Dear Readers,
The scheduled Royal Commonwealth Society public lecture, featuring the guest
speaker Sheriff Mustapha Dibba (Speaker of the National Assembly of The
Gambia), took place last night (Wednesday 22nd January 2003) at the Royal
Commonwealth Society offices in West London.
The public "lecture" on the theme "Consolidating Good Governance in The
Gambia: What Role For The Parliament?" was attended by officials of the
British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, by staff of the Commonwealth
Secretariat in London, by friends of The Gambia (including one English man
who taught Mrs Satang Jow at Gambia High School in the 1960’s!!), and by
Gambians residing in the UK or visiting the UK at the moment.
The "lecture" was moderated by Dr Karen Brewer, Secretary General of the
Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association.
Mr Dibba read from a prepared text and spoke for about one hour, after
which questions and comments were allowed from the floor.
I am still waiting to receive the official text of Mr Dibba’s speech, and so
I am not able to do a comprehensive report at this time. The full text is
in the hands of Mr Aime Sangara, Head of Public Affairs at the Royal
Commonwealth Society. He has promised to forward this to me next week.
The Royal Commonwealth Society plan to publish Mr Dibba’s speech in full on
their webpage (www.rcsint.org). I told them that they also had a duty, in
the name of fairness and objectivity, to similarly publish a rebuttal which
I shall be undertaking, once I have received the full text of Mr Dibba’s
speech.
What follows in this message is my brief first report of what transpired at
the public lecture. Please take note that there were occasions when Dibba
spoke "off the cuff" or deviated from his prepared speech. Some of my notes
below may well not appear in Dibba’s prepared text when this is published,
but they do reflect the actuality of the meeting.
Mr Dibba claimed that the PPP and former President Jawara were to be blamed
for the 1994 Coup d’Etat, because Jawara overstayed his time in power.
Dibba said that he personally welcomed the Coup and thanked the Coup leaders
for the way in which they undertook their mission – not one drop of blood
spilt !!
Dibba went on to say that President Jawara had announced his decision to
retire in 1992, but people around the president had persuaded him to stay in
power. In Dibba’s view, this was a grave mistake.
In Dibba’s view, democracy under President Jawara was just a façade. Dibba
cited his own detention in 1981 to support his views. He said that he was
illegally detained by the PPP regime, in connection with the ’81 abortive
Coup, until he was later acquitted by a Court of Law.
Dibba claimed that under Jawara, the electoral process was neither free nor
fair, and that he himself during many elections was denied access to the
media, and even in some cases, he was personally harassed. Dibba castigated
the PPP and laid the blame for the past problems (and even the current 2003
problems in The Gambia) at the feet of the deposed Jawara regime.
Dibba said that The Gambia, under Jammeh, is "progressing very well in most
areas", that "there are human rights violations but these are very minimal"
(he likened these to finding a needle in a haystack !). He told the
audience that he was proud to have combined his party (the NCP) with the
ruling party.
He claimed that following his careful studies, that it was in the best
interests of his party and himself to join up with the APRC. He said that
the October 2001 Presidential Election, which he himself contested, was the
fairest and free-est in the history of The Gambia !!!
As for the new Constitution, Dibba said that it was the best in the
sub-region in terms of its provisions, and that it guaranteed the rights and
movement of Gambian citizens.
First to react to Dibba’s comments was Mr Abdoulaye Jobe, a Gambian living
in the UK. Mr Jobe rebutted Dibba’s claims, adding that based on the
information he was receiving from the media and from people in The Gambia,
the opposite was in fact happening. He said that the human rights record of
the APRC regime was poor, that people were arbitrarily arrested and
wrongfully dismissed from their jobs. He went on to say that the poverty in
The Gambia had worsened, and he did his best to set the record straight for
the audience.
Next to speak was Mr Ebrima Chongan, the former Deputy Inspector General of
Police in The Gambia, and now living in the UK. Chongan also took Dibba to
task: he said that contrary to what Dibba was claiming, The Gambia under
Jammeh left a lot to be desired in terms of good governance!
He cited the dismissal by the Jammeh regime, of Justice Hassan Jallow from
the High Court of The Gambia, and went on to remind the audience that the
Constitution of The Gambia does not allow for this type of dismissal. He
went on to catalogue the many human rights abuses of the APRC regime under
Jammeh, and told Dibba that he, Chongan, was illegally detained by this
present regime for 30 months at Mile Two Prison.
