*Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue*

*Issue No. 15/2006, 27 Feb - 1 March 2006*

**

*Editorial*

**

*The Task Provided by the MOU After President Obasanjo's Mediation*

**

The Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on behalf of all the
registered political parties in the Gambia has provided for an instrument
for monitoring and implementation of the various provisions.

Article 9 establishes the inter-party committee. The committee comprises of
two representatives from each party that is a signatory to the Memorandum.

It is designed to be a forum for dialogue and cooperation. It is to promote
adherence to the code and national reconciliation in general.

The inter-party committee is to meet once a week during the official
election campaign period as declared by the IEC and once a month at other
times. It could also be convened by the co-chair persons.

The political parties should begin their preparation for the first meeting
of the inter-party committee in March 2006. Gambia can indeed be an example
in the shaping of a multiparty system that is characterized by political
decency and mutual respect.

The code of conduct has stated categorically that any signatory to it shall
respect the right of all other parties to campaign freely and to disseminate
their political ideas and principles without fear. A party is to organize
and conduct its activities at all times in a manner that contributes towards
a congenial and peaceful atmosphere. A party is to avoid using inflammatory
language. It is to issue directives expressly forbidding its officials,
candidates, members and supporters from intimidating any person at any time
as well as to respect other competing parties and their properties.

All parties are bound by the Code of Conduct and are to take all necessary
steps to promote and ensure adherence to this Code.

The standard of best practice in multiparty politics has been established. A
moral guarantor has been selected by the Commonwealth in the person of
General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

As future generations write about this era we hope they would find it to
have been an appropriate response to the demand of our times and
circumstances. The Gambia belongs to all of us. Each of us has equal right
and duty to be the architect of her destiny. The battle for integrity has
begun. We can either become part of the problem or part of the solution. It
is time to choose. History will record our actions. The future will be the
judge.



*INTERVIEW WITH HALIFA*

**

*Foroyaa:*  Can we get more information regarding the wrangling you are
talking about?

*Halifa:*  I don't need to go into that, other papers have carried the
stories of personal conflicts between members of the Executive, issues, of
distrust claims of some having been bribed to wreck NADD, splits due to
hunger for power and so on and so forth.

*Foroyaa:*  Is it not true that the present impasse in selecting a flag
bearer is due to a power struggle?

*Halifa: * I want people to understand that as coordinator my integrity is
at state.  I therefore tell people exactly what the state of NADD is nothing
is being fabricated to give NADD a good image.

The actual fact is that the impasse is not created by any power
struggle.  There
can be no power struggle within the executive, power struggle constitute the
gauging of one group to impose their will on the other.

I have repeatedly said that decision in NADD is made by relying on the
principle of unanimity like the five permanent members of the Security
Council each group has a veto power.  However we have made progress because
no group was willing to stand on the way of NADD's progress for fear of
losing the confidence of the masses through exposure.  The situation of
selecting a flag bearer up to the time of doing this interview
(22ndFebruary 2006) has reached the stage of developing a criteria and
selecting
a sub committee to consider the selection of a flag bearer.

The committee has a list of names to be considered on the basis of the
criteria.  The committee could have done its selection a long time
ago.  However,
the resignation of an executive member whose name was on the list led to
attempts to reconcile differences and postponement of the selection process.
Since then the NADD Executive has been guided by the desire to call its
membership to order as they hold rallies and make remarks that some members
consider to be against the MOU, the code of conduct and the spirit of the
Alliance.  NADD is therefore not being guided by the isolated out bursts of
some of its members but by rules and procedures that are stipulated and
agreed upon.  Suffice it to say, even if a group utilizes its veto power to
respect the selection of a flag bearer through consensus power struggle is
avoided by holding a primary for the masses to decide.

NADD is not about giving power to leaders to impose their will on each
other; on the contrary, it is about giving equal power to its executive
members in particular and the people at large to restrain dictatorial and
conspiratorial schemes.  No body can arrive at leadership in NADD through
conspiracy or imposition.  Leadership in NADD can only come through popular
consent.

*Foroyaa:*  Some have argued that the majority party should lead?

