A clear and concise review of a 632 page dossier JDAM. This is one of the reasons it took me this long to write a book, and when I did, I made it a synthesis, specifically to avoid undue contamination from my own biases, if unawares. Thank you for a cogent review once again.
Haruna. I hope you will review my book - Democratica - A Lifestyle Synthesis
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From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Jan 1, 2013 10:51 pm
Subject: [G_L] A REVIEW OF JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE by HASSAN B JALLOW
Book Title: Journey for Justice, 632pages, AuthorHouse
Author: Hassan B Jallow
Review by LaminJ Darbo
Rather poignantly, Journeyfor Justice commenced at the end of Hassan B Jallow’s (Hassan) all-lifecareer as a Law Officer, specifically as Chief Law Officer in his capacity asAttorney General and Minister of Justice. That this magisterial work also closedwith the overthrow of the PPP government underscores the significance of theseismic event that was 22 July 1994.
From chapter one, “July 1994 – Coup D’etat”, the reader isconfronted with the question of PPP’s fitness to preside over Gambian public affairsIn the main, and in so far as the coup d’etat, those questions centre on who, withingovernment, knew what about the events culminating in the by then predictableintervention of the military in Gambian governance.
Occupying the middleten years separating independence to 1984 and 1994 to 2012 – the publicationyear of Journey for Justice - therecord suggests that Hassan’s tenure as Chief Law Officer easily makes him themost productive and distinguished Attorney General so far. There is nothing per se magical about the years inquestion, only that Hassan’s president had the good judgement to leave him inpost for a decade, and he himself the ability and vision to productively engagewith his responsibilities. Herein the significance of Journey for Justice as avital perspective on a contentious period in Gambia’s public life.
From the onset, therelurks in the background the disturbing issue of a government so divided, and,or, incompetent, as to prove incapable - on any objective analysis - ofadequately protecting national security. There was the controversial issue ofHassan’s assignment by then Vice President, Saihou Sabally (Sabally), to meet thePresident, Sir Dawda Jawara (President Jawara) at the airport on return fromoverseas.
Inextricably linked tothis assignment was the unsettled question of what Sabally, and Hassan, knewabout the political thunderstorm that was to hit their government on 22 July.Sabally skipped the airport meeting on the excuse he had “to go to Farafeni toattend the funeral of a relative” p.17. Inexplicably, Sabally spent that very nightof 21 July in Banjul and was in his office at the State House quite early thefateful next day. “It is now established that Saihou Sabally was back in Banjulthat night, or early morning and in his office in the morning of July 22nd1994” p.17. Why was Sabally’s movement specifically red-flagged when Hassanneglected to offer an explicit view on the question?
On his part, and thisaccording to President Jawara in his autobiography, Kairaba, Hassan brokeaway from the presidential convoy without explanation. He neither briefed his Presidentabout the state of affairs in the country, nor followed his convoy to StateHouse. And even whereas Hassan dealt with the briefing issue, he avoided thecritical protocol oversight of abandoning the presidential convoy as it headedto the island of Banjul, that potential trap in times of public uncertainty andconflict.
In the chaotic earlymoments of military intervention in Gambian public life, some ministers admittedhearing inklings of something akin to 22 July a whole two weeks prior. Ratherextraordinarily, others heard nothing! Even when the noose was tighteningaround Banjul, the boss of the National Security Service was assuring Cabinet ministersall was well. In Kairaba, Sir Dawda claimed he was unaware of the presence ofthe American naval vessel, US La Moore County in Gambian territory. He pointedthe finger of suspicion at Sabally! However viewed, this was quiteextraordinary, and the evidence, admittedly circumstantial, appears to suggestthe PPP Government was actively self-canibalising in its sunset months, weeks,and days!
And so it happened thatministers in the country, along with some security chiefs, were held captivecommencing that fateful day when a thirty year government spectacularlycollapsed like a house of cards. President Jawara and other senior figures wereafloat on national waters headed for lands beyond our shores. What aninglorious, and some may say, fitting end, to three decades of a generally do-nothingand tremendously corrupt government. It was in this climate that the AFPRC’s irreverentSana Bairo Sabally, if only briefly, set to work traumatising former ministersand the unlucky that crossed his path.
