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Muhammad Bai Drammeh

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On Sun, 4/12/16, Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

 Subject: [G_L] IS RECONCILIALAION POSSIBLE AFTER JAMMEH?
 To: [log in to unmask]
 Date: Sunday, 4 December, 2016, 13:40
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Reconciliation or
 Revenge: Gambia’s Post-Election Dilemma
 
 
 
 
 
 By Dr Ebrima
 Ceesay, UK 
 
 
 
 Thursday
 1st December 2016 will always be remembered as an
 historic day in the annals of the Gambia’s political
  history. It marked the beginning of a new dawn of democracy
 in our country, as the opposition coalition, led by Adama
 Barrow, defeated President Yahya Jammeh to win the
 Presidential race. As President-elect Adama Barrow is set to
 be inaugurated at State House
  in January 2017, thus ending the 22-year old misrule of
 outgoing President Jammeh, in my view, there are at least,
 eight high-priority and all-important areas that need to be
 addressed (by the new government) immediately, namely: 1)
 selecting his (Barrow’s)
  members of cabinet (preferably a gender-sensitive one) to
 ensure a smooth three-year transition period; 2) promoting
 national reconciliation through confessions and ownership of
 one’s crimes (forgiveness but ownership and accountability
 as well); 3) focusing
  on Gambia’s prospects for governance reforms; 4)
 revisiting Gambia’s current economic situation – assess
 the state of the Gambia’s economy and economic reforms; 5)
 analyzing and improving civil-military relations in the
 country; 6) challenges of establishing
  security and safety; 7) challenges of restoring rule of law
 and strengthening Justice; and 8) initiating a range of new
 capacity building programs to support both local and central
 governments. 
 
 
 
 It is an
 understatement to say that the incoming transitional
 government faces a number of daunting post-election
 challenges,
  and the questions now arise: Will the coalition government
 have the capacity to address these challenges? Is
 reconciliation possible after Jammeh? 
 
 
 
 The road ahead, no
 doubt, is going to be tough. Yet, it is also not an
 unfamiliar road. We can learn valuable lessons from
  countries like South Africa, Liberia and Tunisia. First and
 foremost, Gambians should not be naive about the scale of
 the challenges ahead. The Gambia indeed faces significant
 challenges, following the historic election of
 1st December, and the
  new transitional government would have to do a lot of
 rebuilding. The real challenge facing the country, now that
 the polls are over, is to have a smooth and peaceful
 transition to the new administration, under the leadership
 of the likeable and humble President-elect
  Adama Barrow. Barrow’s government is supposed to last 36
 months, and it has to be pointed out that for these three
 years, we will be in uncharted waters. Therefore, coalition
 leaders must be effectively organized, united in spirit and
 purpose, as any mistrust
  among coalition partners or any misstep by these leaders
 could derail the transition. President-elect Barrow must
 reunite a country that has been badly divided and polarized,
 especially in recent months. Although the 2016 Presidential
 election was relatively
  peaceful; yet, it would be an understatement to say that
 the country is still deeply divided and ethnically
 polarized.
  
 
 
 
 The Gambia,
 regrettably, has been fractured along ethnic and religious
 lines, to a large extent, because outgoing President
  Yahya Jammeh used to mix politics with religion, ethnicity
 and economics. 
 While Christians were being marginalized and discriminated
 publicly by state policy, it was in fact, the Mandinkas who
 bore the brunt of Jammeh’s hatred and brutality. Jammeh
 had used bigotry, derogatory comments and openly promoted
 hate speech, as well as
  incited hatred against the Mandinkas. He willfully promoted
 hatred towards the Mandinkas and sadly, the country is,
 today, to some extent, still polarized along ethnic lines.
  Gambians used to be totally at ease
 with
  one another, but the increase in intolerance along ethnic
 (and religious) lines became noticeable under Jammeh.
 Gambians were pretty good at getting along with one another,
 and at supporting each other, but under President Jammeh’s
 divide and rule strategy,
  many Gambians did not get along, due to the politics of
 polarization in the country and the fact that moderate
 voices in the Gambia had lost influence. Thus, President
 Jammeh, to some extent, succeeded to pit, not just ethnic
 groups, but also blood families,
  against each other. 
 