*Halifa:*  The people should be clear about this.  Before establishing NADD
we have contested four by - elections using a party led approach.  We won
two and lose two.

After establishing NADD we contested in 6 by elections.  We won four and
lost 2.  The two we have lost, that is Upper Salomn and Nianija were lost in
peculiar circumstances.  Hence the members of NADD have adequate experiences
to compare the results of an individual party led and collective party led
or NADD led Alliance.

The public should know and the member of the executive committee should
explain that the coordinator was very transparent in telling the
representatives of the political parties that they can either establish an
individual party led alliance or a united front of all parties by creating
an umbrella political entity.  It was made clear that if all parties are to
support one party and its candidate two years before an election these
parties are likely to suspend all their activities in favour of a single
party, that this was not realistic, that if this was the type of alliance
envisaged then we should suspend the discussion on establishing an alliance
until after the second round of voting when a clear lead of an opposition
party could be shown; that in the interim each party would continue to build
up its base.  On the other hand we also reviewed the merit of creating an
umbrella party.  It was argued that opposition parties emerged not only
because of opposition to the regime but were also in apparition to each
other.  That some people join other opposition parties because of their
dissatisfaction with the leadership of other opposition parties; that if we
allow one party and its leader to lead others who belong to other opposition
parties may not support such a leader.  It was however argued that if an
umbrella party is created and a transitional programme established all
parties will sacrifice their right to seek the mandate for individual
leadership and instead surrender to collective leadership through an
umbrella party under such a set up, all parties will have equal
representation in cabinet, the President will be a transitional figure who
will be there only to implement the collective programme and after five
years he/she will not enjoy the privileges of incumbency.  In short, he will
not stand or support any candidate in the next following elections.  It was
felt that all supporters of any given party will support such a Presidential
candidate if he/she has all the attitudes of genuine and reliable leadership
and commitment to the collective agenda.  The APRC regime amended the
constitution and remove the second round of voting.  It was therefore clear
that division within the opposition would give advantages to the ruling
party.

It is good to recall that the Jeshwang ward by election was particularly
instructive.  There was complete voter apathy on the report of the campaign
committee.  They indicated how the youths drank green tea and refused to go
to vote because of losing confidence in politics.  In my view, the
establishment of NADD was dictated in one way or the other by common sense,
conscience or the National Interest.  The alliance is not based on the
supremacy of one party over the other but the principle of the sovereign
equality of all parties.  All parties are to be equal in determining the
composition of government and its programme and they will have a level
ground to show their individual popularity in the next following election
after the transition.

*Foroyaa:*  SOS Bala Jahumpa said that you should resign because you have
been unable to keep the Alliance intact?

*Halifa:*  He is entitled to his opinion that is how they see
politics.  However
the enlightened opinion must be based on substantive issues.  NADD the
Alliance had five parties when it emerged.  Up to the point of hold this
interview no party has opted out.  If Bala reads the memorandum of
understanding.  The Alliance is considered to come to an end when the
majority of its members opt out and decide to kill it.  The alliance,
therefore exist and the coordinator's work is still effective.

*Foroyaa:*  Are you not discouraged by all that is happening?

Halifa:  I can understand and explain what is happening to the people.

I am not in NADD because of the leaders.  I am in NADD because of the
people.  I will be the last to live so that I can write to tell people what
gave risk to its end in an honest and clear manner.  One thing that I can
guarantee you is that no matter what happens NADD is the new form of
alliance that will give birth to the type of democracy and political
liberation that the African people are yearning for.

*Foroyaa:* Some people claim that you have agreed not to accept political
post as coordinator?

*Halifa:*  I was made a coordinator in Atlanta even though I was the
secretary general of a political party and member of the National Assembly.
I was coordinator when I stand for NADD and National Assembly member.  In
terms of the Presidency I have said that it is not a position to be
struggled for.  My position is that I will not make my self a candidate and
I will not refuse any decision to make me a candidate.  I am fully committed
to the NADD ideal.  I am ready to serve whenever duty calls.  I am therefore
not competing with anyone for a post.  I am simply ready not to betray the
confidence and trust of those who believe I am best suited to perform the
function I believe all members of the NADD executive should hold the same
view.  We would then make a selection without any conspiracy or enmity.  The
objective is not to occupy the seat of a President in real terms.  It is to
promote the doctrine of collective leadership to reconstruct the Country's
political life to seek popular mandate on the basis of a party's merit.

