Cousin Jobe
You are a poisonous confusionist cast into the middle of this forum to
baffle members with your hypocritical and unstable allegiances. One moment
you vouch for Dictator Yaya, the next moment you pretend to express dismay
at the rotten regime's abortion of justice and common sense. Whoever you
are, know that your dirty tricks have been understood and that you can fool
mortals but you can't fool the All Mighty God or your own conscience. Keep
up the strutting sir! Keep up the self-deception! It does work for some
time.
Pa Modou.


>From: Kebba Jobe <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: 2nd Constitutional ammendment act.
>Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2001 17:12:21 -0000
>
>Now that the ALD is over as well as the rancour surrounding it, I would
>like
>to re-open the debate on the present constitutional ammendments being
>inacted. I believe the second constitutional ammendment bill that has just
>been passed by our national assembly has very far reaching consequencies
>for
>all.
>
>One of the ammendments deals with the right of individuals to be charged
>and
>brought before a court of law within 72 hours of being arrested or be
>freed.
>The new ammendment to this particular legislation allows the ncarceration
>of
>any one for an indefinite period as long as that person has been charged
>within 72 hours. Unfortunately, this piece of legislation was rubber
>stamped
>by our NAMS as usual. This is indeed very sad.
>
>If you people recall, I once mentioned 2 very infamous legislations passed
>in Ghana under Dr. Kwami Nkurumah and in Nigeria under Yakubu Gowan. The
>one
>that Nkurumah introduced was called the Preventative Detention Act (PDA).
>This was brought about to sort of control those the government considered
>detractors bent on derailing/subverting the government. Unfortunately this
>law was later to be used extensively to eliminate or incacerate anybody who
>was considered a trouble maker. One of the most famous vitims, and there
>were many, was Dr Dankuah who actually proposed and defended the adoption
>of
>the name of Ghana from Gold Coast after independence. This second
>ammendment
>is exactly what the PDA was to Ghana. What is even worst about this is its
>vagueness. There is no time limit for detention and any security agent can
>just pick you up and detain you indefinitely. The inherent barbarity in
>some
>of our law enforcement officers and low self esteem makes it even more
>frightening.
>
>In Nigeria, that infamous sedition decree passed by Yakubu Gowan during the
>Biafra war was left untouched and unrepealed by successive governments
>until
>Sani Abacha used it to eliminate Ken Sara Wiwa and eight others. I was in
>England at the time when Chanel 4 interviewed the prosecutor of the case as
>to why he insisted on the death penalty after the Ogoni 9 were convicted.
>His response, when it came, was very chilling. He told the interviewer that
>the only penalty he could have asked for was the death penalty. He also
>revealed how the decree was so designed to speed up the trial of any
>charged
>under it, that the level of proof to be provided by the prosecutor need not
>be very exhaustive. The burden of proof was so easy that "No QC could have
>freed or prevented their execution", he said. What was most unfortunate
>about the whole thing was that successive governments both military and
>civilian never bothered to repeal that decree.
>
>Since this particular section of the constitution is entrenched and must
>therefore be brought up in in a referandum, it is very important that it is
>exhaustively discussed to sensitize Gambians on the need to throw it out
>just like the indemnity act. I pray that this be treated as a national
>issue
>and not a party or APRC issue. If we treat it with the importance that it
>deserves it may even yield an additional benefit in that these
>irresponsible
>national assembly members will be seen for what they are, VERY
>IRRESPONSIBLE
>LEGISLATORS. Another thing that I cannot understand is why despite the fact
>that their renumerations cannot be altered to their disadvantage coupled
>with the fact that they cannot be made Secretaries of State while they are
>NAMs during the lifetime of the present term of the government, these
>people
>continue to treat their representatives with such contempt. They are a big
>disgrace to the Gambia people. If nominated members such as the deputy
>speaker and Ahmed Kebbeh can speak their minds about these obnoxious bills,
>why can't those elected by the people decide to ignore their appeals and
>cries for them to throw out such bills?
>
>Have a good day and bye 4Now, KB Jobe.
>_________________________________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>You may also send subscription requests to
>[log in to unmask]
>if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your
>full name and e-mail address.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------