Folks, I attempted to forward the latest foroyaa issue but I'm not sure if
it came through, your end.  If it did then excuse my clutter.

FOROYAA NEWSPAPER


Issue No. 88/2003


EDITORIAL


The National Assembly and the Arrest of the Majority Leader


When the Majority Leader was arrested on Thursday 13th November 2003, many
people called to ask Foroyaa whether National Assembly Members has
Parliamentary Immunities and questioned how he could be arrested without a
Session of the National Assembly being held to waive his Parliamentary
immunity.

On Thursday, the Speaker of the National Assembly was indeed approached for
the waiving of the Parliamentary Immunity of the Majority Leader. However,
unlike many countries where Parliamentarians cannot be arrested until their
immunities are set aside by Parliament, in the Gambia immunities are given
to National Assembly Members only when they are on their way to or are
returning from proceedings of the National Assembly. Section 115 reads:

"No civil or criminal process issuing from any court or other place outside
the National Assembly shall be served on or executed in relation to a Member
of the National Assembly while he or she is on his or her way to attending
or returning from any proceedings of the National Assembly".


National Assembly Members are therefore not immune to arrest while not
attending, going to or coming from a meeting of the Assembly. The National
Assembly did not have to meet to waive any Parliamentary Immunity. Of course
the Members did explore the possibility of meeting in an emergency session.

The Constitution states in Section 98 that "sittings of the National
Assembly shall be within Seven days of a request of a meeting of the
National Assembly by not less than one quarter of all the Members of the
National Assembly". The Majority Leader however was granted bail on Friday
14th November 2003.

Since the National Assembly cannot discuss a matter that is before the
courts it appears that the issue of an emergency session was a matter of
opinion. Just like any other Gambian it is for the courts to decide
innocence or guilt.

What is clear is that there is a shift in the political equation in the
country requiring a new evaluation of the political direction of the
country. What the future holds depends on maturity of the people of the
country who ultimately must determine the type of political leadership that
governs their affairs. Foroyaa is closely monitoring events and shall give
clear exposure to all the trends in the political life of the country.

Baba Jobe In Court


Accused Of Defrauding The State Of Tens Of Millions


Rumours are rife on why Baba Jobe was arrested. It is now necessary to
separate facts from fiction. It is a fact that the drama unfolded on
Thursday morning when the inspector general of police was instructed to
approach the Speaker of the National Assembly to find out how Baba’s
parliamentary immunity can be waived to facilitate his arrest because of the
claim that serious allegations of fraud has been made against him. When it
was discovered that parliamentarian only have immunity from arrest when they
are going to or from a proceeding of the national assembly or while it is in
session, the police proceeded to arrest him. He was detained until Friday
afternoon when he was taken to the high court . This is when it became
absolutely clear why he was arrested.

On Friday he and the Youth Development Enterprise Managing Director Baba
Kanteh were led to the High Court where six charges were read against them.
They pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Baba Jobe is facing the
following six charges:

The first count : The first count is under the Economic Crimes Decree of
1994. Baba is accused of the failure to pay Port Duties contrary to section
5(b) of the Decree to the tune of twenty-seven million, one hundred and
sixty three thousand, three hundred and ninety-five dalasis and fifty-five
bututs (D27,163,395.55). For the benefit of the reader section 5 (b) of
Economic Crimes (Specified Offences) Decree 1994, Decree Number 16, states:

"A person commits an offence if he, being a citizen or non citizen resident
in or outside The Gambia, in the course of any transaction or business with
a public body, he intentionally or recklessly causes any damage, injury or
loss, whether economic or otherwise, to the public body."

The second count: The second count deals with a breach of section 84 of the
Ports Act. The section reads: " Any master or owner of any ship, or any
owner or consignor or consignee of any goods who, by any means whatsoever
evades, or attempts to evade any of the dues or rate leviable under this Act
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding
two hundred and fifty dalasis or to both such fine and imprisonment, and
shall in addition be liable to pay to the authority as penalty double the
amount of the dues or rates he evaded or attempted to evade."

The third count: The third count alleges that Baba Jobe and Baba Kanteh of
the Youth Development Enterprise have from 2001 to date caused economic
losses of D70 million dalasis in import duties and others.

The fourth count: Count four alleges that Baba is in breach of section 5(b)
of the Economic Crimes (Specified Offences) Decree and section 6 of the
Customs Tariff Act.

