Fellow Gambians,
Well, l have received a private communication from Mr Tombong Saidy,
informing me that if l give him the name of the individual whose passport,
along with that of his family was illegally siezed by ambassador Johnson, he
will be pleased to follow this through. He also stated that:
"I can assure you that this is not a government's policy neither is it a
directive from the President."
My response to Mr Tombong Saidy is this:
That while l appreciate his offer to follow this particular case through,
this is not just another public relations matter to be settled by him behind
closed doors, nor will such a move guarantee others whose passports have
been illegally seized, that they will be returned, or yet those whose
names have been put on some secret list by the Jammeh government, that they
will not have their rights violated in the future by this paranoid
government.
It is not enough to dispatch Mr Saidy to do a "quick fix" as seems to be
the case whenever the human rights violations that are a trademark of this
administration come to light, and even then, only in cases that may
potentially counter the facade they are trying to pedal to the
international community.
If the government is saying that the seizure of passports of Gambians both at
home and abroad is not a policy of theirs, (and it should not and
cannot be since they have no right to do this) and that they were done
by individuals seeking to ingratiate themselves to the President, then let
them acknowledge this publicly to the Gambian people, both at home and
abroad.Let them also assure us that they will direct all those overseas
missions who have illegally seized passports, to re-issue those passports
and contact the owners. While at it, let them also inform us that they
do not keep a list of so called enemies of the government, or if they do,
let them state what resulted from these people being labelled enemies of
the government. Since the president has stated publicly here in the U.S
that his is a democtratic government where there is freedom of the press, (
and the evidence proves the contrary) one would naturally also assume that
this goes hand in hand with freedom of speech, and as such daring to voice
ones' opinion about the policies of this government should not result in
them being put on some secret list, but instead should serve as a
mechanism whereby they can learn what the concerns of the people are, and
use this information to come up with ways to serve them in a better manner.
If on the other hand, there is some crime that has be committed by these
people, then we do have a system of justice to deal with criminals, do we
not? Let them state the crimes committed by these people, and if they are
legitimate, then let them appeal to the governments of the countries where
these individuals are resident, to extradite these people to The Gambia
to face the charges. However, it of course goes without saying that such
charges will have to be authenticated, ( and for your information,
expressing one's opinion does not qualify as a crime against the state
in most places in the World) and assurances given that these people will be
given a fair trial once extradited. If they can substantiate the reason for
such a list, then why not conduct these affairs in a manner befitting a
respectable government?
The shameful behaviour of the NIA agents who accompanied Jammeh to the U.S,
stated loud and clear to the international community that repression of
those whose right it is to disagree with how this administration conducts
their affairs is the common practice. In broad daylight, NIA agents in the
company of Jammeh proceeded to rough up Gambians who wanted to enter the
premises at the Freedom Forum breakfast , and had to be reminded by the U.S
secret service that this was America where people are free to voice their
opinions.
l guess they got used to doing this to Gambians at home and getting away
with it, so they forgot where they were. If they try to physically
manhandle Gambians for attempting to attend a venue for the president and
voice their disagreements with his policies here in the U.S, then one can
easily believe that they will and have drawn up a list of people deemed
enemies just because they point out all the atrocities that are commited
against the people on a daily basis.
Let us look at the dissolution of the July 22nd movement. First, we have to
say that we are very thankful that the Gambian people will not be subject to
the lawlessness that was practiced by this bunch of thugs, but only if it
is indeed true that they have been disbanded. While the president alleges
that he was unaware of their illegal activities, this is hardly believed of
a goverment that seems to, or at least has attempted to have their eye on
every move made by the people.Just ask those journalists who are rounded up
for any article disapproved by the governnment. The forceful subjugation of
the people to carry an ID card, and the manner in which it has been
conducted is one such attempt in my opinion.
Take the case of Baba Jobe, for example, who drew a gun at an international
airport, thereby endangering not only the lives of Gambians, but also that
of international visitors to our country, and definitely qualifying us as a
lawless country, and proceeded to assault a police officer and his superior.