 
 
 Therefore, it will
 take perhaps several years to assess the full extent of the
 damage wrought by President Jammeh on Gambian
  society, but this much is already very clear to me: the
 moral decadence in our society today cannot be solely blamed
 on Yahya Jammeh. Before judging Jammeh, and the evil he
 represented, we (Gambians) should properly look at ourselves
 in the mirror. The level
  of the erosion of moral standards in our society under
 Jammeh was just mind-boggling. Our religious leaders totally
 lost moral authority. When you watch GRTS, you will not fail
 to notice that shame and shamelessness became the order of
 the day in Jammeh’s
  Gambia. The effects of the moral decadence in Gambian
 society could be felt everywhere. Traditional family values
 declined considerably. Irresponsible parents and kids
 lacking proper upbringing and home training have become more
 prevalent these days to the
  extent that indiscipline, mediocrity, sexual promiscuity
 and immorality among youths in the Gambia have now become
 the norm in the society. 
 
 
 
 The root causes of
 the Gambian crisis are multi-faceted and complex, spanning
 political, religious, social, psychological,
  sociological, economic, and institutional factors. I can
 easily identify more than a dozen variables that directly or
 indirectly impact on the Gambian crisis. There has been a
 significant shift in the attitudes and values of Gambians
 since 1994. Jammeh’s rule,
  therefore, has had sobering effects and changed our lives
 and Gambian minds in ways that would be unimaginable
 pre-1994 days. In effect, Jammeh (or his reign) has
 undermined our social, moral and religious values and this
 has negatively impacted on our collective
  behavior as a people, the consequences of which manifest
 themselves in the form of this moral decay that is gripping
 our society today. The Gambian society is bleeding and
 breathing pain. Even more striking are the glaring changes
 and shift in some of our
  core political, religious and social values.  
 
 
 
 Jammeh’s actions
 over the years, have had a corrupting influence on culture
 and cultural values. The social fabric itself
  has been destroyed to the extent that restoring this
 damaged social fabric, through reformation of our attitudes,
 must be the sine qua non for an effective solution to some
 of our many problems. Our social cohesion has been
 undermined and our sense of national
  identity destroyed. Large-scale changes in our values can
 be observed across the country and the shift in attitude can
 be attributed to several factors such as human greed,
 hypocrisy, dishonesty, immorality, corruption and
 selfishness. Yet, the myriad crises
  afflicting Gambia can only be solved with a holistic
 approach, not a piecemeal one. Tackling the Gambian crisis,
 now that Jammeh has been unseated, will require a
 comprehensive intervention strategy.
  
 
 
 
 What has happened
 to our good virtues, moral purity, moral straightness, which
 in fact, are at the very heart of both Islam
  and Christianity? The Gambian society today, I reiterate,
 is so infested with human greed, indiscipline, sexual
 promiscuity, stealing, cheating, moral laxity, hypocrisy,
 jealously, hatred, immorality, corruption, selfishness,
 dishonesty, mediocrity, manipulation
  to the extent that I would even argue that the moral
 decadence in our society today is perhaps one of the most
 important issues facing our people as a nation. The moral
 decay (or this cancerous growth) in the Gambian society, in
 my view, even ranks above the
  challenges the country faces in the health, education,
 agricultural sectors. 
 
 
 
 As Gambians took to
 the streets in a joyous celebration of Adama Barrow’s
 election victory, to mark the end of Jammeh’s
  brutal rule, there was a sense of unity across the nation.
 Yet, it was only several months ago, that the country was in
 a period of mourning, after the killing of Ebrima Solo
 Sendeng, whose tragic death dampened our collective
 consciousness and hearts and
  in fact, served as “the Gambia’s moral conscience”.
 Because of his courageous act and moral convictions, Solo
 Sendeng, who was willing to risk his own life for what he
 believed in, became the nation’s symbol for justice and
 change and inspired Gambians at
  home, and abroad, to help bring down the repressive regime
 of Jammeh. May his soul rest in peace! 
 
 
 
 The coalition’s
 victory at the polls will, by no means, immediately end the
 divisions, wounds, and the bitterness that defined
  Jammeh’s 22-year-old misrule. Equally speaking, the pain,
 trauma, fear and rancor between Gambians will not disappear
 altogether, unless and until the Gambia was ready to set up
 a truth commission or truth and reconciliation commission.
 Post-Jammeh Gambia
  remains a fractured society and therefore, learning from
 South Africa’s reconciliation process in particular, could
 be vital to avoiding witch-hunting, vindictiveness and
 vengeance. For the first time in its history, the Gambia, in
 my view, is going to need
  a post-election reconciliation strategy to deal with the
 wounds and divisions in the country opened by Jammeh’s
 reign.
  
