Beran, if I may butt in. I think most of the people that are still skeptical
about the judiciary despite this ruling, are looking at the bigger picture
and not just one ruling. There were a number of (less publicized) rulings
from the same court the past few days that preceded this one. Among them was
the constitutionality of the firing of the IEC officials and the subsequent
appointment of Gabriel Roberts. I have NEVER seen a more pathetic ruling in
my life. The court refused to recognize the existence of our own
constitution because according to them no witness brought the actual (as
opposed to the draft) document to court. I will not bore you about the
details of the case.

Beran, these judges have a lot of latitude because there are very few things
in our laws that are black or white. How they exercise that discretion is
what people complain about. Most of the time these judges (especially the
foreigners) have a decision favorable to the government as soon as a case is
filed. Their task then becomes finding ways to justify that decision. The
system is turned upside down. Instead of the facts leading them to
decisions, the decision comes first and then they manipulate the law to fit
the decision. Usually they can hang their coat on some dodgy justification.
When there is no way to way (like in this case), they have no choice but to
repudiate the government’s indefensible position. You also have to consider
the players here. Hassan Jallow is NOT one of those hustler foreign judges
in the country. I am NOT vouching for the man’s integrity, but I am saying
that this is someone who values how his judgments will be perceived both
within and outside Gambia. I understand he was appointed to judge war crimes
at the Hague. Commonsense dictates that the man will NOT just render
ridiculous judgments in his native land. We should also NOT lose sight of
the fact that Hawa Sisay appears to be very determined to pursue this matter
for her husband. We have to commend the woman for her determination. These
judges know that they are NOT dealing with someone that is just going to
roll over and suck up some garbage ruling from them.

They do NOT have a choice. If they did, I can guarantee you that they will
uphold this Decree and throw Sabally’s case out. Remember it was these
courts that denied Ebrima Barry’s family justice. The boy was tortured to
dead and the court held that he died from a chronic liver disease he had.
Remember also that Dumo et al are still in jail and their continued
incarceration is sanctioned by these courts. Just few days ago we also saw
how Darboe et al were being railroaded by those bogus murder charges.
Meanwhile the people that slaughtered the UDP supporter during the campaign
are living in impunity. Need I remind you about our children that were
slaughtered in broad daylight and that toothless commission of inquiry
headed by none other than our Chief Justice (boss of all the judges)? We
have all those foreign prosecutors at AG Chambers going to court telling
blatant lies to judges about the whereabouts of the Independent journalists.
You know what independent judges would have done? They would throw the
vermin in jail for contempt of court.

We are very far from an independent judiciary. We have a Dictatorship back
home. Just stay tuned and watch how Yaya and Joseph Joof are going to react
to this debacle and the castigation leveled at the NIA the other day. After
that, watch out for the next pivotal ruling coming from these judges. Beran,
so long as Yaya is in power and there are stooges like Joseph Joof in our
midst, forget about the rule of law and an independent judiciary.
KB


>From: Beran jeng <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Indemnity Act thrown out of the/ Karamba
>Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 15:04:24 -0500
>
>If the Judiciary is as you characterize it ,why the court acted
>differently,
>regarding the indemnity act. I asked Soffie the same question.
>
>Beran


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