In Chapter two, “Early Years”, Hassan dealt with hisBansang beginnings through high schools at Saint Augustine’s, and Gambia High,in Banjul, and to Tanzania to “read for the LL.B. degree at the University ofDar-Es-Salaam” in 1973 p. 42, from where he graduated “with an LL.B (FirstClass Honours Degree)” in May 1976. His educational journeys continued throughthe Nigerian Law School in Lagos in October 1976 from where he “passed the Barfinals” in May 1977 p. 47. In September 1978, Hassan entered the UK on aBritish Council scholarship to study “for the Master of Laws Course atUniversity College London” p. 58, returning “exactly a year to the day” he leftBanjul, and having specialised in public international law. At the tender ageof 28, Hassan graduated from rural childhood in Bansang, high school and urbanchildhood in Banjul, and higher education at institutions in the great andexciting cities of Dar-Es-Salaam, Lagos, and London. His permanent career wasto commence and end at the AG’s Chambers where he worked since 1976.
In Journey for Justice, Hassan discussed the African (Banjul) Charteron Human and Peoples Rights and its interface with OAU politics (chapter 3),and dealt with The Special Criminal Court Act 1979, at chapter 4. Chapter 5 dealtwith Kukoi and his 30 July 1981 incident, and chapter 6 dilated on the politicallyexpedient Senegambia Confederation. In chapter 7, Hassan became SolicitorGeneral, and entered the big league as Attorney General and Minister of Justicein chapter 8. As Chief Law Officer, Hassan embarked on systematic reform of law(chapter 9), and did what he could to enhance operations in the chronically inefficientGambian judicial system (chapter 10).
In chapter 11, Integrity in Public Life, Hassan extensivelydiscussed the single issue that ultimately sunk the PPP, i.e., rampantcorruption. Chapter 12 dealt with governance and not only undertook a comparativeanalysis of the 1970 and 1997 constitutions, but lauded the democraticcredentials of President Jawara and the PPP, and in chapter 13, Hassan discussedhis “Early Political Duties” as amember of the Cabinet. Chapter 14 dealt with overall party political tapestryand elections, and in chapter 15, he tackled the famous and watershed Fifth PPP National Congress at Mansakonko,and chapter 16 dealt with his Government’s last general elections in 1992.Chapter 17 dealt with the gathering storm that already undermined the castle ofsand that was the PPP Government as its incompetent hubris was about to catchup with destiny. As earlier mentioned, Journeyfor Justice ended, at chapter 18, with “1994Coup D’etat – Postcript”.
Viewed in the round, Journey for Justice is an excellent bookespecially in terms of the sheer volume of cogent factual information. From apurely intellectual perspective, the analysis equally passes muster, but here thereader must remain alert to Hassan’s understandable partiality. In the face ofoverwhelming evidence of runaway corruption, Hassan consistently questions thevalidity of any such contention. Indeed, the Bishop of Banjul, the Rt ReverendMichael Cleary, attacked “bribery”, “corruption”, “greed” and “an appallinglack of accountability ... fast taking root in the country” p594-6. In hiswords, there were “disturbing signs that the good name which the country hasfor upholding justice is being rapidly eroded. Hardly a week passed by withoutreports of a financial scandal in government, parastatal bodies or businesscircles”.
Outside PPP circles, BishopCleary’s view was the consensus in the country. and the evidence supporting it wasoverwhelming. But Hassan thought otherwise. “As a lawyer when I spoke ofcorruption I did so in a technical legal sense which is different from the offencesof theft or embezzlement of public funds and property”. p597. He continued:
Iam mindful that the opposition NCP and others made much noise about corruption
andits rising levels. But when challenged to identify specific cases to the policeor
theAttorney General they were noticeably short of any concrete information. One
developedthe impression that the opposition, in order to discredit the Government,
merelylatched onto this popular anti-corruption slogan p.597-8
Contrary to Hassan’scontention elsewhere in Journey forJustice, it is irrelevant whether Government leadership was involved incorruption or not. Indeed, there was evidence of leadership-level corruptionyears before 1994, including in the Sanna Manneh saga. In any case, theGovernment had oversight responsibility for the public purse! There wascompelling evidence that Hassan’s government had no serious commitment to rootingout corruption.
