Jammeh Has No Respect for the Judiciary - Darboe

By Alhagie Mbye & Ousman Kargbo

In a stern response to President Yahya Jammeh’s statement on GRTS on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the July 22 takeover, that the judgment and acquittal of Ousainou Darboe and other members of the UDP on murder charges by the court “is a disaster for the maintenance of law and order in The Gambia,” the UDP leader has inferred that President Jammeh has no respect for the Gambian judiciary.

Speaking to journalists at a press briefing convened at the UDP Bureau yesterday, the legal luminary cum politician, Ousainou Darboe, said that Jammeh’s statement “exposes the image of a personality in a state of paranoia and also one who has no iota of respect for the judiciary and the rule of law.”

Darboe stated that Jammeh’s “ravings and rantings” are misplaced and uncalled-for, much more attributable to an “erratic personality of a lunatic in crisis.”

The UDP strong man deplored the fact that Jammeh did not only show his disgust for the judgement but made it clear that he had no confidence in the judiciary and referred to the judgment as “a stupid judgment.”

“His contemptuous words and utterances reveal his nature as a man who does not have a modicum of respect for the judiciary,” Darboe fumed.

He added that Jammeh has proved that he could only tolerate judges who are inclined to succumb to his dictates. “No wonder we have seen some judges and magistrates dismissed or their contracts not renewed because they refused to compromise their integrity and the rule of law,” Darboe noted.

Outlining what he deemed the attributes of Jammeh, Darboe said: “Apart from his [President Jammeh’s] contemptuous remarks directed at the judiciary, his utterances reveal his nature as a man of violence, one who believes in violence to solve his problems. He believes that Gambians live like animals in a jungle and he is the most powerful animal in this jungle. This is a very serious mistake and error of judgement on the reality of the situation and political climate of the country.

“Gambians and the International community accuse the APRC and Jammeh in particular of similar crimes. The perpetrators of these crimes are yet to be investigated, let alone brought before the courts.

“The murder of Yaya Ceesay, a UDP militant, on the eve of the 2001 elections by Jammeh’s State Guards is one example, while the cold-blooded murder of innocent school children, during a peaceful demonstration on 10th and 11th April 2000, remains a crime on the head of Jammeh’s security apparatus. The report of the Commission of Enquiry has still not been made public. On the contrary, Jammeh, as a collaborator, granted amnesty to the murderers of these innocent and defenceless school children,” Darboe contended.

 He intimated that UDP has always condemned violence in all its forms and would continue to do so, adding that UDP would never allow any person or group of persons to interfere with the legitimate exercise of their political rights. “His threat to eliminate Darboe will be the beginning of the end of the violence that Jammeh has been clamouring for since he seized power on 22 July 1994.”

Darboe said members of UDP have vowed to lay their lives on the line for peace and stability to prevail in The Gambia and that they would never succumb to any attempts by Jammeh to silence them, adding that Jammeh’s threats and actions would not go unchallenged.

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