Culled From the Obsever



Wednesday, December 26, 2001


SoS Touray on Sir Dawda’s return what role for former president?

The secretary of state for Tourism and Culture and APRC national mobiliser,
Hon Yankuba Touray has told the Daily Observer in an exclusive interview
with the editor-in-chief that the offer for Sir Dawda's return was not just
an amnesty alone, but that it provided the opportunity for the former
president to take part in the national development process. “ I think we are
inviting him to serve as an elderly statesman and should support the
government. President Jammeh is a young president and I think he will also
learn something from him.” Political activity Asked whether Sir Dawda could
partake in any active politics, Touray remarked: “I don't think we are
inviting him to form a political party or to be part of any political party.
He is an elderly statesman and he should not allow himself to be misused by
some politicians to tarnish his own image.” Sir Dawda’s frozen assets

On whether the government would de-freeze and return to Sir Dawda some of
his assets confiscated to the state, Hon Touray said the fact that President
Jammeh had offered him an unconditional amnesty means that he may have a lot
of things for the former president if and when he returned to The Gambia.
“The fact that he has an unconditional amnesty granted to him to the extent
of providing security for him, I think giving him back some of his property
may not be a problem.” Commissions of enquiry On the commissions of enquiry
and the possibility of Sir Dawda facing them upon his return, Touray said
the issues of commissions of enquiry vis-a-vis the presidential election
campaign emanated when the opposition coalition tried to use the former
president as their leader or secretary general in their quest for power “and
when they said so, we also reminded them that there were commissions of
enquiry.

Basically, that was a political strategy and it was all about politics. But
we however had to remind them of some constitutional provisions. This does
not mean that if he comes now he is going to face the commissions. I think
the amnesty is broad base and therefore does not only cover the former
president’s home coming.

Asked whether Jammeh's inaugural speech which was rather conciliatory and
the olive branch he extended marked the dawn of a new era in diplomacy and
foreign policy conduct, Touray remarked: “we have ever adopted a good
foreign policy in the sense that we have been members of the international
community including the UN, AU and sub-regional organisations and we have
been contributing positively. But the only thing we don't want is to bow
down to external pressure detrimental to our country. Our nationalism is
important. In as much as you want to see The Gambia, you must see us as
Gambians. There is no problem with our foreign policy. The speech was
conciliatory and the idea is to bring people closer. We have gone through
peaceful elections which have been applauded by the International Community.
I think the president wants to consolidate those gains.

UDP coalition’s boycott Asked whether the coalition's boycott of upcoming
elections would impact negatively on any national reconciliation efforts
that the president mentioned during his inaugural speech, Mr Touray said the
coalition's boycott would only give more strength to the pursuit of national
reconciliation efforts. “Their absence in the political arena would not
affect the reconciliation process. We are going ahead with the
reconciliation efforts because other parties are part of the process and are
taking part in the elections. Even the APRC/NCP Alliance is a clear
testimony that the leadership of the party is trying to get all the
political parties together. All these things are part of the national
reconciliation. On the reason for the UDP led coalition's boycott of
upcoming elections, Touray said.: “I think the problem is the trauma
emanating from the Presidential election. People cannot still settle down in
the UDP. They cannot believe that President Jammeh is the president. This is
the problem with the UDP leadership. They have not been able to put their
act together after the Presidential election. So they cannot participate in
any organised elections”. APRC-NCP alliance On the APRC/NCP Alliance, Touray
said the two parties were on the verge of developing a draft agreement but
the Alliance was literary on although the signing was yet to be done. “The
two leaders are studying the agreement,” Touray said. Asked whether the
leader of the NCP, Sheriff Mustapha Dibba could be in the next cabinet
should Jammeh reshuffle his executive, he said: “I don't think I have any
comment on that in the sense that it is just premature to talk about it.
What I know is that there is a process in place to have the parties come
together in a merger. That is a broad agreement that we are going to
develop. But what the president is going to decide in the future is a thing
I cannot comment on”. Touray said at a pilot stage, the two parties have
already started jointly putting forward candidates in Bakau and also Central
Baddibu where they have APRC/NCP alliance candidates.

State of preparedness SoS Touray said the APRC is well organised with a
functional secretariat and programme office. “So any time we are fully
prepared both in terms of logistics and even support.” He said the party had
nominated candidates for all the constituencies.








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