge dismisses the state case against Halifa and Sedia
To
the shock of the junta, a verdict pronounced by magistrate Lamin Mboge
exonerated Sallah and Jatta from any wrongdoings. Magistrate Mboge in
his landmark judgment noted that the state failed to prove its case
beyond reasonable doubt against the accused persons and thus dismisses
the said political case against the two. Jubilant PDOIS supporters and
their leaders walked out of court with joyous mood. This was the time
when Jammeh started realizing that their are some Gambians who were
ready to die for the country in the name of democracy and good
governance. Halifa Salah, Sedia Jatta, Sam Sarr, Amie Sillah, Lamin Waa
Juwara and OJ Jallow were one of those at the center stage of
safeguarding and defending the infringed liberties of Gambians. Waa and
OJ also have their own stories to tell about the brutalities they
suffered from the hands of the junta. OJ was detained for over a year
for criticizing the junta, like wise Waa Juwara who was abducted later
tortured.
When Magistrate Mboge freed Sallah and Jatta many
thought at the time that he was going to be sacked. But Mboge was ready
for anything when he took up the decision to acquit and discharged the
two. He knew very well that the state was bound to be upset for such a
major ruling against them, but he caresless after all. Mboge was bold
enough to uphold the rule of law in the trial of Halifa Sallah and
Sedia Jatta, which was hard to come by in those days. In order to
prevent public gossip and speculation, the state decided not to sack
him. They transferred Mboge to the upcountry, where he was handed with
the sack years later. He was on posting at Basse when news reached him
that his employment with the state was terminated. Many were not
surprised at the time-knowing the hatrate harbored against him by the
state since he refused to jail Halifa and Sedia. Whether admitted or
not magistrate Mboge's name is in our history books. Despite his young
age and legal back ground he was matured enough to dispense justice in
the said case. If his colleagues in the bench had behaved like Mboge
the country's dented rule of law would not have been undermined in
such a magnitude. Today, in the Gambia, we have more mercenary judges
than principled judges. They are only out there to please Jammeh and
not to dispense justice. There is no justice for the weak and the poor
in today's Gambia.
The PPP smear campaign against Sallah and PDOIS
Halifa
Sallah's political shortcomings in the First Republic can be squarely
attributed to the former PPP government. The PPP used a Phrase or term
which they branded PDOIS as "DOWYADEH" people party meaning that PDOIS
was consists of people who were short minded or light minded
individuals if you like. That the brains behind PDOIS were not sound.
These politics of black mailing directed against the PDOIS was being
spearheaded by President Jawara and his people. To some extent, such
lies and propaganda campaign affected PDOIS in many ways. It reached a
level where some communities were not ready to listen to PDOIS when
they tried to organize rallies in their villages. A case in point was
Niamina Sambang wollof. A PDOIS meeting was nearly disrupted by some
PPP supporters who refused to grant them audience. Some of these
people were over-carried or misinformed by the lies peddled by Jawara
and his people at the time against the PDOIS. The meeting later went
ahead when Halifa Sallah and Sedia Jatta dispelled the widely held
notion against their party. Many villagers began to respect and accept
PDOIS as a genuine political party from the day in question. The
villagers including some PPP supporters listened to Halifa and his
colleagues, as they explained the shortcomings of Jawara's government
to them.
OJ Jalow was Halifa's running mate in Serre- Kunda.
He too uses the said anti PDOIS slogans against Halifa to win
political support. But today history is in the making, as the two
former political rivals are dinning on the same table. OJ openly
embraces Halifa. This is what democracy is all about. People are bound
to agree and disagree, but we should not lost track of the fact that we
are one people. For the average Gambian, no one had ever dreamnt of
the PPP forming an alliance with the PDOIS. Putting past political
differences aside, Sallah, OJ, Waa and others have decided to come
together to salvage our dear country.
