Selective Justice?

The Independent (Banjul)
OPINION
June 28, 2004
Posted to the web June 28, 2004
Banjul

Justice tempered with truth has no colour, name or tag appended on it. It
is supposed to be neutral, uncompromising, resolute and forward-looking. It
should recognise and favour no one. It should be blind for everything but
the truth. That is why it is always wrong to use it selectively or
discriminately to cover some and leave others for reasons having nothing to
do with the mammoth national task of cleansing the Augean stable of the
proverbial dirt, which has stained our national consciousness.

When Operation No Compromise was launched some months ago, we were
cautiously suggesting that, it should bring to heel all those who in one
way or another had wronged the state and indirectly or directly preyed on
the lives of the people by their corruption, misappropriation and shady
deals. We had called for a robust operation that would promote no vendettas
or witch-hunt, thereby leaving some as scapegoats and others as sacred
untouchable cows. What we expected was a cause that was going to spare no
one or leave out no one worth the exercise. But there is always an
embarrassing and slacking imbalance between the God-forsaken reality and
what might have all along been utopian expectations that should have been
both purgatory and puritanical through and through.

Thus what is in reckoning is turning the pressure cooker on some like Baba
Jobe, Soma Jobe, Lang Conteh, Clark Bajo, Capu Cham, and Haddy Sallah and
turning it low on the likes of Yanks, Lang Sarr, Mahawa and Tariq, suffice
it to add that there is nothing that could justify the reason why they are
still being conspicuously overlooked.

These individuals like those being made to pay for their misdeeds, were
also found wanting over one offense or another and need to be sent to the
corruption test before anything else is contemplated. Why is Yahya Jammeh's
government less keen to deal with others? Is it the Orwellian scenario we
have always fear to rear its ugly head; namely that some were treated as if
they are more equal than others?

The deportation of Tariq who was so much the darling of top members of the
administrative leadership, provokes many questions instead of laying to
rest doubts about the real intentions and designs of those entrusted with
cleansing the political and administrative structures and put us on that
elusive tract to progress once again. Ordinarily the decision to deport him
must have overlooked one fundamental thing bordering on the fact that the
man as a big time business tycoon has an intriguing web of entrepreneurial
connections with certain institutions like banks, which according to
reports we are getting are apprehensive about what will become of the
millions he is owning them. On second thought, there could be more than
meets the eye - an unpleasant thing or two the regime would happily want to
see disappear hopefully along with someone whose presence constantly
reminds them of it. Is Tariq not merely a scapegoat among many scapegoats,
sacrificed on the altar of selfish and predatory machinations that continue
to put the wool in the public's eye?

With all the unsettled liabilities he has left behind, with all the shady
things that are made synonymous with his name, with all the hype and near-
zealotry with which the anti-corruption exercise was pursued, it is
unseemly and unheard of that such an individual should be allowed an easy
uneventful exit made to appear as a disgraceful deportation.

With some people here to run his business, nothing even as faint and plain
as a ripple on water is expected to overrun TK Motors. On the other hand
our banks stand to lose millions and we all should know what this could
mean for our businesses, our currency, our foreign exchange reserves, our
economy and our effort to stamp out corruption, already dented by early and
costly mistakes. It is sadly unbelievable that Tariq has been let out,
undeniable that the decision to do so begs for wisdom and undesirable that
Operation No Compromise was already faulting itself. Could our leadership
still be blind to the consequences of such an action? If yes then they are
leading us once again to a blind alley, where we will crash upon unseen
tribulations as we continue to witness in the form of strenuous and torrid
economic times. If no, then the public cannot wait to know why Tariq of all
people should have been made to skip justice. We all have a right to know.

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