The mere mention of Nigerian judges running and controlling the Gambian
judiciary strikes a chord of disbelief among many of our comrades, friends
and supporters that signed the petition for Waa Juwara’s release from
detention. This pus-laden infection of the judiciary goes way back to the
Jawara regime, which deliberately ignored the local development of the
country’s “judiciary” and indeed ignored development across the entire
spectrum of Gambian society
And in came the “tin soldiers with a difference”, who dragged the entire
country, particularly the judiciary into a profound depth of brigandage
unprecedented in Gambia’s history. The intent to cripple the potential of
the Gambian people, determined to solve our own problems, versus Jammeh’s
deep-seated psychopathic delusions of grandeur, is the drama unfolding
within the judiciary. The law according Yaya states: “you are guilty until
proven innocent”, a complete reversal of the dictum of justice, “innocent
until proven guilty”.

Our “nation’s house of justice” has become a den of
                            Mercenaries!

The intricacies of the “emperor’s” contracts, terms of agreement, salaries
and bribes with these mercenaries are no doubt shrouded in the mysterious
treasure chest of the “gangster-emperor”, Jammeh. These mercenary judges
don’t carry guns per se but have the ability to kill equally as the
“soldiers of fortune” whose subsistence depends on killing people. It is
these judges and prosecutors that will sentence Dumo Saho and others to
death if we allow the trumped-up charges of treason to stand in court. It
was judges and prosecutors of this ilk that decided the fate of Ken Saro
Wiwa by hanging and it will be these judges and prosecutors who will defend
and protect the Jammeh regime through extra-judicial practices such as the
blatant revocation of Waa Juwara’s bail, indefinite detention without trial
and countless other abrogation of our democratic rights.

Since the deformed state of Nigeria is grossly afflicted with “militarism”,
it is no surprise that these Nigerian judges and prosecutors feel
comfortable doing Jammeh’s dirty work just as they did for Sani Abacha, who
apparently gave Jammeh advice up to his timely demise. The relation between
Gambia and Nigeria is severely constricted by their respective neo-colonial
deformities, making their claim of regional cooperation between the two
countries a betrayal, and undermines the legitimate aspirations of the
Nigerian and Gambian masses for freedom from military terror.

The warning signs of Jammeh’s despotic behavior unmistakably mirror that of
Abacha and the presence of Nigerian judges and prosecutors such as E.A.
Paul, Chief Akomaye Agim, director of public prosecution and Emmanuel
Fagbelle, present a deadly cocktail of national disaster. We make exception
of Ahmed Belgore as a “mercenary judge”, for it was him who granted bail to
Juwara and asked if there is an attempt by the regime to silence Juwara. In
fact, according to Bori Touray, Juwara’s legal counsel, this case would not
have taken this turn if judge Belgore presided over the case.
While we are determined to fight the Jammeh regime and his gang of
“mercenary judges”, we can’t continue without asking three important
questions: Are there Gambians qualified to be prosecutors and judges? What
role did the Attorney Generals past and present play in perpetuating this
dependency on “mercenary judges”?
According to “Gambian law”, what are the requirements to become a judge or
prosecutor? May be the Gambia Bar Association as a body or, individual
honest and dignified lawyers can provide us with answers different from our
answers.
Our answer to these questions could be found grounded in one source; the
culture of putting up with oppressive conditions and blaming it on “God’s
will”. Consider the dizzying rate at which nine Attorney Generals were used
against the people and discarded by Jammeh. Neither one of them protested
Jammeh’s tyranny. Now, who would expect any “justice” from such quislings?
The Jammeh regime has more Attorney Generals than his rival Jawara had in 30
years.

Here in lies the seat of the problem with Jammeh’s judiciary; outright
lawlessness!  As we draw close to the 2006 presidential elections,
AFPRC-APRC regime will engage in more fascist methods to intimidate, harass
and even kill our militants all in the name of national security.

On January 12, 2004, Waa Juwara will return to the kangaroo courts following
the reinstatement of his bail blatantly revoked by the state.  We are under
no illusions that the state will drop these bogus and unconstitutional
charges of sedition without a fight. We are confident that if our counsel
Bori Touray maintains his gallantry in the “courts of injustice”, the state
will back down. This colonial law of seditious acts is even considered null
and void by the “commonwealth” countries, only neo-colonial tyrants like
Jammeh recognize this law. We unite with Mr. Touray’s position and urge him
to insist on having E.A. Paul excuse himself from this case to put an end to
this travesty of justice.

The current drama of trials of the Gambian “lumpenbourgeoisie” (Baba Jobe
and CO.) at the “house of justice” after Jammeh hatched his “operation no
compromise” dragnet, has opened all the floodgates of the most corrupt
regime in recent history. The naked irony of “operation no compromise” rests
on the “mansa complex” that these neo-colonial tyrants acquire during their
rule of terror. No enough water can wash the blood on Jammeh’s hands, not
even the entire volume of the river Gambia.
Rising from obscurity, Jammeh and his herd of “newly rich” gangsters are at
each other’s throats. To whose side will justice sway? Knowing these
mercenary judges, he who bribes the most may stand to win because the only
stake for them in the Gambia is to make money, to hell with the rest of us.

Gambia is tragically being pauperized by Jammeh’s senseless desire to
accumulate wealth and adding insult to injury, dare us to do something about
it. This is the best of times and the right moment to heighten the fighting
capacity of the Gambian people against the criminal regime of AFPRC-APRC.
The situation is ripe and the conditions are favorable to us, the forces of
victory. Whether it is rumor or factual, the union of Kukoi and Jammeh to
breath life back into the APRC or the plans to hand over to Kujabi are the
classic signs of desperation, no union can save the Jammeh regime. Even the
recent fascist attempt to assassinate the human rights lawyer Ousman Sillah,
a ploy to instill fear and distract our focus will not diminish our resolve.
Let us not allow them to recover from these crises, let us excise this
cancer from our beloved country once and for all and build a proud-future
Gambia in a proud-future Africa.

DARE TO INVENT THE FUTURE! ‘TIL VICTORY ALWAYS!
NDAM( already puplished by the Independent).

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