Chongan said that the issue was not about the past, but rather about the
need to confront present realities, and for Gambians to address these
current issues.
Following Chongan, James Bahoum of the Movement for the Restoration of
Democracy in The Gambia (UK branch) completely shattered Dibba’s statements.
Using his legal mind and his considerable oratory skills, Mr. Bahoum
exposed Dibba as a propagandist and mouthpiece of the APRC regime.
He set the record straight for the benefit of the audience, and painted a
picture of the true Gambia of 2003 and since Jammeh came to power. He spoke
eloquently about the repression, the poverty, the wrongful dismissals, the
arbitrary arrests and corruption, all of which he noted to be growing by the
minute.
He reminded Dibba of the massacre of our students on April 10/11th 2000 and
he noted how Jammeh indemnified all those who were connected with this
terrible outrage, by the enactment of an Indemnity Act.
By the end of his contribution to the lecture, James Bahoum had set the
record straight and people were in no two minds about the state of affairs
in present day Gambia.
At this point, Tamsir Jallow, the Deputy High Commissioner for The Gambia in
the UK, came to Dibba’s rescue. He described Jammeh’s regime as being good
for the country, and he blamed the PPP and Jawara for whatever wrongs were
happening in The Gambia today. Jallow regretted what happened on 10/11th
April 2000, and claimed that his own nephew was one of the victims.
He then claimed that the present Indemnity Act was just an extension or an
amendment of the 1981 Indemnity Bill, signed in to law by former President
Jawara. He attempted to downplay the importance and significance of the
current Indemnity Bill, saying that it was less draconian than the 1981
Indemnity Bill of Jawara.
Mr Ousman Manjang, former spokesman for MOJA, interrupted Tamsir Jallow and
told him to shut up: Manjang pointed out very forcefully that the UK was NOT
The Gambia, where APRC members or speakers could monopolise a public forum
and present an unchallenged viewpoint.
He also reminded Tamsir Jallow that he was NOT the guest speaker – this was
Sheriff Dibba’s evening !! Tamsir duly took note, and sat down !!
I then myself had the opportunity to take the floor, and I started by saying
that as far as I am concerned, Dibba is an insignificant player in The
Gambian scene of today. I told the audience that Dibba was not competent to
answer my questions, and that I wanted Yahya Jammeh himself to face me and
his critics in an open forum anywhere in the world (except The Gambia !!).
Since however, Dibba was there and Jammeh was not, I went on to ask him some
leading questions.
I prefaced my questions with a heartfelt statement that I believed Dibba to
be a Liar – "Mr Dibba, I put it to you that you are a Liar and an idle
dreamer. You lied to this audience by painting a kind of Gambia which you
know in your heart does not exist".
I then went on to tell him that many Gambians are sick and tired of his
type, and that of Tamsir Jallow. People like them just keep spinning for
Jammeh or telling lies on his behalf.
The moderator of the lecture interrupted me and asked me to rephrase my
questions and comments in quieter language. She objected to me publicly
calling Dibba "a liar", but I did insist that I stood by my words and that
in the name of fairness and objectivity, the Royal Commonwealth Society had
an obligation to publish my rebuttal of Dibba’s text.
At this point, Dibba was very angry: he lost his temper as much as I had.
I asked him to describe to the audience the content of the Media Commission
Bill and explain to the audience how this Bill could consolidate good
governance in The Gambia.
In reply, Dibba, of course, failed to convince people that the Bill
represented good governance. Nonetheless, he claimed that journalists did
need to be checked and that he had no problems with the Bill and its
provisions.
Ousman Manjang and O.J Jallow (currently visiting the UK) demanded the
opportunity to contribute to the discussion, but the Moderator brought the
meeting to a close, saying that "time was up".
It was a good forum and there was time for both sides to air their views. I
am sure that Mr Dibba has learned a good lesson, that he may not take
Gambians for a ride any more.
I really do urge Gambians to attend meetings such as this one, in order that
we can present OUR case. If no Gambian had been present at this particular
lecture, then many officials in the West could have been misled and duped
into believing that all was well in the state of The Gambia. As we know,
this is far from the case. Hopefully, we conveyed our opposition and our
evidence for it, to the forum.
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK
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