*Foroyaa:*  Now do you think NADD will survive?

*Halifa:* It is left to the executive and the people of the Gambia. The pen
of history is dipped in the ink.  The future will determine what it will
write.  We hope we will all be alive to tell the story.  I hope it will
indicate that those who were accidentally called upon to serve did their
duty to their Country in the context of their time.



*UDP/NRP HOLD RALLY*

**

Speaking at a rally organised by the United Democratic Party (UDP) and the
National Reconciliation party (NRP) on Saturday in Sinchu Alagie, Hamat Bah,
said President Jammeh should not boast over the national television that he
purchased luxurious vehicles, noting that the money that was spent on those
vehicles could have been spent on combating poverty, disease and illiteracy.

"Women are dying from malaria at the hospitals, the youths who finished
school have no employment and farmers' groundnuts are not yet purchased",
Bah said.

Going further, Bah said in rich countries where such vehicles are made,
government officials do not buy such vehicles. He asserted that they hire
them when the need arises, he remarked. He added that rather than sponsoring
parties at the beach for the youth, President Jammeh should spend such money
on buying the groundnuts of the poor farmers.

Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party said his alliance with Hamat
Bah will be fruitful because it is done in good spirit. Darboe said the UDP
and the NRP can lift the Gambia from its present situation. Mr. Darboe gave
an estimate of the amount of money president Jammeh spent on the luxurious
vehicles, noting that the money could have been spent on other useful
things.

Other speakers at the rally were Dullo Bah, Shyngle Nyassi, Yaya Jallow,
Dembo Bojang, Salamata Joof, Amadou Corra, Amie Sabally, Mambanyik Njie and
Sheikh Ceesay.







*"Sheroes" Do Not Die Satang Jobarteh*

**

24th February, 2003 took away part of my soul. Satang you can never die.
Simma is part of your legacy and your book is here to remind us of you. Your
departure from Planet Earth met me in Srilanka attending the Commonwealth
Editors' Forum. The news struck me like a thunderbolt. "No! She cannot die."
I wailed in my hotel room. I forgot she was just a mortal human being. Life
is transient. And death is a thief no one can catch and be alive. Every
thing that be, must also have an end. But to die serving your people is a
worthy death. Sheroes do not die they live in out hearts. Our last picture
together during the 2002 Sixteen Days Activism Against Gender Based Violence
is placed at my bed head. Every moment I look at it and pray for her gentle
soul. She lived and fought for gender equality, social justice, social
inclusion, peace, progress and prosperity. Her strides are indelible in the
sands of time. Her life on earth was short but her contributions great.

I said to my shero: If they cut my hands, I'll still hold on; If they cut my
lips, I'll still speak out; if they cut my feet, I'll still march on, No
turning back! No turning back! I assure this promise to her spirit daily.

How can I forget the month of February? February 24th, 2003, I lost my
bossom friend, Satang Jobarteh and part of my soul. February 5th, 2006, I
lost my Comrade brother, Comrade Ebou Madi Sillah.

I'll forever glorify their meaningful lives on earth till I meet them again.
Adieu Sister! Adieu Brother! Rest! Rest! Rest in perfect peace till we meet
again.



*NADD Tackling Its Problems*

*Press Release From     NADD*

**

*The following is a Press release issued by NADD.*

**

The Executive Committee of the National Alliance for Democracy and
Development on Sunday 26 February 2006 met to discuss the status of NADD in
relation to two parties, that is, UDP and NRP and the selection of a flag
bearer.  The two parties indicated that they are still members of NADD.

The other members emphasized that parties, which are members of NADD, should
not continue to maintain a parallel alliance or organize party activities
that contravene NADD's MOU and Code of Conduct; that those who intend to do
so should renegotiate their relation with NADD. On the issue of flag bearer
Mr. Omar Jallow gave a passionate speech to withdraw his name from the list
of prospective candidates for the sake of unity.

