‘I DON’T WANT ANY OF YOU TO ATTEND MY BURIAL IF I DIE.’ Halifa Salleh Tells Foroyaa Reporters Who Signed A Petition Letter

Relationship between Foroyaa Newspaper staffers and its Founding Editors is reaching its lowest ebb, even though the papers Management has been busy trying to assure its readers and the general public that the situation is under control arguing that there are some “cyber terrorists, and informer journalists” blowing the debacle out of hand. Well the latest dispatch from Banjul suggests that there is indeed a problem at Foroyaa and if not handle with care, it could degenerate into a full blown crisis. We will tell why, and how complicated the Foroyaa internal revolution is in a minute. An internal petition signed by reporters demanding for better working conditions is causing an acrimonious working relationship at the nation’s most vibrant civic education paper. The paper that earns its fame for promoting social justice, transparent, just and equal Gambian society is battling with an internal conflict—which is creating a bad blood among its reporters and management. Foroyaa’s Founding Editor, Sociologist and politician Halifa Sallah said if he was to die today, he doesn’t want the protesting Foroyaa reporters to attend his funeral. A disturbing statement coming from a man some of us look up to as a father figure, role model, and a signing touch light for Gambia’s emancipation.

“I don’t want any of you sitting here, if I were to stand for any office, to cast a vote for me. Anybody who does or signs that document, and you go and cast a vote for me, you are a hypocrite. Even if I die, any of you who signed that document, don’t come there and say anything! Because you don’t believe what I believe, and therefore do your journalistic work. Not that I have any grievance against you, you know that people who consider me as their enemy, when they are in trouble, that is when I stand to put myself that trouble. I will forever work, if I can do anything that you can earn so that you can earn it. The reasons why I am saying this, I want to prove to you that I am not interested in being anybody’s leader.
Whether National Assembly, whether President, I am just serving a
national duty. So, that is what I want to say,” said a rather furious Halifa Sallah. Below is the full transcribed text of the Foroyaa staff meeting. The audio will follow later.

MEETING ON DECEMBER 16, 2011.
After Friday Prayer

Halifa Sallah:
Fabakary Ceesay, have I ever interviewed you to come and work at
Foroyaa?, Amie Sanneh, Sarjo Camara, Lamin Sanyang, Madiba Signateh,
Musa Barrow, Momodou Dem, Annia Gaye, Yaya Bajo, Sulayman Bah, Awa Bah
and Pateh Baldeh.
The same pressing question was put to Abubacarr Saidykhan, who after
pondering for a while, responded by the emphatic word: “Never”.

THE MEETING BEGINS IN A TENSE ATMOSPHERE
I am surprised, and all of you again is there anyone of you who has
ever been recruited to be a member of PDOIS? That I recruited you to
be a member of PDOIS? Or to serve PDOIS as Foroyaa worker?
Have I ever approached anyone of you as people working for Foroyaa,
and said you must be a member of PDOIS? Is there anybody who can say
that?
Some of the reporters responded in the negative. At this juncture
Fabakary Ceesay attempted to intervene and Halifa Sallah interjected at
him: “Please leave me to continue!”
Saidykhan stepped in that and urged his colleague: “Fabakary please
leave him to continue!”

Halifa Sallah

So, essentially you people are working for Foroyaa and PDOIS, as a
party, has never interfered with your work. Then I cannot understand
why you are Halifa Sallah of PDOIS should go. Secondly those people
who come here, did they say they are coming to me because of political
party? Those people who are assembled here, did they say they waiting
for Halifa Sallah on the basis of a political party PDOIS?

Some of the responded to these questions by saying that ‘most of these
are coming to see Halifa Sallah’.

Halifa Sallah asked back: “How many people come here to see uncle Halifa?”

The reporters responded: “Uncounted!”

Halifa Sallah: “What do they come for?”

Reporters: “On different missions”

Halifa Sallah: I think you should have called me then to explain a
problem you may be having, but you are discriminating people. Some
come here and they are UDP, APRC, the Rongos…All that they belong to
different political parties. They come for their land problem; they
come for all sorts of advices…That is why they come! When their
problems are solved some continue to stay here. I can see many of you
who acquired your job that way. You hang around because this place is
a place of refuge. This is a public place, a place of refuge for the
Gambian people. That is what Foroyaa is all about. It is meant to
liberate a people, and those people come here for different reasons,
for their salvation, and some of you, who are now journalists, by
virtue of that, that is how Sam Sarr saw you; and eventually saw that
you may have one talent or another; and we recruited you.

