Apparently Tamsir Jasseh took exception to my observations of the Police
Force in general and his role in particular. The accounts as related by the
Observer Newspaper potrayed a livid Mr Jasseh . Here are some of his
complaints:
1-My contention that the Department was led by an incompetent I.G.who lacked
the foresight to lead a professional outfit was not true.
2-That the department was undermined purposely to serve the nefarious
political interests of Yahya and his cronies was also untrue.
3-Attributing reform efforts primarily to him (Jasseh) was inaccurate because
he alone is incapable of the kind of institutional change needed at the
Department.
4-Reforms have been underway pursuant to a commissioned study conducted in
1997.
5-That I was being unfair to the Police and the government in my overall
characterization.
  I first wrote about the Police on 8-23-2000 following a news conference in
which the department publicly acknowledged their perilous state especially
the all important faith that ordinary citizens need to have in the Police.
They themselves went into why the people no longer trust in the police to
enforce the law. The police in the eyes of the public have ominously settled
into selective law enforcement by going after opponents of the government on
trumped up charges while ignoring or in some cases actively countenancing
illegal behavior by gov't sanctioned vigilante groups. If the Police that is
paid for by the people undermines the basic expectation of equal protection
under the law, they have deservedly lost the people's faith.
The reason I singled out Mr Jasseh is because he is the only one I have heard
publicly acknowledge these egregious problems associated with the department.
Any credit I give him is solely based on his public pronouncements which
tended to sound sincere. I said he was a good man trying to do the right
thing. I still think so. However I have always qualified my optimism with a
strong believe that his efforts would not bear fruit because the President
and his cronies are unmitigated criminals to whom a professional Police force
is anathema. I specifically said he would either be transferred or fired for
his efforts to bring reform. His professed faith in I. G.  Badgie and all the
other professionals bent on making the force the best is his entitlement.  I
don't share that view at all. Yahya Jammeh has purged that department and
brought in cronies of which Mr Badgie is premiere. They have made an
institutional morass out of the Police department. They have neither the
ability nor the inclination to fix it.
As for his notion of me being unfair to the government is  a gross
understatement. I view this government as illegitimate and my duty as a
Gambian is to expose, fight and ultimately defeat this criminal albatross
hanging on the neck of my nation. I neither want nor expect even an otherwise
 good man like Mr Jasseh to agree with me.
Karamba

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