The July 22 Anniversary: Is There Any Cause for Celebration?
The Independent (Banjul)
OPINION
July 23, 2002
Posted to the web July 23, 2002
By Sheriff Bojang Jnr.
Banjul
"Fellow Gambians, fellow countrymen the patriotic armed forces of The
Gambia are in full control over the destiny of this great nation.
And there has been no bloodshed. For the security of the general public you
are to remain in your houses. A curfew is hereby announced, which is being
placed from 7pm to 7am till further notice. The PPP is hereby dissolved.
All former ministers are to report to the nearest police stations for their
own protection. The Constitution is suspended. All political parties are
banned. The airport, seaport and land borders are closed for entry and
exit. These actions are not directed against any foreign government and all
foreign in nationals in The Gambia are advised to remain at home for their
own safety.
An Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council is hereby instituted and its
members will be announced later. This supreme sacrifice was necessitated
because of rampant corruption and retrogressive nature of the country under
the PPP regime for the past three decades.
Henceforth a new dawn of freedom, progress, democracy and accountability
will be the order of government. Any malicious attempt to counter this
patriotic move will be mercilessly crushed.
Long live the Republic of The Gambia! Long live the Armed Forces
Provisional Ruling Council." The above statement was made by the late Lt.
Basiru Barrow the then commander of the First Infantry Battalion of The
Gambia National Army.
It was in the late hours of July 22, 1994. He was announcing the famous
revolution that put an end to the 30-year rule of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara
and his Protectorate Peoples Party (which later became People Progressive
Party).
Alas, after 30 odd years in the presidential hot seat Sir Dawda the
president became a thing of the past. He was chased across River Gambia on
that cool Friday morning by the soldiers he groomed and nurtured.
His PPP government collapsed perhaps forever. An interim council was
instituted and it comprised of Lts. Yahya Jammeh, Sana Sabally, Sadibou
Hydara, Edward Singhateh and Yankuba Touray. So what next for the Khaki
boys?
Even though it was a popular revolution and that there was ample need for a
change in the country, the doubting Thomases were there. The coup left most
Gambians in a situation of desperation and anxiety. They were not confident
that the outcome of the coup would be indifferent from all other coups in
Africa and elsewhere. They were not confident that the new regime would be
able to keep the good human rights record of the PPP. Above all, they
thought the culture of peace and stability in the nation would be ruined.
During those hard days The Gambia was an isolated nation. Nobody wanted to
empathise with us. No powerful nation, be it in the west or east was
interested in fraternising with us. We cried, we wailed, we pleaded for
mercy and none had the ear to listen or heart to feel the pity.
The Gambia was threatened with aid suspensions and donor pull-outs because
a democratically elected government was over thrown. The western world
raised an eyebrow. Military dictatorship was at work.
Draconian and obnoxious Decree No 3 which empowered the vice-chairman of
the AFPRC to make detention orders where he is satisfied that it is in the
interest of the state. Obnoxious exercises were carried out by or on behalf
of the authorities. Fear was instilled in the minds of the people.
Our colonial master's Britain felt it necessary to react to what was going
on in The Gambia though according to some people it was an over-reaction.
On November 23, 1994 Britain issued a travel advice urging British
nationals not to travel to The Gambia and those with essential businesses
in The Gambia to register their presence with the British High Commission
in The Gambia. A short while later, Denmark also issued a similar advice.
Other Scandinavian tourists left the country for security reasons. Because
of The Gambia's high dependence on tourism for economic growth the tourism
industry was brought to the brink of collapse. Thousands of tourists left
the country. About 12,000 tourism-related jobs had been lost by more than
10,000 people (most of them Gambians), foreign exchange was scare in the
banks, some medium-sized hotels had closed and the few ones in operation
had an occupancy rate ranging from 30 to a mere two percent. Government has
lost an estimated D50 million.
Many years into the AFPRC/APRC rule the economy of the country remained
that of a disaster. The living standard of the majority of Gambians
declined. The price of basic commodities such as sugar and soap increased
rapidly. There was a major depreciation of the dalasi against major foreign
currencies. Shortly before the July 94 take-over, 1US Dollar was changed at
a little less than D10.00 and eight years into the military coup it jumped
to about D20.50 which is a clear manifestation that there is a steady
devaluation of the dalasi. The value of Gambian indebtedness had increased
from 390 million US Dollar in 1992 to 56 million in 2000. This indicates
that almost half of our budget is being disbursed for debt servicing.