The fifth count: Count five alleges that contrary to section 291 of the
Criminal Code Baba has obtained credits at various sums totaling 70 million
dalasis from Customs Department under false pretence from 2001 to 2003, that
payment were done in cheques. Section 291 of the Criminal Code reads:

"Any person who:-

Incurring any debt or liability obtains credit by any false pretence or by
means of any other fraud.
With intent to defraud his creditors or any of them, makes or causes to be
made any gift, delivery or transfer of or any charge on his property: or
With intent to defraud his creditors or any of them, conceals, sells or
removes any part of his property, after or within two months before the date
of any unsatisfied judgement or order for payment of money obtained against
him is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for a term of
one year
The sixth count: Baba is accused of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary
to section 368 of the criminal code by causing financial losses to GPA and
the customs department. Section 368 reads:

"Any person who conspires with another to commit any felony or to do any act
in any part of the world which if done in the Gambia would be a felony and
which is an offence under the laws in force in the place where it is
proposed to be done, is guilty of felony and is liable if no other
punishment is provided to imprisonment for seven years, or if the greatest
punishment to which a person convicted of the felony in question is liable
is less than imprisonment for a term of seven years, then to such lesser
punishment."

Baba Jobe is charged along with Baba Kanteh of the Youth Development
Enterprise. The prosecution is being led by the Director of Public
Prosecutions (DPP) Mr. Agim.

Baba Jobe the first accused and Baba Kanteh the second accused are being
defended by Mr. Mai Fatty. Bail was granted.

The presiding judge, Justice Paul in granting the bail ordered each of the
accused and one Gambian surety to pledge with the court landed property
worth half the sum of Two Million Dalasis. In his opposition to the
application for bail Mr. Agim argued that the UN had imposed a travel ban on
Mr. Baba Jobe for his involvement in illegal arms trafficking and blood
diamond dealings and should therefore be refused bail. He however changed
his mind later and conceded to the application for bail.

The case was adjourned till 8th December, 2003. The National Assembly is to
held its budget session starting from 1st December. Foroyaa will closely
monitor developments without fear or favour, affection or ill will.

The State of the Gambian Economy


CONTINUATION


We have emphasised that the prices of goods and the exchange rates of the
dalasi are not beyond rational regulation; that what undermines such
regulation is "operation no compromise" which promotes a militarist style of
arbitrary intervention instead of the systematic monitoring of all the
factors which determine the prices of commodities and the exchange rates of
the dalasi and cooperate with all stakeholders to eradicate speculation in
the fixing of prices and the exchange rates of the dalasi.

We have shown that the government has been a contributor to the current
crisis by its huge dependence on loans, both locally and externally, and
through erratic decisions which are alienating donors like the world bank
which has been instrumental in putting the Gamworks programme in place. The
government had failed to make maximum use of the new policies agreed with
the World Bank.

In short, the Gamworks project emerged because of the realisation that the
collapse of the PWD had left a vacuum in being able to carry out public
works such as the building of schools, hospitals, roads and other structures
for rendering public services. Needless to say, it was envisaged that the
trained persons released by PWD would be able to establish small businesses
to enter into contract with Gamworks to implement many public construction
schemes. Gamworks was supposed to operate, as an autonomous public capacity
building institution, which would identify the best contractors and reward
them for their efficiency and effectiveness in implementing projects. The
management was to be free from political dictation in issuing contracts.

This government knows very clearly that it has been unable to raise enough
funds to meet its recurrent expenditure and depends mainly on foreign loans
and grants to meet the development budget. It needed to adhere strictly to
the terms of agreements with international institutions and promote
accountability and transparency in the implementation of the projects.
Furthermore, it had the duty to provide the support base to sustain the
capacity tapped by the implementation of the various projects.

The huge dependence on the loans and grants makes the economy very
vulnerable to external pressures.

For example, in 2003 external loans comprise 63.2% of the development
budget. Grants consist of 25%. Only 5% come from local contribution. A
review of the development budget year after year reveals that almost 90% or
more of the budget always come from loans and grants.

The loans provided for public works under Gamworks had the intention to
build local capacity service delivery in public works. What government
needed was to look at the means of providing a pool of equipment for
contractors to hire since no single one of them could purchase heavy
equipment. AMRC is said to have recovered 154 million dalasis in cash and
kind. Such cash could have been utilized to purchase equipment needed in
road and other major constructions to support Gamworks projects. This would
have enabled the country to rely on local contractors to implement major
projects and retain foreign exchange that could boost up the national
economy. The government however did not make use of its potentials. Instead,
its interference with Gamworks administration has led to a conflict with the
donors. Now, many projects, including the road projects in the Kanifing
municipality are in a state of limbo because of such conflict. How will
"operation no compromise" rectify problems created by the very architect of
the strategy?

_________________________________________________________________
online games and music with a high-speed Internet connection!  Prices start
at less than $1 a day average.  https://broadband.msn.com (Prices may vary
by service area.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~