Gambia-L:
Below you will find an open letter I have addressed to Ambassador Jackson,
the new USA representative in The Gambia. By the way, whoever disagrees with
my views/account can feel free to write his or her letter and then send it
to the Ambassador.
Ebrima Ceesay
Birmingham, UK.
________________________________________________________________________
Dear Ambassador Jackson,
I am a Gambian who is currently living in the United Kingdom.
This letter is written on my behalf, and also on behalf of many Gambians
throughout the world and in The Gambia whose greatest wish is to see their
country return to multi-party politics and functioning democracy. Democracy
itself is a contested concept, but in the post-Colonial period from 1965 to
1994, The Gambia, if a minimalist definition of democracy is used, had stood
as a beacon for the rest of the continent in terms of political stability
and "democratic ideals".
Following the military take over of The Gambia in 1994, we have witnessed
seven years of economic, social, judicial, legislative and political decline
to the extent that the current situation in The Gambia is both grievous and
precarious.
Indeed, it is at a critically acute stage. Repression, poverty, tyranny,
mismanagement of public money, arbitrary arrest and kidnapping and killing
of opponents are the hallmarks of Yahya Jammeh and the APRC’s regime.
The US State Department Country Reports for The Gambia from 1994 onwards,
give a very clear indication of the deteriorating condition of the country.
Reports from Amnesty International and other Human Rights groups throughout
the world, testify to the debasement of The Gambia and its citizenry under
the APRC and Jammeh.
There have been countless decrees promulgated by Jammeh which enable the
security forces (in particular the National Intelligence Agency – NIA) to
tap telephone lines, fax lines, e mails and internet services; to arrest
without warrant; to detain without trial; to muzzle the independent media;
to interfere with the independence of the Judiciary.
There is supposedly a new Constitution in place to guarantee the rights of
Gambian citizens in their own land, but government is still by a number of
Decrees which contradict the provisions of the Constitution.
Under Jammeh, we now know that around 124 Gambians have been murdered. On
November 11th 1994, in an alleged counter coup attempt, almost 40 soldiers
were killed on Jammeh’s orders because he believed them to be his enemies.
Civilians are being killed: on April 10/11th 2000, fourteen young people
(the youngest a child of 3 years) were gunned down in cold-blood for
demonstrating peacefully in support of a fellow student who had been
tortured and killed.
By virtue of his despotic and brutal rule, Jammeh has directly or indirectly
sent into exile a conservative estimate of 5,000 Gambians. The situation is
now so desperate that many overseas Gambian students and citizens refuse to
return home to The Gambia on completion of their study or work programmes.
Jammeh has arbitrarily sacked or prematurely retired almost 100 senior Civil
Servants, specifically because they do not toe his line.
Right now, Lt Lalo Jaiteh, Ebrima Yarboe, Momodou Dumo Saho, Lt Omar Darboe,
Momodou Marenah, Ebrima Barrow and others, have been detained and held
incommunicado for months, in total violation of the Constitution. Even when
the Courts ruled that they should be granted bail, Jammeh refused to comply,
and initially he even went so far as to say these people were in fact not in
detention!
The independent media (of which I was once a representative as an Editor of
the Gambia Daily Observer) has been a particular target of Jammeh and the
APRC since 1994. Journalists have been arrested, detained without just
reason, taken to court, harassed and persecuted. The Government for two
whole years closed down Citizen FM Radio Station for no reason.
Recently, Radio One FM offices were attacked in an arson attack orchestrated
by the APRC, and its proprietor George Christensen suffered burns. Over 60
non-Gambians, mainly West African, (all of whom were involved in some way in
the fields of journalism, teaching, health services or the judiciary) have
been summarily deported from The Gambia. Kenneth Best, one of West Africa’s
most respected journalists, was deported to his war torn home country of
Liberia.
In one of the worst violations of human rights, in October 1995, Jammeh
handed over a Sierra Leonean journalist, Cherno Ojuku Ceesay, to the
military government in Sierra Leone: this man had fled his country to seek
sanctuary in The Gambia because the military in Sierra Leone wanted him.
Knowing that Ceesay would face execution if returned to Sierra Leone, Jammeh
did not hesitate to deport him to Sierra Leone. Thanks to the intervention
of the international community and international media pressure, Cherno
escaped execution but he was incarcerated for a long time following his
deportation from The Gambia.