Mr. Waa Juwara then announced the decision of his original party (NDAM) to
select him to be considered as a candidate. Two names are now left on the
list for selection. The subcommittee constituted to do the selection will
meet in the middle of the week to do a final selection. The Executive
Committee members have unanimously agreed for the selection to go ahead
regardless of the absence of any member. The persons whose names appear on
the list have declared to accept the verdict of the committee.

Mr. Omar Jallow was proposed to be the chairman of the selection committee
by one of the prospective candidates. The other prospective candidate
declared that Omar Jallow's decision needs to be emulated, that if any
proposal is made by him of a candidate who can maintain NADD's unity and
integrity outside of those whose names have been proposed before, it should
be considered by the Executive Committee out of respect for his decision.

The debates were conducted in a respectable atmosphere.  The Executive
Committee resolved to select a flag bearer by the time the NADD Militant
Forum holds its rally in Brikama on Saturday 4 March 2006.


Car Caught Fire On Board Kanilai Ferry

**

*By Fabakary Ceesay*

**

The Kanilai Ferry plying from Banjul to Barra was on Thursday 23rd February
2006 the scene of panic and chaos when a Senegalese Vehicle with the
registration number DL 5292B caught fire as soon as the Ferry left the dock
at the Barra Ferry terminal.

According to an eye witness who is a hawker in the Ferry said no body could
tell how the fire started.  "We just saw a huge smoke coming from the engine
of the car and many people, especially women, started to yell and that
caused the commuters to panic.

He then said every body started to climb to the upper deck of the
Ferry."  According
to him the fire started when the Ferry left the rain, just some metres into
the water.  He also explained how the Fire Service rescue team put out the
fire, pointing out that had it been the ferry had gone far into the sea the
incident might have been very serious.

A corporal, second in command of the firefighters indicated that, some
people jumped into the sea because they had panicked, noting that most of
them could not swim.  "We have to use our skating boat to rescue them with
the help of fishing boats, or else many would have died at sea," he said.

Another Fire Officer pointed out that most of the victims did not sustain
any injury but because of shock they were taken to Essau Health
Centre.  However
they were released on the same day.  The officer also indicated that items
were left in the Ferry like, wrist watches, mobile phones, bags, sacks and
other things but were later returned to their rightful owners.

Sheriff Ndure, a boat owner, said that he saved many people by helping them
to transfer into his boat.  "Some women panicked so much that they even
dumped their babies without noticing what they were doing."  Many people in
the community applauded the fire service personnel for their bravery and the
way they tackled the incident to minimize injury.  An old man, also a hawker
in the Ferry, told Foroyaa that had the fire personnel not arrive early the
fire might have transferred to the nearest Vehicle which would have been a
disaster, he Opined.


BURGLARS HIT TALLINDING



The shop of one Pa Modou Joof was broken into in the late hours of Tuesday
night (21st February 2006). The burglars were said to have entered the shop
by breaking the backdoor. The owner of the shop was said to have been
sleeping in the next room. According to him, the burglars took an amount of
D5, 500 in cash, 2 cartons containing tins of milk, 3 cartons of beef, 2
cartons of "attaya,' packet of lighters, 2 cartons of battery, 2 packets of
Tea bags, 3 cartons, of nice biscuits and 3 cartons of goblets. "This is not
the first time that they attempted to brake into my shop. Sometime back, the
thieves attempted to break the back door of my shop, but the noise woke my
neighbour and the thieves ran away. The shopkeeper indicated that he never
reported the matter to the Police. But another shop owner whose shop was
also attempted by burglars the same night, indicated that when the burglars
tried to open the front door of his shop he was woken by the noise and when
he put on the lights he heard a speeding car leaving the front of the shop.
Neighbours pointed out that this is not the first shop that has been broken
into.