If the same people are now offended by people’s coming, and not
talking about problems that they may be having, and talk to their
managing editor so that that managing editor will handle that. Your
solution is: Halifa Sallah of PDOIS should leave these premises, and
go to another place. Because people come here, and you say you don’t
know why they come here. I am saying they come here for different
reasons…

That is what I definitely cannot comprehend. In many instances, people
who come here for political reasons generally during the presidential
elections were told to go to the People’s Center. If they find this
place comfortable for them and they decide to stay, who can drive them
away? If the whole of Serrekunda decide to come here every day to stay,
who will drive them away? This is their place. It is a public place.
We do not discriminate against anybody. Anybody can come here. That is
the principle. Whom have we isolated here? What is Saidou doing here?
This is a place of refuge. It is a place of refuge for Gambian people.
If they cannot find refuge here where else would they find refuge in
this world?
Now, essentially the person who have even talked about separation of
powers. What does separation of powers means? Why am I here? What am I
doing here? Do you have a lawyer advising Foroyaa as an institution as
to what is legal, and what is not legal? All your issues when they
come, they are vetted from a legal point of view so that you will not
be in trouble? The classical example is Fabakary’s artcle on
Vice-President was released by the police.He has not done his
investigation properly. He didn’t know, he published that she is still
in detention. They called me, and all that existed was for me to say
‘’look at the byline”. Why are you NIA calling me? What did I do? I
accepted responsibility for him because it is more difficult to nail
me than to nail anyone of you. I slept there for how many days when I
could have simply said look at the byline and go and get him. That’s
what you call a sense of responsibility.

What your grievances are should be about your work. If you have those
grievances talk to your managing editor, and not to write Halifa
Sallah’s name on a piece of paper frivolously. I am here for a
purpose. Sometimes, I do not leave this place until one o’clock. My
time is being wasted. I would have preferred to go to the People’s
center and write my books rather than editing reports over reporters.
That is a waste of time. So, if people see and does appreciate that,
then I wonder whether you goodwill regarding your own institution, and
the survival of your institution.

Foroyaa being linked to us that is why you are secured. Essentially
what should be offensive for anybody is in fact somebody trying to be
intelligent, and talking about separation of powers. Who has ever been
separated from his own private property? We are socialists that’s why
you are saying what you are saying. We are not running this
institution as a capitalist institution which it should be a
commercial institution. If we were running it on commercial principles
then I am the proprietor of this institution. It is arrogant for
anybody to tell me where I should be in this institution if I were the
proprietor. So where is the separation of powers between a person and
his property? I thought you would have talked separation of powers if
PDOIS started interfering with your work. You are not talking about
separation of powers. What are you talking about then? Why should you
put that on a piece of paper? When somebody raised that as separation
of powers what is the interpretation? That is I interfered with your
work and make you serve PDOIS, propaganda for PDOIS! That’s what it
means.

As far as I am concerned, I am not interested in with you as militants
of a political party. You own yourselves. Nobody questions you where
your loyalty lies. You support any party you want to support. It is
not my prerogative to tell you what to do.

The people who come here, you have no authority to deny them access to
this place. If we were to come and say I want to write, type, some
people and you are not discriminating; because many people come here.
Why have you identified people you called PDOIS? Many people do come
here and occupy this table, and some who want to write most likely
will have a problem to write. Why didn’t you raise this problem with
your managing editor and say: solve this problem for us so that we can
do our writing, and our typing? Those are your labor issues, then you
will look at what this problem is, how to regulate it without
discriminating anyone. By using the word PDOIS, you are discriminating
against who may be the supporters of PDOIS. People had been here, who
are supporters of NRP, UDP, APRC, all sorts of supporters…Those who
frequent themselves here should not be given a party brand. That is
discriminatory. They come here as a place of refuge. So, if it
inconvenient you people, that is what you should discuss with your
managing editor and resolve amicably. Why drawing me to the picture?
Even to mention my party, the party I belong, and kicking me out. That
is rather unfortunate, and I see it as sign of hostility. I do not
see it as a sign of goodwill or good faith.

As this juncture Momodou Sambou further emphasized that it is
‘disrespected!’. That prompted Saidykhan to come in and told him that
he should stop interfering with the discussion, and all that they are
doing is to listen to Halifa sallah with their consent. Halifa Sallah
It is okay, we proceed. I have seen you as people whom I have given
absolute respect. I have never behave on you as a commander or as a
boss, as a proprietor. Anytime I interfere it is in your interest to
help you people to perform your responsibilities in order for all of
you to be able to advance. Everything that I have ever done with
anyone of you is in your supreme interest. So, I would have thought
that would have created some form of intimacy, where you see my
destruction and you rescue me rather than creating the every mechanism
which will distort what I am here for.