For two to three consecutive farming seasons, the government failed to
purchase the farmer's groundnut thereby making life harder for them and
discouraging them from farming. While the nation was going through this
trauma there was an extreme wastage of limited resources. The government
could not stop buying expensive and luxurious cars.
It was the hardest time for the press. When Jammeh and his colleagues
tested the trappings of power the press became an enemy. The good Jammeh-
press relationship went sour. Dissent was heavily crushed and the free flow
of information barred.
Around October 25, 1994 The Daily Observer proprietor Kenneth best was
whisked off from his office by the all-powerful security agents and taken
to Kartong where he was detained a few days and finally bundled out of the
country to his war-torn country Liberia.
Hiding behind dictatorial fallacy the authorities tried to adduce that
Kenneth Best was deported as a result of tax evasion. On the contrary, we
were well aware of the fact that he became a victim of the regimes high
handedness merely because he had set the pace for the world to hear the
voice of the voiceless and paved the way in informing the uniformed.
Shortly after Best's deportation senior Daily Observer staff Pa Wenton and
Moco McCauley, Liberian journalists were deported.
On March 30, 1995 The Point Newspaper reporters Pap Saine, Alieu Badara
Sowe and Brima Earnest were picked up by security agents over a story
captioned "Revolt at Mile II". They were charged with publication of false
news with the intent to cause fear and alarm to the public under Section 59
Subsection (1) of the Criminal Procedures Code. All the three journalists
were later acquitted and discharged by the Banjul Magistrates Court.
On July 26, 1995 The Daily Observer's staff reporter and one of The
Gambia's most famous prolific writer Cherno Baba Jallow was picked up
together with a handful of other Observer staff by NIA over an article
entitled "Jammeh's Chequered Year". The NIA were not happy with what Cherno
wrote in the said article. As a result he was thoroughly interrogated at
the NIA headquarters. Intimidation and harassment of journalists are
numerous and I can go on and on.
In 1996, notorious Decree 70/71 was promulgated. It was first with Decree
70 which requires individuals wishing to start a newspaper in The Gambia to
execute a new bond of D100,000 and not the D1000 bond originally required
by the Newspaper Act. This decree has exempted existing newspapers in the
country from this new bond.
A short while later, Decree 71 came into effect. It requires existing
newspapers in the country, which were exempted by Decree 70 to execute a
new bond of D100,000 or face the possibility of a closure. All these were
geared towards muzzling the press.
Despite all odds attached to the AFPRC/APRC regimes The Gambia had been
witnessing significant changes since July 94. Many years into the coup, The
Gambia has got improved radio services and a fully-fledged TV station.
Roads were constructed across the country. These include D112 million Kombo
Coastal Road. Bridges were constructed. Senior and junior secondary schools
and primary schools were built all over the nation. The establishment of a
university will ever remain a plus in the AFPRC/APRC record. Under the new
regime we have a standard terminal at the airport which is appreciated by
all. Health centres and hospitals were established and upgraded. Markets
were built and women affairs were promoted.
This week marks the eight anniversary of the popular July 22 1994 take-over
that brought President Yahya Jammeh to power. While I am taking this
opportunity to congratulate him and his cronies from the bottom of my heart
on the occasion, I feel it is my responsibility as a son of the ink to draw
the president's attention to some of the unfinished stories and events of
his eight year rule.
Koro Ceesay's mysterious death One of the saddest and most unwelcoming news
that hit The Gambia's streets was the mysterious death of Ousman Koro
Ceesay the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs in the military regime.
An honest, brilliant and energetic young Gambian, Koro was another fine
specimen of those rare breeds called gentlemen. He was a sun on the rise
but along the way unfortunately he experienced a premature sunset. Koro
Ceesay, 33 at the time of his death met his end in a very shocking, strange
and controversial manner. The questionable and tragic nature of his death
was and is still glaring. It was on the fateful day of June 24 1995.
This date marked the end of the journey for one of The Gambia's brightest
intellectual hero in the making.
On June 23 Koro was at the Banjul International Airport with other
government officials to see off the head of state who was leaving for
Ethiopia. From the airport the rest of the story on Koro became cloudy.
His charred remains were found in his burnout ministerial car (with
registration number GG1322) at a completely isolated road in the outskirts
of Jambur village, Kombo South. He was found beyond human recognition.