 
 
 
 For example, we
 need to know what has happened to Daba Marenah? All the
 locations of the mass graves in the country needs
  to be disclosed, in order to exhume these graves and take
 out the bones (or remains) of the deceased, so as to give
 them proper burial or funeral. Can Gambia rebuild itself
 after Jammeh and people move on? Well, unless and until
 there is both ownership (repentance)
  and forgiveness, the divisions and wounds opened up by the
 Jammeh era will never be fully healed. Reconciliation will
 only occur if the offenders (Jammeh and his ilk) accept full
 responsibilities for their actions and we (the victims)
 forgive them. 
 
 
 
 Revenge and
 retributive justice would be too enticing, but
 reconciliation and healing, in my view, would be the way
 forward.
  Those who suffered under Jammeh would now be ready and
 prepared to wreak vengeance on the Jammeh loyalists and team
 of enablers, now that the tables are turned, but a tooth for
 a tooth (or tit for tat) should be totally avoided. The aim,
 as it were, would
  be to overcome the barriers that separate our people along
 ethnic and political lines, in order to effectively heal the
 country’s wounds and divisions. Rebuilding and forging
 authentic, long-term relationships, after 22 years of
 Jammeh’s misrule, are crucial.
  The Gambia’s new political dispensation, post Jammeh,
 must put rule of law and democracy at centre
 stage. 
 
 
 
 The three-year
 transition period will have to be navigated very carefully,
 and Gambians at home and in the diaspora, have
  to play a very vital role during this critical period.
  President-elect Adama Barrow and team require our prayers,
 and they must be given the necessary support and space to
 find a navigable path toward consolidating and sustaining
 this new and very delicate
  democratic transition, because at this stage, our new
 democracy is a fledging one and could be vulnerable without
 our collective support and encouragement. The incoming
 government of President-elect Adama Barrow will be
 confronted with a number of fundamental
  political, economic, and social challenges. Yet, these
 hurdles can also be turned into opportunities. Gambians and
 the international community have already started showing a
 good deal of goodwill towards the incoming
 government. 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 From: The Gambia and Related
 Issues Mailing List <[log in to unmask]> on
 behalf of Lamin J Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
 
 Sent: 04 December 2016 13:31
 
 To: [log in to unmask]
 
 Subject: TRANSITION
  
 
 
 
 
 The transition must take
 place immediately
 
  
 
 As argued elsewhere,
 Gambia’s 01 December 2016 presidential election was a
 referendum on governance, governance as goes to liberty and
 dignity of the person under the rule of law. The seven-party
  Coalition ‘movement’, supported by an electorate
 dehumanised and enervated by state lawlessness and
 brutality, and yearning earnestly to be free, delivered a
 resounding ‘revolution’ that rivalled any in terms of
 its legitimacy.
  
 
                                            
 
 
 When the announcement finally
 came that the Coalition’s Adama Barrow was elected
 president, the immediate general perception, and
 understandably, was that he was headed for his official
 residence
  at No.1 Marina Parade no later than next week. The message
 is unmistakable that Gambians conclusively rejected the
 endemic state lawlessness that was the order of the day
 leading to and beyond 01 December 2016. What shock to be
 told the president-elect must
  wait an interminable sixty days to relocate to his
 three-year presidential abode as the number one occupant of
 the State House in Banjul!
 
   
 
 Is there a legitimate basis
 for this reported sixty-day wait to assume
 office?
 
  
 
 Section 63(2) of the 1997
 Constitution of The Republic of The Gambia (the
 Constitution) states: “The person elected President
 shall assume office sixty days following the day of his or
  her election, and in any case where the candidature
 of a person contesting the election is unopposed, such
 candidate shall be declared unopposed and elected to the
 office of the President on the day following the making of
 such declaration”.
 
 
  
 
 This provision was part of a
 huge number of illiberal, repressive, and personal
 amendments to the Constitution via Act No. 6 of 2001 without
 a commensurate democratic mechanism to implement
  it notwithstanding its inbuilt national security and other
 concerns. Its only purpose, now as in 2001, was to hijack
 the will of the people by a calculating president. True to
 form, the rubber-stamped National Assembly endorsed and
 enacted a dangerous measure
  without a word of debate, a measure that now poses a clear
 threat to national security.
 