Jammeh acts without regard for the Law: he has interfered with the
independent judiciary. Recently, he sacked two magistrates and the Master
of the Supreme Court, warranting the Chief Justice to resign in protest. He
also sacked Bishop Johnson, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral
Commission, even though constitutionally he was not empowered to do this.
This week, he has been quoted as saying that he will disband the Independent
Electoral Commission following the forthcoming Presidential elections.
Jammeh and the APRC masquerade under a guise of democratic governance: the
truth of the matter is diametrically opposite. The Gambia is in the hands
of a brutal and unprincipled tyrant, a man who has brought his country into
disrepute throughout the world, and particularly in the eyes of the United
Nations.
Jammeh and his cohort in the APRC are implicated in the blood diamond trade
out of Sierra Leone: they are deemed to be allowing The Gambia to be a
central clearing house for illegal drugs trafficking on a massive scale:
they are involved in widespread internal corruption (for instance the Crude
Oil scandal) and foreign policy blunders (not least the interfering in the
domestic affairs of neighbouring Senegal by offering aid and abettance to
insurrectionists in the Casamance region.)
Wherever there is injustice or illegality on the African continent, Jammeh
and his henchmen will be found to be either at the centre or on the
periphery of these.
Jammeh’s leadership of The Gambia is based on a climate of terror and fear.
It is characterised by corruption, mismanagement of public money and
resources, poor political judgement and insensitivity. The nature of
government in my country tends towards barbarism and brutality, even for
ordinary citizens.
The Gambia today is not a functioning democracy in any sense of the word. It
does not even fit a minimalist definition of democracy. The elections
which were held in 1996 and 1997 (presidential and parliamentary
respectively) were questionable: the international community held them to
be highly flawed, and neither free nor fair. Because the APRC is in the
majority in the Parliament, the Legislature in The Gambia has been
manipulated with impunity.
Where Judges and Magistrates disagree with Jammeh, they are subsequently
sacked from office. Free speech has been put at great risk, and people live
in fear of arrest, arbitrary torture and detention (or worse). Preparations
for the presidential elections slated for 2001 and for the parliamentary
elections slated for 2002 are highly flawed and subject to governmental
interference.
Jammeh is interfering with the IEC, he is skewing the electoral registration
programme by registering non-Gambian APRC supporters; he has a monopoly of
the state media services. There is no doubt that the APRC and Jammeh will
manipulate the whole of the electoral process and the elections to ensure
their success.
The Gambia is in no way moving forward. Infrastructural development has
been piecemeal and designed for immediate cosmetic impact rather than
long-term benefit. Millions of dalasis from the public purse were wasted on
a triumphal archway at the entrance to Banjul, which is now falling to bits.
The new airport building is creaking at the seams, and our roads are in a
disastrous state.
In this year of elections, Jammeh has embarked on a series of vote-catching
infrastructural "improvements": new roads are being built, but given the
poor quality of their construction and the taking of the cheapest tender,
their future is most definitely short term.
Electricity is an unreliable commodity, and even though the Government has
recently taken delivery of new generators, it is unlikely that the situation
will improve for the great mass of the people for whom electricity is still
a dream.
Our global communications systems are deteriorating by the day: a once
vibrant sector of the economy, GAMTEL is now in the doldrums and racketeers
like Tarik Musa and Amadou Samba are unfairly dominating (with government
assistance or conspiracy) the market for their own personal reward.
Education to secondary level is increasingly expensive and many parents are
now quite unable to pay for their children’s education. Although new
schools have been built, there has not been the public funding to staff or
resource these buildings, and they are currently lying empty. The
much-vaunted University of The Gambia is under-resourced, poorly equipped
and inadequately staffed by qualified personnel.
Our health services are verging on collapse, and despite grandiose plans for
new hospitals such as the one planned for Serrekunda, it is not likely that
these will reach fruition for many years to come. A new health centre in
Bwiam, due for opening last year, is still at mid-construction stage. Drugs
are unavailable or in short supply; there is a dearth of qualified staff and
mortality rates (particularly for infants) are spiralling out of control.
Economically, The Gambia is in a state of near collapse. We are now so much
in debt that we have fallen into that category of countries described as
"heavily indebted". The national debt is over 500 million US dollars, and
last year alone we spent 500 million Dalasis to service the debt. This
year, equally, the same amount and more will be spent just to service debts.
Prices of commodities have spiralled: taxi and other transport tariffs have
escalated: our farmers are still awaiting payment for their crops from last
year AND the year before (for the third season, the government is giving our
farmers promissory notes, and the situation in the countryside is dreadful:
families have no cash and no access to credit: they are truly in a hopeless
state).