The attack on the superior was said to have occured in the presence of some
high ranking government officials, who had to intervene to rescue the
supervisor. Did the said officials report the incident to the president, and
if so, why is it that instead of punishing Mr Jobe, the police officer';s
superior was fired from his Job.? On the other hand, did the high ranking
government officials fail to report this to the president and why? Perhaps
they are well aware they they serve a tyrant who only wants to hear what is
favourable, and will take it out on you if you bring any news contrary to
this. Or is it possible that these police officers got fired and while the
whole World heard about it, the president did not? Harldy believable.
Let us hope that Jammeh's trip to the U.S was an eye opener for him, in
that he saw that no one wanted to be identified with a government that
makes standard practice of oppressing their citizens, and no one will
take them seriously, no matter what type and how much "window dressing" they
put in place to fool the people. Just ask his friends and employees in
the U.S who scurried around trying to arrange meetings with government
officials as well as officials of international agencies to no effect. The
only people they were able to meet with on capitol hill was a list of right
wing Republicans whose legacy is that they made a career of blocking
every piece of civil rights legislation that has come before the U.S House
of Representatives and Senate since the Kennedy administration., but l
guess in their desperation to arrange something for him, anyone will do,
otherwise, perhaps their jobs would have been next on the chopping block.
If the government has embarked on a "house cleaning " campaigne to get
rid of their tarnished image, then let them clean up everything, and show
the people that they mean it, and not just continue this "emergency disaster
relief" policy of sending Tombong Saidy to do some cosmetic cover-up, or
pretending that the thugs that they let loose on the people were doing their
thing without the knowledge of the government. l believe that paranoia has
led this government to embark on a campaign to terrorize and subdue the
Gambian people in hopes that this will save them, and keep their reign of
terror in place indefinitely. Those who are wise know that falsehood cannot
endure forever. The wollof have a saying that" If you do what is right, and
say what is right, then you will sleep very soundly at night". If paranoia
is the order of the day for this government, then they must know that they
are not doing and saying what is right by the people who they purport to
be serving. Those governments that endure do not do so by deviousness,
rampant opression and terror, but by exercising their duties of office
competently, fairly and honestly, and within the constitution of the land,
to the extent that the people see clearly that they have capable people in
place, and thus want to keep them in place by re-instating them through
the ballot box. Anything else is just a temporary solution that is sure to
crumble.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 10/28/99 5:09:51 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Dear Jabou Joh,
I read your email with great pain and I would be very pleased to follow this
through if you could provide me with the names of the individuals concerned.
Many a times people do things they think would satisfy the President (eye
services), while damaging the image of the Government in the process. I
would like you to provide this information in private.
I can assure you that this is not a government's policy neither is it a
directive from the President. I am looking forward to hear from you.
Best regards,
Tombong Saidy
[log in to unmask] (chernob jallow) wrote:
Hi Jabou,
I read your revealations on the above subject with utter dismay. And
suspicion. Talking about a "Jammeh list" of individuals abroad who are not
in the good books of the APRC government, gives me a poignant reminder to
what somebody at State House told me earlier this year: there exists a list
of Gambians abroad who are deemed "enemies" of the APRC government. My
informant alleged that the List emanated from the State House. He also
cautioned me not to visit The Gambia because he said my NAME was also on
this List. There is no way I can verify this information; but when I mail in
my passport to the Gambian embassy for renewal in a few months time,it will
be clear if I will be meted out a treatment similar to what was done to
those you mentioned in your expose'. Let's see.
Cherno B. Jallow
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
In a message dated 10/30/99 2:24:58 AM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
Aunty Jabou,
I am not sure if renewing passports of Gambians at the Embassy is that much a
problem for those who might be listed in the APRc "black books," but I can
confirm to you and brother Cherno Baba that it is true that some are listed.
I have first hand info on some of these and the memo was written by the then
Director General of NIA and it was posted at all ports of entry.
Anyway, this was before the last elections. Recently, I was told that it is
no more being observed, but I personally do not buy into that.
Back on the passport issue, I know people who are listed in that "book" and
they had no problem extending their passport expiration dates. And these are
people who walked in to the embassy to do it. One thing observed by all those
who visited the embassy for that purpose is that the employees there are real
civil servants. Of course not the same thing was said about Johnson, so it
might just be something personal between him and your friend.
Ousman Bojang.
>>
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