In Memory of DR. KWAME NKRUMAH



*AFRICA'S GREATEST AND MOST INFLUENCIAL IN THE 21sT CENTURY*

*By Ebou Faye*

**

*Office of the Ombudsman*

**

24th February 1966 could be described as one of Africa's darkest days. It
was the day that Nkrumah was overthrown by a military coup with the support
of the American C. I. A. Nkrumah was not only passionate about Africa but he
was obsessed with the unity of Africa. He put Africa's interest above that
of Ghana by declaring in one of the most emotional and moving speeches "The
independence of Ghana was meaningless unless the whole of Africa was
liberated from colonial rule".

Nkrumah's importance to African political practice does not lie in the fact
that he led the first country in tropical Africa to independence (1957). For
significance of its contribution stems from Nkrumah's introduction to
African political struggle the theory and practice of "Mass Movement". Until
then, politics was preserved for the educated elites; lawyers, civil
servants, journalists, progressive school teachers and disgruntled
intellectuals. The politics of these elites was limited to demands for
equality with the colonialists, better working conditions and privileges for
senior civil servants or against racial discrimination. It was not until
Nkrumah spearheaded the formation of a militant political movement with one
principal and concrete political demand: SELF-GOVERNMENT NOW that the masses
were considered in the struggle. He did not appeal to the British Government
to grant them their demand, but he made the masses aware of the need to
govern themselves. And he achieved this through mass mobilization and
organization. He relied primarily, almost exclusively, on the strength and
determination of the Ghanaian people to bring about the desired goal. The
people in turn responded to his trust and confidence in them by giving him
their whole-hearted support.

It was not until 1947 when Nkrumah went back to Ghana that Pan Africanism
was elevated from the realm of an ideal to that of concrete, mass-based
political practice. Nkrumah launched the Conventional People's Party (CPP)
in 1942. Nkrumah's CPP won independence for Ghana in 1957, and in 1958 he
hosted the All African People's Conference (AAPC). It was the first
post-Manchester Conference, which sought to put into practice on the African
continent that vision of liberation and socialism expressed in 1945.

The AAPC brought together for the first time all liberation movements in
Africa. As stated by my former lecturer Abdou Rahman Muhammed Babu, when the
delegations of the Pan African Movement for East and Central Africa stopped
over at Congo in 1958, they discovered Patrice Lummumba and his Congolese
comrades who were not aware about the impending All-African Conference
although it had been widely publicized all over Africa. For soon as Nkrumah
was informed of the impending participation of the Congolese delegation, he
gave instruction that they should see him as soon as they arrived, and when
he eventually met them, he requested them to stay longer in Accra after the
conference was over. Ghana's commitment to Congo's independence henceforth
was to become Nkrumah's obsession.

Only 14 months after Lumumba's visit, the Congo was liberated. But the
significance of the Accra Conference was even deeper than the liberation of
Congo. With the influence of Frank Fannon and the Algerian Delegation, the
theme of the conference was transformed from nonviolent liberation struggle
to "struggle by any means, including violence". This was a decisive
departure from the Manchester Conference, which favoured Ghandhian
nonviolence and passive resistance to colonialism.

This changed the form of the liberation struggle and there was a
proliferation of the Africa-wide, Ghana-inspired "mass parties" involving
entire populations. It forced the colonialist to accept, in the words of
Harold Macmillan, then British

Prime Minister, speaking to South Africa's white dominated parliament in
1961

that the "wind of change was blowing across Africa". If the 1945 Manchester
meeting ushered in the epoch of hope and great expectations, the 1958 Accra
meeting concretized those hopes and expectations by making Africa no longer
governable by the colonialist. One by one, African countries began to win
their independence.

After inspiring the independence of most African countries, Nkrumah moved on
to ensure the unity of Africa. As stated in his speech delivered in 1963 at
the rounding conference of the OAU, "we have already reached the stage where
we must unite or sink into that condition which has made Latin America the
unwilling and distressed prey of imperialism after one-and-a-half centuries
of political independence. He further added," not one of us working singly
and individually can successfully attain the fullest development. Only a
united Africa functioning under a union government can forcefully mobilize
the material and moral resources of our separate countries and apply them
efficiently and energetically to bring a rapid change in the condition of
our people".

