Gambia and the genesis of dictatorship from military to constitutional coup detat.
By Abdoukarim Sanneh
The
political terrain in the Gambia since 1994 is a transition from one
form of coup detat to another. I always feel over-whelm with
astonishment when our elite politicians usually in constructing their
feverish political debate keep quoting section after section of the
bogus and philistine 1996 constitution as if Gambia under Yaya Jammeh
is operating as a constitutional democracy and shows the political will
to respect that document. The Gambia is not a functional constitutional
democracy and that constitution is been manipulated and hijacked since
the word go to consolidate dictatorship. The only changes from military
rule to so-called constitutional democracy is Yaya Jammehs APRC having
jettisoned the letter f but his absolute power and dictatorial
tendency remain unabated time after time. What we have seen is
unrealistic metamorphosis from a soldier in uniform to a soldier in
plane cloth.
The
1996 constitution has gone through amendment after amendment all aims
to legalise dictatorship of one form or another. The first manipulation
was the removal from the document on matters relating to trial by jury,
which further prolong the treason trial and illegal detention of Dumo
Sarho et al, for more than two years. The constitution has indemnified
members of Arm Force Provisional Ruling Council which many seems so
ridicules. Why should our people not probe on crimes such as mysterious
death of Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay, the extra judicial
killings and other crimes such as Gambias missing millions which
politicians attempting to discuss the issue in parliament were
prevented from doing so by the disgrace Former Speaker Sheriff Mustapha
Dibba. It is not a rocket science to determine whether the regime of
Yaya Jammeh is corrupt and has blood in their hands. Accountability,
transparency and probity will continue and every crimes committed in
the name of our freedom will be shed to light.
Another
manipulation of the 1996 constitution is the removal of the provision
that limited the term of presidency. The criminal regime has not and
will never honour its promises to Gambia people. Yaya Jammeh initially
promised that his AFPRC would be back in the barracks within few
months. In those days at The Daily Observer office, many of us who are
familiar with issues of military and its machinations of African
politics are very cautions because of what we saw as blatant disregard
for democracy and civil liberty. As Yaya Jammeh began to build his own
personal fortune by looting our national coffers in a true African
leadership style, all acts were design to entrench his dictatorial
powers. It is that machination process which leads to imposition of the
1996 constitution and its entire deficit on the people, leading to the
evolution from military dictatorship to the present dynamic of
constitution coup detat with amendment after amendment. In the first
instance, the constitution is manipulated to disadvantage the fledgling
opposition parties. I can fully remember even amnesty International
criticised moves to ban three opposition parties and the content of the
constitution.
The
enactment of military decrees and imposition of such decrees as
statuary codes in a parliamentary democracy have further reduces the
function of parliamentarians. Military decrees are undemocratic
statuary codes, which are never put into scrutiny by our
parliamentarians. The 1996 constitution recognise all those decrees as
legal binding statuary codes without giving the public or lawmakers to
diagnose their efficiency in our democratic environment. In todays
Gambia, a law relating to both presidential and parliamentary election
is/are administering by a military decree called electoral decree. It
is this electoral decree and the constitution which give the president
absolute power to appoint and sack members of the commission. Gambians
have witnessed within this few years, three chairman and members of
commission sacked. What is the relevance of a military decree in
civilian government? The army of mercenary lawyers and judges, which
came from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, have done all forms of work
to strengthen and legitimise despotic regime and the way forward for
its continuum.
The
enactment of decree 70 and 71 and its replacement with the media
commission was nothing order than undermining freedom of press and free
speech. The enforcement of decree 70 and 71 and the registration of
media houses with astronomical sums of money end up as a news black out
for weeks in that country during the transition period. The great
beauty of freedom of expression which literally means telling people
what they do not want to hear or read, that becomes a norm that began
to maelstrom after the take over of 1994, to enhance transition process
to viable democracy began to be threaten by censorship. The first test
of Yaya Jammehs unrepentant, immature and brutal character was tested
on the Daily Observer, which is today turned as one of his fortunes.
When the newspaper ran a story suggesting the cut of foreign aid would
be bad for the country, Mr Kenneth Best the Former Managing Director
was arrested and deported then war torn Liberia. Repetition of such
actions becomes to be an indication of his leadership style.