Jammeh also tried Jawara's hate politics against PDOIS
 Similar
negative receptions were meted out to PDOIS in the Foni, the
President's home village in the past elections. In the case of Foni,
their opposition against the PDOIS was instigated by the President and
his cronies. They tried to instigate under age youths to provoke the
PDOIS delegation. But Halifa always restrained his people to be law
abiding and not to give into intimidation. President Jammeh's hatrate
for Halifa Sallah and Sedia Jatta is a long story which cannot be
finished in one piece. The problem dates back in the early days of the
coup. The President personally contacted Sallah, Jatta and Sam Sarr
offering them Ministerial positions. The three known for their
principle stance politely turned down Jammeh's offer. They said their
principles and beliefs conflict with military rule. That they cannot
work with a government that came to power through forceful means. For
Sallah, Sarr and Jatta believed that power belongs to the people and
should always emanate from them. That was why they refused to associate
themselves with Jammeh, a man they helped in life before he assumed
power. President Jammeh could not withstand the rude shock he receives
from Sallah Jatta and Sarr's refusal to take up government
appointments. This was the time he started targeting the three. He
calls them with all kinds of names in his political rallies with the
sole aim of putting their credibility into question. He branded Sallah
and Jatta as non Muslims who cannot keep a woman in their homes. Halifa
Sallah, Sam Sarr and Sedia Jatta did the right thing by refusing to
work for President Jammeh's government. Jammeh was going to use and
abuse them if they had volunteered to accept the said appointments.
Today Halifa and his colleagues can raise their heads high in the
Gambian community.
The NADD failure
NADD
was the main hope for Gambians in terms of regime change. Sallah was
tasked with coordinating the political organization. For some reasons,
the organization failed due to power greed and struggle. Ousainou
Darboe and Hamat Bah walked out of the coalition, while Halifa, Waa,
Sedia, Sam, Landing Jallow Sonko, OJ and others stayed. Charges and
counter charges hit the nation following the NADD breakaway. Opposition
leaders and their supporters blamed one another for such a political
breakaway. Like Lamin Waa Juwara, Halifa Sallah, NADD flag bearer is
confident of sweeping the polls come September 22ND. Sallah and his
campaign team are currently touring the country. Lastest feed backs from
the campaign team spoke of successful meetings hosted by NADD.
 Darboe might not be qualified to run for the next elections due to over age???
The
country's 1997 Second Republic if it is to go by then lawyer Darboe is
on his last Presidential bid. Provisions in the said constitution bared
people at the age of 65 years from running for the Presidency. Darboe
is very close to 65, so we learned. This was why Sheriff Dibba had to
team up with the APRC. Dibba, a political spent force resorted to
teamingup with President Jammeh and his ruling APRC. We hope if Darboe or
any of the opposition Presidential aspirants happens to win the elections should amend the said constitutional provision. The said constitutional
provision can be subjected to legal interpretation and arguments. The
2006 Presidential elections is very crucial in Darboe's political
career. An opposition merger would have saved the country from APRC'S
self-perpetuating rule. But as the situation appears, the opposition is
helping Jammeh to win indirectly with their recent splits. In the
recent past we heard about the so called defection of opposition
supporters and officials to the APRC. The opposition also claimed to
have received APRC defectors. If it is true that Darboe was on the
verge of becoming over age to run for the Presidency, then the UDP
should start identifying Darboe's successor in the event the APRC wants
to use the IEC to disqualify him. The 1997 constitution was tailored in
way that the likes of Darboe, Juwara, Sallah, Dibba and others were
given a short life term to contest for the Presidency. The consitution
was designed in such a way that it suits President Jammeh's own selfish
interest. This was why when he said he was posed to rule the country
for another 30 years, we were not surprised. Evidently, if the said
constitution is applied to the letter, Jammeh will have a free ride in
years to come as most of his opponents will not be qualified to run for
the Presidency due to over age. It is time for Gambians to talk about
the age limit attached to the Presidency. We do not want to lose
politician like Darboe, Sallah, Juwara and others because of age
issues. The draconian provisions in the constitution should be scrapped in the interest of
multi-party and democracy. Our country's future is gloomy under such
constitutional mess. The question running in the minds of many Gambians
today is "Can Halifa Sallah" make a big impact in the coming polls?
Well, time will tell. NADD'S future will be determined by the September
22ND elections. More politicians are lined up to be profiled by the
Freedom Newspaper. Stay tuned.
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Posted on Sunday, September 10, 2006 (Archive on Monday, October 30, 2006)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI
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