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Are the Upcoming in Elections in Gambia being overlooked by the West?
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Are the Upcoming in Elections in Gambia being overlooked by the West?
Are the Upcoming in Elections in Gambia being overlooked by the West?
By Scott A. Morgan,Virginia, Human Rights and US policy in Africa Commentator
  The World watched with both
wonder and scrutiny as the Democratic Republic of the Congo had a fully contested election with multi-party
candidates. Although there were monitors from both the UN and Europe there were scattered reports of violence
but there is nothing more inspiring than watching the spirit of Democracy in Action. So what should the Major
Democratic Powers of the West and the peers of Gambia do after it holds
Presidential Elections on September 28th?
Historcally the country has been one of the most stable countries in West Africa since it gained Independence. A
Military coup in 1994 is the only blight on its resume. The leader of that action is the Incumbant seeking reelection for a third term as that country's President.
So why should those who are
committed to the defense of Human Rights and/or Democracy be concerned with events in Gambia?? In recent years there
has been a serious crackdown on Freedom of the Press. Sadly this not unusal for Africa. It is apparent that
some regimes do not approve of Media Outlets that they can't control by coercion or intimidation. In Gambia there
is no outright State Control of the Media but there have been reports of Serious intimidation of Journalists. One
Journalist who is currently in the USA claims that the Embassy in
Washington has been used in an effort to monitor his activities.
The other area of concern is the
dismissal of the Independent Electoral Commission. Basically this body
has the final approval in the determination of
the Candidates for President The fact of their dismissal should raise oncerns of transparency in the upcoming
election. If the President appoints Political cronies to the body it
can be construed as the President will go to
any length to remain in office. Other Presidents have used similar or even more blatant efforts to remain in power.
So what steps should be used to
ensure that a fair and democratic election takes place next month? well
the sending of Election Observers would be a
proper decision but there has been no great outcry at this time to send International or Regional Bodies to
oversee this election. The US is withholding some Development Funds under the Millenium Charge Accounts.
As Gambia was just recently approved to recieve this aid its withholding probably will be a non-factor.
What this means is that most
Governments will not take any steps to address any areas of concern
until after the election is held and the votes
are counted. Gambia is a small country with an economy heavy on both agriculture and tourism. So any action
taken to ensure Democracy can and will be seen as heavy-handed by its peers and will be seen by some people as
not going far enough to ensure that Democracy thrives in Gambia. So the World will watch and wait for about six
weeks before it does anything but will anyone be suprised by the
antipathy that the world will take?
The Author Scott Morgan, is based in the US. He comments on Human rights and US policy in Africa. He sent the said piece to the Editors of the Freedom Newspaper for publication, as he is concerned about the current state of affairs befalling our country. The Editorial board of this leading paper want to thank Mr.Scott for having our country's interest at heart at this crucial moment. As rightly pointed out by Scott, there is a rule of law crisis in The Gambia and human rights bodies need to tak action to end such political madness. As a matter of fact, embasssy officials are hell bent on spying perecived opponents abroad. In fact, one of their officials was in Raleigh NC, this past week for reasons best known to him. Let them give up their vicious moves, as America is a country of rule of law. Little did they know that they could be deported for spying or trying to persecute people who are here for political reasons.
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Posted on Sunday, August 13, 2006 (Archive on Tuesday, August 29, 2006)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI
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