For example, when theAsset Evaluation Commission was launched by Fafa Mbai as Attorney General, hewas hounded out of Cabinet and himself dragged before the Commission. Accordingto Hassan, of the complaints lodged with the Commission, only Fafa’s came fromthe State House. “I believe all the complaints submitted to the Commissionerother than the one in respect of Fafa, which was forwarded by the office of thepresident, were filed by two individuals whose identity eventually became amatter of public knowledge in Banjul. With the result that they became theobject of private criminal prosecutions. And great dislike” p.300.. The two were charged with the now viral offenceof “giving false information to a public servant”, a PPP-era law!
Who lodged Fafa’s file withthe President’s Office and why were two citizens prosecuted for doing the biddingof the Commission within its established operational framework? This was aperverse abuse of the Commission framework which was based on information fromthe public. It stands to reason thatmembers of the public who volunteered information must be protected and asAttorney General, Hassan was duty bound to block the malicious privateprosecutions via the agency of the police power of the state.
In explaining why thescheme was ultimately scrapped, he had this to say: “As time went on theCommission began to be faced with a credibility problem as the society, rightlyor wrongly, began to perceive the exercise as being manipulated and used as apolitical weapon targeted principally against the urban elite of a particularethnic group”. p. 300 Hassan offers no personal thoughts on this allegation ofwitch hunting but there was no question it was founded on utter fabrication.The victim “urban elite of a particular ethnic group” controlled the governmentand masterminded the sacking and subsequent humiliation of Fafa.
Regardless of Hassan’sperspective, the PPP era was inseparable from the widespread corruption thattook such firm root in the country that ill-gotten gain was flaunted as thenorm. When the Special Criminal Court Bill was tabled in Parliament in 1979,then Attorney General M L Saho stated: “It is not alarming to say that thiscountry will be destroyed if this cancer is not arrested now. Me make noapologies for this Bill ... No stone would be left unturned in the fight toprotect the interest of the public from the rapacious mafia withinour society” p. 298. In 1980, “one Member of Parliament expressed the view thatmore stringent measures such as hand amputation ought to beintroduced” to stem the tide of runaway corruption. “A Parliamentary Secretary,addressing Government accounting personnel, was reported by the Gambia NewsBulletin of 10th July, 1980 to have suggested the firingsquad for embezzlers” p. 298.
It was in this climateof mass disaffection with a do-nothing government that Kukoi emerged in 1981,and in which Fafa M’bai, Attorney General in 1982, shepherded the Evaluation ofAssets and Prevention of Corrupt Practices Bill” which “came into force on the31st of December 1982 as Act No. 17 of 1982” p.298. We know whathappened to Fafa and his Act when the “rapaciousmafia” went to work on him. It is noteven persuasive to contend that the “society” perceived “the exercise as beingmanipulated and used as a political weapon targeted principally against theurban elite of a particular ethnic group”. It was clearly a case of jaalo singo bey forango kang and this particulardevelopment was an utter stain on PPP’s willingness and, or, ability toeffectively discharge its responsibilities as overall manager of our public purse.
Aside the PPPGovernment’s principal and ultimately fatal albatross of runaway corruption, therewere other instances of illiberal conduct that continue to negatively impactGambian public life some two decades after its demise.
As Attorney General,Hassan embarked on extensive and useful law reform (see chapter 9 generally)but also came across as a man wedded to the law and order school, as someonewith a conservative philosophy of justice. It was ill-advised of the Governmentto sanction the “private prosecution” of the two individuals who providedinformation to the Commission regarding certain corrupt individuals. They appearto have acted within the framework established by the Government. And what wasthe charge? The now notorious offence of “giving false information to a public servant”that Professor Jammeh’s APRC government is utilising with reckless abandon againstthe innocent (see p 299).