 
  
 
 The failure to put a
 transitional mechanism in place was deliberate and what the
 country is confronted with is nothing short of an imminent
 national security crisis. Babil Mansa’s propensity
  for systemic mis-governance is legendary with the
 inevitable consequence that fear continues to pervade the
 public space of The Gambia. That fear is still somewhat
 present, and understandably so. The incoming government must
 be protected, its public mandate
  safeguarded, but it has a commensurate responsibility to
 reassure Gambians regarding issues of liberty and personal
 security, and that reassurance would ring hollow unless it
 acts decisively in nipping the emerging threats from a
 defeated government.
  
 
  
 
 In the circumstances, and
 considering Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, Babil
 Mansa, comprehensively and decisively lost the mandate to
 govern, he must vacate power immediately notwithstanding
  section 63(2) of a Constitution he flouts with routine
 disdain.
 
  
 
 Now that this absolute
 dictatorship has spectacularly collapsed in broad daylight,
 no citizen or resident of The Gambia should suffer unlawful
 arrest, detention, abduction, torture, threats,
  forceful disappearance, or extra-judicial execution. It is
 not enough to say that the government is defanged and that
 there is no legitimate basis to fear anything. I repeat the
 general public demand that on national security
 considerations, Babil Mansa must
  vacate power immediately notwithstanding section 63(2) of
 the Constitution!
 
 
 
 
 
 Indeed there is every
 legitimate basis for fear given the long interlude between
 01 December and 31 January. With the police power still in
 the hands of Babil Mansa, it would be suicidal for
  an antidemocratic measure that was merely inserted, nay,
 sneaked into law without debate to thwart even the
 unequivocally expressed wish of the people.
 
 
  
 
 Standing alone without any
 implementing legislation, and given the significant nature
 of what the amendment, i.e., the sixty-day transition
 provision must achieve, it has no capacity to assist
  in furthering accountable government within the rule of
 law. Due to Babil
 Mansa’s perpetual self-succession agenda, there was no
 informed opinion from his constitutional minions to
  put in place such a vital legislation. 
 
  
 
 Instead, the Gambian people
 were made to believe that Babil Mansa is a ruler for
 eternity and no elections could see him packing, a
 delusional rendition that comprehensively succumbed to the
  overriding will of the people. In the circumstances, this hollow
 provision must be honoured in the breach
  by Babil Mansa stepping aside by Friday next at the very
 latest. 
 
  
 
 In line with democratic
 convention and principles, the incoming Coalition
 government, having lawfully obtained the legal authority
 through the electoral mandate to wield the executive power,
  must be fully engaged with the business of running the
 state. What truncated version of the civil service there is
 should have the capacity to assist the incoming executive
 authority in implementing a credible transition process.
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Coalition’s Transition Team
 must begin to act as a Government, having been given the
 full constitutional mandate by the
  electorate. Should Babil Mansa stay at all – and the
 people vehemently reject this - he may only do so in a
 caretaker capacity with all major decision making in the
 hands of, and exercised by, the president-elect and his
 team.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Further, the incoming government
 must have the inherent executive authority to consult any
 government entity for information,
  and this extends to all ministries, parastatals, the
 revenue authority and the Central Bank. It must act to
 preserve the reserves if any!
 
 
 
 More significantly, this cannot be
 done from home, be it that of the President-elect, or any of
 the Coalition leaders’. The
  incoming government must have a fully-equipped office
 staffed by appropriate personnel and fully paid for from the
 public treasury.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In line with the thinking of the
 electorate, there is a moral imperative for Babil Mansa to
 surrender office within the coming
  week consistent with his promise to cooperate with incoming
 administration by showing good faith and relinquishing power
 as an inevitable consequence of the withdrawal of the
 consent of the people, a consent that was consistently
 subverted through endless
  tinkering with the Constitution with a complicit National
 Assembly which acted as a mere an extension of the
 Executive.
 
 
 
 
 Babil Mansa’s government was
 conclusively rejected and no one should entertain the
 suicidal foolishness that the will of the people can be
 thwarted by the barrel of the gun. For the Gambian
  people there is no turning back. 
 
  
 
 An utterly lawless era is over
 and any attempt to resuscitate it will fail dismally, and
 with heavy consequences for those bent on subverting the
 popular mandate so compellingly articulated
  on 01 December 2016. The Gambia and the world are watching!
   
 
  
 
 Lamin J. Darbo
 
 
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