Nkrumah's idea of African unity was conceived as a means of fighting two
scourges inflicted on Africa by colonialism. 'One was the fragmentation of
the continent, which resulted in weak and unviable states; second was
poverty, which was a consequence of fragmentation, extensive colonial
exploitation and an illogical and primitive colonial economic structure
which obstructed development. These two scourges were inter-linked, designed
to facilitate colonial domination and exploitation. It was impossible to
abolish one without abolishing the other; both had to be tackled
simultaneously, beginning with the institution of a basis for a continental
unity.

Owing to the division between radical and conservative tendencies among
independent African states at the time, the radicals had to compromise on a
number of their basic principles of unity so as to persuade the conservative
to join the organization. Unfortunately, the inclusion of the conservative
states turned the OAU into a moribund institution. The conservatives' first
success in obstructing the move towards continental unity was achieved at
the OAU Cairo summit in 1964. it was at this crucial conference that Julius
Nyerere, the then President of Tanzania, cunningly pushed through a
resolution which urged the OAU to accept the colonial borders as permanent,
recognized frontiers of OAU member states. This move was taken in
collaboration with Emperor Haile Selasie of Ethiopia who one year earlier
had annexed Eritrea. The underlying motive of the resolution was to
frustrate Nkrumah and his Pan-Africanist ideals, though Nyerere claimed that
the intention was to minimize border conflict in Africa. The resolution was
carried by a simple majority and became a key binding principle of the OAU
charter. Ironically, instead of abolishing Africa's primary malady of
disunity, the OAU encouraged it.

Second, the conservative strove to make the OAU serve their interest and not
those of Africa as a whole by altering the balance of forces on the
continent in favour of the conservatives rather than the radicals who were
still dominant in African politics. Beginning with Ben Bella of Algeria in
1965 and Nkrumah in 1966, the conservatives, in collaboration with their
ex-colonial masters, engineered the overthrow of radical leaders via
military coups. Henceforth, the OAU ceased to be an instrument of
Pan-African revolutionary change and became an apologist for the status quo.
Even the liberation of the remaining colonies was conceived in the context
of maintaining this status quo. It did not take long for Nyerere himself,
the architect of the OAU status quo, to publicly admit in 1972 that the OAU
had become no more than a "Trade Union of Africa's Heads of States".

According to Baffour Ankomah, of New African Magazine, Nkrumah was not only
a thinker, visionary and orator but also a doer. Nkrumah knew that Africa's
future and prosperity lay with rapid industrialization, to create the goods
and jobs that would economically empower the people of the continent. As
such he set out to industrialize Ghana in one generation as a guide for the
continent. By the time his government was overthrown in that dreadful coup
of 1966, he had established 68 sprawling state-owned factories producing
every need of the Ghanaian people and this is in the space of nine (9) short
years. Among the factories were a distillery, a coconut oil factory, a
brewery, a milk-processing plant, a lorry and bicycle plant, a modern oil
refinery, an iron and steel works, a flour mill, sugar, textile, cement
factories, shoe factory, a glass factory, a tyre factory, a meat processing
factory, two canneries for fruits and tomatoes, a chocolate factory etc.
this was in addition to building the huge hydro-electric plant at Akosombo,
the nation's major source of electricity supply, a motor way from Accra to
Tema, expanding at breakneck speed, free education and medical services that
made Ghana the show case of Africa. As Nkrumah has stated "for unless we
attain economic freedom, our struggle for independence would be in vain, and
plans for social and cultural advancement frustrated".

While in office Nkrumah did not accumulate a large private fortune. His
years of exile in Guinea as co-President to Sekou Touray were spent writing
and tending his rose garden. Nkrumah remained. modest in his private life.
His relaxation were not wining and dining but the conversation of
intelligent companions. His will left all his possession to his political
party and asked his wife and children to be properly cared for by the party.
Perhaps one of the most significant legacies of Nkrumah to all Africa was
his commitment to ending the ethnic frontiers. Tribalism he had seen as - a
great stumbling block to national achievement. Nkrumah's vision of the
African past was more grandiose, with an emphasis on trade and empire rather
than on community and lineage.