There was also thesmall matter of Sana Manneh’s prosecution on allegations of criminallibel for fingering four ministers as corrupt. “I felt that this libelwas not an entirely private affair with the victims being left to instituteprivate legal proceedings to defend their integrity. They had been libelled intheir official capacity and it would be unfair to leave them on their own. Idecided to institute a case of criminal libel...” see p. 302-10 generally. Soundsfamiliar? Absolutely! Criminal libel/defamation is now apotent weapon against the journalism profession. Ala Hassan, Sana Mannehultimately won “on a technicality”. What is law without its “technical”baggage! As we say, process is everything!
In the legislativedomain, there was the treason regime that excluded the overt act requirementand introduced the elastic conspiracy element thus creating vast room forabuse. “Thus it was that on the 26th of March, 1986 I moved theHouse for a second reading ... There was no debate on the Bill, I supposethe members were satisfied by my explanation of its contents. It wentthrough Committee stage and its third reading, received the Presidential Assentand came into force as Act No. 8/86” p. 234. Extraordinary considering theHouse just passed the ultimate political offence without a word of debate! Whendealing with a parliament of this nature, an Attorney General placed as Hassan,was duty bound to utilise a heighten regime of self-restraint. That was notevident in the treason legislation when parliament completely dropped the ball!
On the issue ofpersonal law affecting Muslim inheritance, he oversaw the legislative scrapping(see section 30 of the Wills Act 1992) of the laudable Court of Appeal decisionin Saidy v Saidy “that a Muslim whomakes a will in the English form in contravention of the Islamic rules ofinheritance is deemed to have opted out of the Islamic law of succession”, andthat “his will must thus be given effect, despite the conflict with hispersonal law” p. 247.
Other instances of thisapparent law and order fixation manifested themselves in the relationshipbetween politicians and the army. In June 1991, there was a mutiny by a“contingent of soldiers of The Gambia National Army” staged at MacCarthy Squareover payment of allowances for peacekeeping operations in Liberia whichincident the government regarded “as a gross act of indiscipline” p 426-27. Colonel Ndow Njie was consequently retired p.428, Major Maba Jobe was put in charge, and Nigerian soldiers under Major Dadawere brought in. “In a separate development, the IGP Sidney Riley called me onMonday 5th August 1991 to tell me he too had been requested to leave...” p. 429. President Jawara didn’t bother to inform his Cabinet about Rileyand the Nigerians!
A similar mutiny, andover the same complaint of unpaid allowances occurred on 03 February,1992. Hassan was away in Bansang butwhen he returned, he agreed, on a phone conversation with Sir Dawda “on theneed for firm action to be taken this time against the mutineers. Somedeterrent action was called for to discourage a recurrence and put an end tothis serious and dangerous indiscipline within our armed forces” p. 479-80. “Fourmonths after the Army incident in February, the Acting Army Commander MajorMaba Jobe was compulsorily and prematurely retired from the Army at the tenderage of 30!” p. 481. I wonder how the Government thought that “discipline” wastheirs to impose on the restless and officially armed segment of society.
Journeyfor Justice is some 632 pages of vital factual andanalytical tour de force. There isplenty of material on internal PPP politics, including candidate selection forgeneral and other elections. The frequent cross carpeting from other parties tothe PPP is the clear culprit for the disgraceful section 91 (1) (d) of the 1997Constitution. And there is a lot of informationon the MansaKonko Congress and the confusion occasioned by President Jawara’s bizarreannouncement of not standing as a candidate for president in 1992. It was utterchaos with grown men behaving as though no person in the party was capable of succeedingJawara. In government, it triggered the ill-informed and sycophantic ao-called CivilService memo on presidential succession.