In the latest Human Development Report, The Gambia is ranked 161st out of
173 countries (only just ahead of war torn Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan
etc.). A recent International Labour Organisation study showed that in
1998, 60% of Gambians were subsisting below the poverty line: by 1999, the
figure had risen dramatically to 69%.
I urge you to read the Participatory Poverty Assessment Report published by
The Gambian Government in 2000. According to this study, in Upper River
Division 99% of people are subsisting below the poverty line and there is no
food security: in Central River Division the figure is 94%; in Lower River
Division the figure is 86%; in Banjul 89%; in Western Division 94%; in North
Bank Division 90%.
However, there is a huge business potential in The Gambia which could be
tapped by the USA and other countries for that matter. The Gambian soil is
good, the sea is bountiful and if the US, as a leading member of the
International Body of Nations, could help to ensure that there is good
leadership and continued peace and stability in our country, then there
could be benefits to both nations in terms of trade, business and
investment.
The Gambia has enjoyed a long and harmonious relationship with the USA
(witness the link with NASA), and there is huge potential for both of us to
build on this relationship to our joint interests. The benefits are not
just one way. Already, Gambians who have settled in the USA are making a
huge contribution to US life and society.
On a related note, Mr Ambassador, in this 21st century, the US should be
taking Africa seriously, especially in Trade. Africa could be an important
player and partner on the international stage and has vast resources and
potential to offer.
If Africa continues to be ignored, the world economy could be set for
crisis, since Africa represents a huge and important market. In fact,
already the world economy is heading for crisis/recession, and many would
argue that the West is largely responsible for this scenario. Why? The
answer is simple.
Over the years, international trade/business has been designed to work so
advantageously for the West, and so disadvantageously against the Third
World and Africa in particular, to the extent that most Third World
countries (Africa included) can no longer afford to buy Western goods. Many
of the "Tiger States" (in Asia) have also become "Paper Tigers".
Now, since Third World countries, including an important market like Africa,
can no longer afford to buy most of these Western goods, the end result
therefore is that the lack of business activities has meant that many
companies/factories in the West are now being inevitably forced either to
close down or move into mergers.
This explains why every other day, there is an announcement on the Radio or
TV (to the effect that) companies/factories in West are either closing down,
or forming mergers, although I have to add quickly that the official reasons
given for these mergers are different from the arguments herein.
Notwithstanding, for me, part of the reason why these mergers are taking
place or companies/factories are being closed down altogether, is simple:
Western factories are manufacturing the goods, but their one-time big
markets (in Africa and other Third World countries) are rapidly reducing.
Unless the world economy is restructured in such a way that international
trade/business would be based on a more equable footing, world economic
crises or recessions will be imminent.
Foreign Ambassadors and the like, therefore have a duty not only to help
African countries tap their own potential, but also to try and encourage
their own governments to build an international trading system that treats
Africa fairly. In this way, international trade could be facilitated and
mutually beneficial.
In the short term, I urge you through your offices, to:-
1. Ensure that the electoral process in The Gambia is above board and
transparent as we approach the Presidential elections in October.
2. Put pressure on Jammeh and his regime not to interfere with the role and
activities of the Independent Electoral Commission.
3. Insist that the national media treats all political parties equally in
terms of access and reporting.
4. Encourage your government and other western governments to send observers
not only to monitor the actual elections, but also to observe and monitor
the whole process, in particular the current period of voter registration
(already shrouded with malpractice on the part of the APRC).
5. Ensure that human rights protection becomes the norm in The Gambia.
6. In particular, call on Jammeh and his regime to release forthwith Messrs.
Momodou Dumo Saho, Ebrima Yarboe, Lt. Lalo Jaitteh, Lt. Omar Darboe, Momodou
Mareneh, Abdoulie Sanyang and Ebrima Barrow. These men have been detained
illegally for over one year now, in total disregard of the Gambian
Constitution.
7. Put an end to the harassment of the independent media/press in The
Gambia, arbitrary arrests and the wrongful dismissal of hardworking civil
servants (including members of the Bench and the Judiciary).
I hope that this message will be given the urgency it deserves: The Gambia
is at a crucial stage in its history and its future progress and development
as a nation based on integrity, decency, fairness and prosperity will, to
some extent, depend on the support and/or intervention of countries such as
yours.
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.
_________________________________________________________________________
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