On
the local government matters, efforts to decentralised local government
was seen by the regime as a threat. Divisional Commissioners who are
civil servants become involved in nothing order than APRC Party
matters. Campaigning in the party platform and intimidating rural folks
to vote for Yaya Jammeh becomes another job description for these
people who are none fit for purpose. District chiefs becomes available
vacant position for any individual manifesting himself as a strong APRC
militant, the appointment of which is gone by the president rather than
been voted into the office. All with caution has any divisional
commissioner or district chief suspected as opposition supporter or
sympathiser is either sacked or detained by NIA. In Banjul, even with
the fact that Pa Sallah Jeng is the elected choice of the people of the
city, the criminal regime and its elements of sycophancy did not allow
the gentleman of the highest order to continue his function. All the
relevant charges against the Mayor were thrown in the highest court of
law in our country and court order for him to resume his duties in his
capacity as the Mayor of the city of Banjul is still been violated. All
over the world more emphasis is given to local or regional democracy as
a vehicle for greater participation and grassroots empowerment but for
Gambia under Yaya Jammeh that is contrary a different story. United
Nation Development Programme funded Decentralisation project which aims
to reform the local government sector was undermined and subjected to
manipulation and no positive impact was achieved up to the time that
project phases out. Saikou Sanyang, the first administrative Secretary
of APRC and failed party parliamentary candidate for Bakau was the
person appointed as the project manager. At the lunching of that
project in Mansakonko, Lamin Waa Juwara and some members of UDP as
stakeholders of the project were invited by UNDP but before the start
of the meeting, they were arrested in Soma by Baba Jobe and July 22nd Youth Movement for setting their foot in Lower River Division.
The
constitution of the Gambia has gone through numerous amendments by the
rubber stamp parliament, the vast majority of which are APRC
parliamentarians whose political maturity is questionable. This bunch
of nonentities and political prosecutes who can even sacrifice their
own born children to the butcher of Kanillai without reasoning for
nothing order than political power. It is most of these
parliamentarians who once act as errant boys to the former majority
leader Baba Jobe and later discard him when he fall apart when Jammeh.
It is mentioned in the internet discussion that on todays Gambia, a
friend can sacrifice you for nothing order a mobile phone, which
rationally I am intending to belief. These character is manifested by
our lawmakers on and on as their hands are twists to subscribe to
dictatorship in our country, enacting all types of draconian laws which
aims to retard civil liberty, functional democracy and enhance the
abuse of power by the executive. Every move of this rubber stamp
parliament is motivated by greediness, hate, anger, jealousy, egoism
and systematic selfishness, which are a continuum to destroy the fabric
of our society.
There
is a need to re-demarcate constituency boundaries in our country to
reflex the demographic realities contrary to what is stipulated in the
bogus 1996 constitution giving Foni more representative than Kombo
North, Kombo South and Kombo Central, each with a voter population more
than Fonis in totality. All the changes to that document before been
subjected to referendum subscribes to handy work, crude and divisive
policies of Yaya Jammehs mechanisation programme. After removing the
possibility for second round of voting, recent amendment of section
63(2) is just a formality having successfully grip on the so-called
Independent Electoral Commission, it is about time to forget about
advocating for free and fair election in that country.
The
disunity within the opposition has further remote the course for the
emancipation of our people. Their indecisiveness and indifference to
the plight of the Gambian people and their wishes, epitomizes their
wishful thinking, their ignorance, their unpatriotic and love for our
fatherland. Democracy is numbers but not also the winner take all. In a
democracy, the majority leads but the concern of the minority should be
properly looking into. But in the NADD coalition, many within that
coalition are rather blinded by their own naked ambitions and desire
for power than allowing the major opposition leader to lead the
coalition. It is the attitude of some of this politicians and their
personal infighting within PPP, which lead to the unfortunate events of
July 1994. They extend that same indifference and mistrust into NADD
without reasoning how fragile is our situation. NADD then has a
government in waiting, does not know what is mean by confidentiality
and classify information. Many in the internet discussion forums on
Gambia and related matters started trivializing the affairs of NADD by
concentrating on personalities. Every minute of its meetings was
declassifying as headline news both in local papers and on-line
journals. This makes the function of the coordinator so redundant
without smelling the facts that break down of such a noble ambition is
in the making. He keeps giving us the assurance in one press briefing
after another that everything is fine and there is no discontent
within. It is unfortunate that with all the present realities, we did
not have politicians with kind of heads that would have been amendable
to banging. They were just too big I imagine. Gambians are raven or
hungry for change. It is only history that will dictate that, as
nations change in months, years and decades, I am certain that peoples
power is inevitable with the struggle for bread and butter becoming
more and more difficult for average Gambian families.
N:B
The author have graduate with a BSC Hons in Biology and Environmental
Science at The University of Bolton. Any comment about the content the
article can be sent to: - as1pls@bolton.ac.uk