"A Person Who Sell Eggs Does Not Start a Fight in the Market" the
Commission of Inquiry - Who Are the Targets?

http://allafrica.com/stories/200407121259.html

The Independent (Banjul)
OPINION
July 12, 2004
Posted to the web July 12, 2004

By D.A. Jawo
Banjul

When President Jammeh launched his 'Operation no Compromise' about a year
ago, hardly anyone took him seriously, but instead people saw it as yet
another tactic to divert people's attention from his regime's mounting
economic and social problems.

However, when he started to order the arrest and detention of certain high
profile personalities like the 'Almighty' Baba Jobe, some people changed
their perception and expressed the hope that something positive would come
out of it.

However, it did not take long before people's hopes were dashed when there
was apparent reluctance on the part of the regime to pursue the case of
fraud involving certain big shots at the Central Bank, including its all
powerful foreign exchange manager Lang Conteh with the same vigour as they
pursued the Baba Jobe case. There was indeed a clear case of lope-sided
justice being practised, and most people began to question the sincerity
of the regime to pursue the matter, particularly after the Director of
Public Prosecutions ridiculously announced his withdrawal of the case from
court on the pretext that the accused persons have settled the amount
involved. Apart from the fact that no one actually believed an iota of
truth in that assertion, people were quite flabbergasted by the
possibility of letting such high ranking public officials occupying such
positions of trust to go scot-free after they have allegedly accepted
liability for such large sums of public funds. Indeed the whole episode
smacked of someone trying to keep some skeletons tightly closed in the
cupboard in order to prevent some embarrassing revelations being made when
the matter goes to court. It is therefore not surprising that the case is
still in limbo and there are hardly any efforts to proceed with it.

While all the drama regarding who to prosecute or not to prosecute was
going on, there suddenly from the blue an announcement of the setting up
of a commission of inquiry to look into the assets and activities of a
certain category of public officials, both past and present since 1994,
including all those who served as ministers/secretaries of state since
the "revolution".

Indeed the setting up of the commission was quite welcomed by almost
everyone, particularly in view of the stories of rampant corruption in
virtually all sectors of the public services. However, there are still
several issues that the people want clarified before they would accept the
commission as a genuine attempt to cleanse the regime rather than just
another smokescreen to divert the people's attention from the realities on
the ground. One such issue is no doubt a clarification as to who is
actually eligible to be probed and who is exempted. This is quite
pertinent in the sense that most of members of the commission themselves
are either present or former public officials. Therefore, one would ask
whether they are morally qualified to sit on such a commission under the
circumstances.

Another pertinent question is whether President Jammeh himself would and
should appear before the commission. While almost everyone is unanimous on
the need for him to appear before a commission of inquiry to ascertain how
he acquired his enormous wealth within such a short period of time since
he became head of state, it is hard to see how a commission chosen and
appointed by him would genuinely probe him. That is just like asking a
thief to chose his own judge, jury and prosecutor.

Therefore, it is hard to imagine the commission chairman Justice
Madabauchi Paul or any of the other commissioners mustering the courage to
ask President Jammeh how he acquired his wealth, let alone find him
culpable for any wrong doing, knowing fully well that he has the power to
not only sack them but also send them to 'Baba Jobe's hotel'.

Therefore, many people see President Jammeh's possible appearance before
the commission as just a mere formality, and that it may even be an
opportunity for him to clear his name from various crude oil and other
scandals he is alleged to have been involved in since he became head of
state. Indeed if anyone in this country deserves to appear before a
commission of inquiry, it is certainly President Jammeh. It is a well
known fact that he has acquired several times more wealth and personal
assets and properties than he had before he became a head of state.

Therefore, the people would like to know how he was able to transform
himself from a poor army lieutenant in 1994 to one of the richest men in
the sub-region today. The people would definitely want to know how he
managed to acquire such expensive properties like the Gambia New
Millennium aircraft, a king-size mansion in Kanilai, and virtually
transforming that obscure little village into the only settlement in the
country that enjoys 24 hours electricity and water supply, as well as
financing an expensive commercial venture like the Youth Development
Enterprise, in addition to his flamboyant lifestyle and the frequent
dishing out of millions of Dalasis to those ready to sing his praises.

It is certainly not enough for him to tell us that his money comes from
the Almighty Allah's world bank, because we all know that it does not
exist, at least for him. Therefore, he needs to come out clean and tell us
where he gets all that money.

"It would be quite unfair for President Jammeh to ask his colleagues and
others to reveal the sources of their assets and properties while he
chooses not to reveal his own sources of funding," said a senior civil
servant, who for obvious reasons begged for anonymity. Indeed if President
Jammeh suspects some of his colleagues of dipping their hands into the
pie, then he should know that unless he tells us the sources of his
wealth, people would conclude that he is also doing exactly that.


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