According to newspaper reports, with the exception of some ash burnt bones
the frame was found intact sitting in the driver's seat with what remained
of the skull slightly tilted. The flesh and most of the left bones had been
completely burnt and the skeletal frame that was left was itself fragile.
Koro died shortly before the budget speech, which he was supposed to
deliver as the Finance Minster. Seven years after, the circumstances
surrounding Koro's death were still not known. According to family sources,
there has been no formal police report, no x-ray or autopsy report, no
suspects named, no arrests made.
The police claimed that investigations into the death were stagnant because
people were not co-operating. However, that shouldn't be an excuse. Koro
was an indigenous Gambia, a state minister who died while in the services
of the state. The government should have been willing enough to go the
extra mile of setting even an international independent commission of
enquiry by inviting international investigation experts to probe the
incident, it is not late. I implore the government to do this.
Again Koro's family should be compensated for the terrible loss of their
son while in the active service of the state.
The truth can be hidden for sometime but I am full of optimism that in the
long run the circumstances surrounding Koro's death will be known because
he was a darling of God and God stands for truth.
Commissions of Enquiry The main motive behind the 1994 take-over, according
to Jammeh and Co.
was to stamp out the rampant corruption, nepotism and other retrogressive
activities taking place during the PPP era. To recover the "stolen" public
funds, the Jammeh administration set up various commissions of enquiry like
the Alghali Commission to probe the activities of former ministers and
government officials. They were arraigned before the commissions on
different alleged scandals.
What still remains unclear is the fact that the government has failed to
publish the final report of those commissions. If they are saying that
minister X or Y is corrupt and has looted the economy of the country to the
brink of collapse, let the authentic document that justify the allegation
be published. I hope that the government will publish this report as
immediately as possible or else we will declare those past ministers and
government officials as clean and innocent as a newly born baby.
April 10 - 11 Mayhem April 10 - 11, 2002 will forever remain one of he
hardest and gloomiest days in the annals of Gambian history. These were the
days when helpless and defenceless children of this land were gunned down,
butchered and maimed by trigger-happy military personnel. Like the Soweto
crisis during the apartheid days in South Africa, the children were openly
brutalised and their constitutional rights to express their feelings and
made their voices heard in a tranquillised manner were impinged upon with
impunity.
On April 10 - 11, 2000, markets and other public venues in most part of the
Greater Banjul Area were as quiet and empty as in a war situation.
Brutal guns boomed, blood flood in the streets, heads rolled on the ground,
properties were vandalised, vehicles were burnt to ashes and twelve good
lives were lost.
The state's first reaction to the unrest came from the vice president,
Isatou Njie-Saidy. In her speech, which was delivered in the evening of
April 12, VP Njie-Saidy claimed that " .contrary to the erroneous belief
that the shooting started from the security forces on the ground, it is
confirmed that, in fact, the shooting started within the demonstrators ."
This statement came as a big surprise and an insult to many Gambians and it
caused fracas in their minds. It totally lacked contour and reality. The
fact that only security agents had access to guns was glaring and it would
be baffling for anybody to say that student demonstrators had guns during
the disturbances. Perhaps, it was one area where Isatou Njie-Saidy, the
second most powerful citizen and a parent for that matter, had betrayed her
loyalty to the nation and she should bend on her knees before Gambians,
particularly those who lost their loved ones to the incident, and ask for
forgiveness. All was said and heard by various people. A commission of
inquiry and the coroner's inquest were set up. Testimonies were heard and
the reports were submitted to the government for implementation.
Disappointingly, the government came up with the "No prosecution" decision.
This is the worst travesty of justice that has taken place in this country
since independence. While we celebrate yet another July 22 anniversary, I
want to call on the president and his government to rescind the infamous
decision. There is the need for justice and let justice take its course.
We will wait for the verdict of history
Amnesty for Sir Dawda Jammeh's unconditional amnesty for Sir Dawda Jawara
was indeed a bona fide move. The amnesty was given at a time when The
Gambia was getting into another phase of democratisation. If not anything
else, Sir Dawda's experience in the political arena will help the nation to
reach the political climax. But what about his ministers and other
government officials who had been in exile since 1994? Like the Sir Dawda
case, it will do The Gambia no good if these people continue staying away
neither will it do The Gambia any harm when they return to the
country.Thus, I want to implore the president to grant them amnesty in the
spirit of national reconciliation.
Dear readers, whether or not the July 22 revolution is worth celebrating,
should be judged by those facts. Criticisms and reactions are highly
welcomed.
Excuse me. Peace!
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