Sometimes, just yesterday, somebody wrote from the Commission (Tax
Evasion) and said that some lawyer Fafa Mbye has been found to have
defaulted. In my own conduct, that I am a very fair person, I don’t
have enemies. I try to be fair, I can make mistakes of judgment, and
if you want to point out my mistakes, I will accept it immediately.
This is what we are doing here.

I have mentioned to somebody that the day you know how to write your
reports without legal implications, and do it with fairness, I have no
reason to be here, you will not see me here. So, your grievances may
be legitimate grievances. It is how you put it, and to whom that
matters.

This time you perform an abrupt folly. Some of you are just like
robots, signing something without even questioning what you are
signing; without even verifying what you are signing is a fact.
Essentially, this is the situation. I believe that simply going and
signing things without actually interrogating every detail you shown,
I will even wonder then your reports whether they will not be checked
again; because if a journalist writes something, he is writing facts.
If you are writing petitioning is facts, and none of you can say that
what I do here is making your work worse. The only thing we are
telling me what other people are interfering. What that has got to do
with me? Who am I to tell people who should come, and who shouldn’t
come here? In that sense, that is my concerns that I want to discuss
with you, that I have been gravely wrong…To put it in writing which
can be utilized maliciously. In fact, you are putting my reputation
into danger, because what you put on paper, anybody can send anywhere.
The immediate thing they will say: this is what we are saying; Halifa
is in fact influencing these journalists to write things in favor of
PDOIS. So, these are my concerns, and I felt I did not want to hold a
meeting. I called some of you to have a discussion, and you guys said
it was signed by everybody, and that you will prefer for us to handle
generally whereby everybody will be present. What I would have
expected from anyone of you, if you have anything to tell me, is you
come and tell me what is in you and we settle it. That is the good
faith I thought that people are embodied in this institution.

I want to make my last comment: I don’t want any of you sitting here,
if I were to stand for any office, to cast a vote for me. Anybody who
does or signs that document, and you go and cast a vote for me, you
are a hypocrite. Even if I die, any of you who signed that document,
don’t come there and say anything! Because you don’t believe what I
believe, and therefore do your journalistic work. Not that I have any
grievance against you, you know that people who consider me as their
enemy, when they are in trouble, that is when I stand to put myself
that trouble. I will forever work, if I can do anything that you can
earn so that you can earn it. The reasons why I am saying this, I want
to prove to you that I am not interested in being anybody’s leader.
Whether National Assembly, whether President, I am just serving a
national duty. So, that is what I want to say.

Abubacarr Saidykhan: Thank you very much uncle Halifa.

Editor’s note: We tried to reach Uncle Sam for comments but he was indisposed at the time of going to press. We tried Halifa on his cellular phone, he too was unreachable.

We were able to get hold of journalist Fabakary Ceesay, who told us that Uncle Sam has lost his cell phone. Mr. Ceesay then furnished us with the Foroyaa office phone number, but again there was no one out there to talk to us.

Fabakary Ceesay said he resigned from Foroyaa largely due to the working environment which is not favorable to him. He doesn’t elaborate further, but was quick to point out that his resignation has nothing do with financial issues.

                          Analysis  

It’s unfortunate that the Foroyaa debacle is becoming unmanageable.  Tempers have flared  up to a point that Halifa Sallah of all people is barring his own reporters he disagree with from attending his burial should he die in the future. A very disturbing remarks coming from a person, who spent his entire lifetime nurturing freedom, justice, and democratic Gambia.  

People not subscribing to Halifa’s beliefs doesn’t constitute a crime, or betrayal of trust if you like. We are living in a free world, with the exception of the Gambia, where people mystify their leaders and bosses.

Halifa went too far by making such a “wild statement” without thinking its implications. He could have handled the reporters queries differently without resorting to issuing such remarks that could be viewed in some quarters as hostile.  This notion that people must subscribe to an individual beliefs in order to be certified as a true loyalist or follower is absurd so to speak.

The late Malcolm X had a different belief and doctrine compared  to his late brother Martin Luther King Jr during the anti slavery era, but that doesn’t make the former to prevent the latter from attending his funeral.  Both gentlemen had different approaches in fighting slavery.    

Martin Luther King advocates for a non violence approach while Malcolm X thinks that the price for an individual’s freedom is death. You can see the disparity between the two’s approach in tackling slavery and racial injustice in America at the time. 

Halifa is on record for having prevailed on Gambians to stop mystifying their leaders. If he turns around and wants his reporters to subscribe to his beliefs is rather unfortunate. One do not need to subscribe to Halifa’s beliefs in order to be able to speak about his past deeds; or attend his funeral. Thanks for your attention.