If they had listened to Nkrumah on that faithful day in 1963, in which he
declared "We meet here today not as Ghanaians, Guineans, Egyptians,
Algerians, Moroccans, Malians, Liberians, Congolese or Nigerians, but as
Africans. Africans united in our resolve to remain here until we have agreed
on the basic principles of a new compact of unity among ourselves, which
guarantee for us a continental government". He continued, "If we succeed in
establishing a new charter of statute for the establishment of a continental
unity of Africa, and the creation of social and political progress for our
people, then, in my view, this conference should mark the end of our various
groupings and regional blocs. But if we fail and let this grand and historic
opportunity slip by, then we shall give way to greater dissension and
division among us for which the people of Africa will never forgive us".
Africa is divided today as it was forty-six years ago resulting in the
devastation of the nations' self-esteem and livelihoods of their people.
Africans the basket case of the world, riddle with indebtedness, AIDS, War,
Displaced people, refugees, poverty and a colonial economy that is not in
the interest of its people.




Ombudsman Report



*Complainant No:                           13412001*

*Authority Complaint Against:  Police Intervention Unit*

*Complaint of:                               Assault*

**

*COMPLAINT*

On the 18th of November 2001, complainant and a friend had a fight with a
van driver, which led to the windscreen of the driver's van being broken.
The driver reported the matter to the PIU office in Kanifing and three
officers were despatched. Upon arrival, the driver identified the two
complainants and the officers just rushed on them and handcuffed them. One
of the officers slapped complainants on the face and another officer hit his
friend. As a result of which complainant's eye got swollen?

*INVESTIGATION*

The Officer-on-duty on the 18th November 01 was interviewed on the 24th
November 01. He stated that when the driver reported the incident at the
P.I.U office, he deployed three officers to go and effect arrest. When they
came back to the office, they were referred to Bakau Police Station, as
their role is to give support to the Police. Around 4.00pm, he found the two
accused together with a representative of the Office of the Ombudsman
complaining against the officers for assaulting the two complainants.

After they left, the three officers were recalled and asked to react to the
allegations; they refuted the assault allegations and said that the two
resisted arrest, which led to a tussle between them.

The three officers interviewed on the 7th December 01. They all denied
assaulting the two complainants and stated that they handcuffed them because
they were resisting arrest.

Complainant and his friend were interviewed on the 10th December 01. Both
stated they never resisted arrest, that when the driver of the van went to
report to the P.I.U, they stood and waited for the Police to come because
they knew what they had done was wrong and accepted responsibility to pay
for the broken windscreen.

They said the behaviour of the officers were totally unprofessional because
they treated them like criminals without any respect. When the driver
identified them, the officers just rushed on them and handcuffed them and
one of the officers slapped complainant and the other officer hit his
friend. When they were in the van, they asked the officers whether it was
proper for an officer to assault a suspect, in which they answered that they
"even deserved more than hitting them".

The Chief Protocol also confirmed on the phone that one of the officer's did
confess hitting them when he confronted him at Bakau Police Station on the
day of the incident.

The complaint was referred to the Complaints and Discipline Department of
the Police for further investigation. This was to develop a closer working
relationship with the Police Force in dealing with complaints that would, no
doubt, significantly promote the reduction of arbitrariness and unfairness
and promote the cause of good governance.

*RECOMMENDATIONS*

**

Citizens have a legitimate expectation of quality service from all Police
Officers. Police officers have an obligation to provide quality service to
the public and should strive to continually improve the standards of such
service.  The police should, among other things:

Treat members of the public with courtesy and sensitivity;

Provide all necessary and appropriate assistance to members of the public
whenever necessary;

Police officers should perform their duties fairly, diligently, impartially
and conscientiously, to the best of their ability;

Police officers should also be sensitive to the rights of the public and
should always refrain from any form of conduct likely to cause any person
unwarranted offence or embarrassment;

Police officers should be educated on what an arrest-able offence is and
what is not. The Office of the Inspector General of Police through dialogue
amicably resolved the matter with complainant who later agreed to drop the
complaint after receiving apologies from the concerned officers. The office
of the Inspector General of Police was commended by the Ombudsman operation.
*Boa*

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