There was the ruthless parliamentarymanoeuvring that, via a constitutional amendment, expelled P S Njie, and BubaBaldeh, from the House in 1972, and 1985 respectively p. 389. And the unfairelection processes that allowed use of government resources for politicalcampaigns, and made the Permanent Secretary of Local Government as Supervisorof Elections. Hassan kindly gave us his thoughts on presidential term limits,and considered the Daily Observer at the height of its glory as “subversive”.Poetic justice then that Kenneth Best was deported by the political authoritythat replaced the PPP. He gave us information on the banning and unbanning ofMOJA(G).His recollection conflicts with that of President Jawara on the issueof an amnesty for Kukoi! There is extensive literature on the SenegambiaConfederation but absent a perusal of the governing instrument, Hassan’sassertion that it did not trigger a referendum must be approached with some caution.
Singaporisation? p. 564.A dream pure and simple considering Gambia and Singapore attained statehood thesame month of the same year, with virtually identical chances of surviving inthe global milieu they were born into. Lee Kuan Yew documented Singapore’s extraordinaryjourney in his memoirs From Third World to First. WhatSingaporisation required was way beyond the mediocre capacity of Hassan’sGovernment. What utter joke that was!
Notwithstanding that Journey for Justice ended with the PPP’soverthrow, Hassan exceptionally touched on the controversial recent prisonerexecutions in light of the PPP’s abrogation of the death penalty in 1993. Herecalled the parliamentary debates on the issue:
The member forNiamina, Lamin Waa Juwara, supported the motion and then
propheticallyproposed that while Sir Dawda, an acknowledged humanist was still
around, it was bestthat the abolition of the death penalty be entrenched into the
Constitution, lestsome future leader of a different inclination were to reactivate
its application.How prophetic indeed!p. 347
What a difference inWaa Juwara’s perspectives between 1993 and 2012!
Not to succumb to WaaJuwara’s firepower in the prophecy department, Hassan, in final chapterreflections, mused on the teachings of the ArabSpring:
Thepolicy of opposition to unconstitutional changes of government, commendable
andnecessary as it is, is not meant to provide a licence or sanctuary and security
todictatorship. If one important lesson is to be drawn from the ‘Arab spring’ –largely
playedout on African soil in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, it is this: that no amount
ofintimidation, repression and security systems can forever deny the peoplesyearning
forjustice, freedom and respect for human rights and that in the face ofpersistent
systematicoppression and dictatorship, the people will, in the absence of effective
avenuesfor redress, exercise their ultimate right of rebellion against dictatorship p. 619.
Howvery true!
Comparedto what replaced it, the PPP Government was quite mild compared to itsreplacement. Would we still have the PPP in one form or the other without 22July? It is entirely possible but that would be a degrading prospect for anindependent country. No matter how tragic our present condition, who says lifeis an easy passage. A government that collapsed so spectacularly without somuch as a shot fired did not deserve to be saved. Good riddance PPP!
Without question,Hassan belongs to that rare breed of Gambian lawyer whose preoccupation is not merelywith black letter law and its technical application, i.e., theft as offence,its elements, and questions of guilt or innocence. From my reading of Journey for Justice, his understanding of law and its publicpurpose is far deeper and more visionary. This is not to say Hassan’sphilosophical window on public life as of 1994 represents my ideal standard. Thereis ample room for reasonable people to analytically disagree from reading thesame set of factual circumstances. And it is imperative we remember the PPP eraas belonging more in the contemporary sphere than in ancient history,especially for those Gambians who were in secondary school as of 1994.
Nevertheless, Journey for Justice assures that Hassan’swill remain among the abiding public voices on the PPP era. He is a third of atriumvirate of higher level political operatives within the PPP Government whosesolid intellectual credentials will remain a challenge to contrasting views onthe era. The other one is President Jawara himself! Isn’t the third obvious?
Although there isindeed a lot of it, Journey for Justiceis not merely about law. It is more of a political memoir with the law therein arguablyincidental to Hassan’s career as a Law Officer from 1976, and as Chief LawOfficer between 1984 and 1994. Do not merely congratulate Hassan for writing Journey for Justice. Purchase this significantbook on Gambian public life.
I recommend it highly!
Among other outlets, Journey for Justice can be purchasedfrom the publisher, AuthorHouse, and from Amazon
Lamin J Darbo
01 January 2013
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