When our National Assembly Members passed the Indemnity Decree, they were
carrying out the wishes of Yaya. When the same parliamentarians refused to
debate Yaya's corrupt activities vis-a-vis the crude oil from Nigeria, they
were carrying out Yaya's orders. When the MPs gave the government carte
blanche to arrest and incarcerate innocent Gambians indefinitely, they were
carrying out Yaya's wishes.

Let no one fool you. What we have as a parliament is a mockery to democracy.
We have a bunch of APRC sycophants that when Yaya says jump, the only thing
they know how to say is: 'How High?'. These people are too scared and too
selfish to think for themselves. Yaya's callousness and corruption is what
is behind all these unpatriotic, divisive and insane laws. These MPs are
mere pawns being used by Yaya and his shameless AGs to legalize the
lawlessness Yaya and his cohorts have been engaged in.

When the MPs passed the Indemnity Decree, they were merely legalizing the
elaborate cover-up (lawlessness) Yaya, Pap Cheyassin Secka, Ousman Jammeh,
Joseph Joof and the Chief Justice have been engaged in. Yaya and his cohorts
tried avoiding punishment for the murderers of our children by forming a
bogus commission of inquiry and a coroner's inquest. When that backfired
(somewhat), the criminals ran to the National Assembly to get the Indemnity
Decree; which in effect achieved what Yaya wanted all this time, i.e. the
murderers of our children to go scot-free. Should any sane and decent
Gambian ignore Yaya's larger crime of ordering the massacre of our children
and denying the victims justice and instead zoom on the despicable behavior
of the MPs when they carried out Yaya's wishes and insulate the murderers of
our children? I do NOT think so. What is more urgent is the presidential
election in October 2001. We will not have a parliamentary election until
January 2002. One has to be extremely naïve to believe that APRC MPs will
prevail in January if Yaya is defeated in October. So, let no one be lulled
into focusing on these impotent MPs and ignoring the bigger culprit, Yaya.
If passing the Indemnity Decree is evil, what is more evil is what made that
Indemnity Decree necessary. The Indemnity Decree was necessary because Yaya
and Joseph Joof asked their rubber-stamps in parliament to pass the law. Why
did Yaya have to ask them? Because he knows he ordered the massacre of our
children when he asked his security forces 'to fill the mortuary with dead
bodies of the demonstrating students'. This Decree was just another tool for
Yaya just like the Coroner's inquest and the bogus Commission of Inquiry. So
when we criticize the MPs for passing this abhorrent law, we must also
criticize the coroner (Ousman Jammeh) and Pap Cheyassin Secka for the
despicable job they did and the commission members like the Chief Justice
and Joseph Joof for aiding and abetting in the cover-up. But our harshest
criticism has to be directed at Yaya who is behind the massacre in the first
place and the subsequent cover-up.

Moving to the latest legalization of lawlessness. Again no one should lose
sight of Yaya in all this. Ten-year-olds in the country know that the APRC
MPs do not dare challenge Yaya. Some of them, if Yaya slaughtered their own
children, they would not dare raise a finger to defend their families. These
people will not fight for the ordinary Gambians. They are all scared to
death. Besides, when the MPs pass the Decrees to enable the government to
incarcerate innocent citizens indefinitely, the MPs are merely sanctioning
what has been going on in the country all this time. Where was this law when
Dumo et al were abducted and incarcerated incommunicado for more than 72
hours? Where were the MPs when the security guard at the American Embassy
was kidnapped by the NIA thugs in the aftermath of the Basse Ambush and kept
incommunicado for more than 72 hours? These are only two examples of the
lawlessness that ensued in the country. There are numerous Gambians that
have been illegally arrested and detained by our callous government acting
on the orders of Yaya. This constitutional amendment is just the latest ploy
to legalize this lawlessness.

Pap Cheyassin Secka tried through the courts to legalize this lawlessness
when he brought that spurious 'National Security' argument during the Dumo
case. The argument failed because it does not hold water. Like all
Dictatorships, what the government CANNOT get through due process of the
law, it gets it by changing the rules in the middle of the game. This latest
move by the Attorney General Chambers compromises their stance in the Dumo
case. Dumo et al should be freed now that the government is tacitly
admitting that the current laws does NOT allow for the indefinite
incarceration of citizens without charge/trial. When prosecutor Wowo brought
that 'National Security' argument in the Dumo Case, we made it clear to them
that what they were arguing was NOT the LAW of the land. Dumo's continued
incarceration is illegal. The courts know it. The prosecutors know it. But
they would NOT do the right thing and free these innocent citizens
(political prisoners). Why? Because the moron (Yaya) does not respect our
laws and his advisers like Joseph Joof do not have the guts to tell him that
it is illegal to kidnap citizens just because they do not support the APRC.

The government CANNOT argue in court to free the murderers of our children,
it passes a 'law' insulating the murderers and then turn around and make the
law retroactive. This is insane. In the Dumo case the government CANNOT
justify incarcerating innocent citizens incommunicado without a charge
(trial), it goes to parliament to pass a 'law' that will enable the
government to arrest and incarcerate innocent citizens willy-nilly. Let no
one be surprised if this new piece of thrash is signed by Yaya and made
retroactive to cover the Dumo case. What this amounts to, is carte blanche
for the government to arrest ANY Gambian and throw them in jail
incommunicado while the government conducts a bogus investigation. They want
pathological liars like Foday Barry to conduct fishing expeditions at the
expense of our innocent and defenseless citizens. This is nothing but the
erosion of a very fundamental right of the Gambian: the right to innocence
until proven guilty. With the passing of this Decree, Gambians will be
treated as criminals and incarcerated because Yaya and a pathological liar
like Foday Barry 'SAY' so. So, even before any tangible evidence is
gathered, citizens will be abducted and taken to jail. The sad part is, this
time around when you go to court, the judges will not drag their feet any
more (like they are doing in the Dumo case). When Yaya signs this law, no
court will entertain a case like challenging this lawlessness. If an
innocent citizen is incarcerated without evidence and his family goes to
court to get him released, the courts will simply say that 'their hands are
tied. The law of the land says that it is okay to arrest innocent citizens
even though there is no shred of evidence that they committed a crime.' Yaya
has taken the whole country hostage.

The reason the courts do not want to hear the Dumo case is because they know
that as the law stands right now in our books, the government CANNOT
continue to illegally incarcerate these innocent citizens. What did the
courts do? The Chief Justice together with Joseph Joof collaborated with
Yaya to use the MPs to change the rules in the middle of the game. Meanwhile
the Chief Justice will ensure that the case is not heard in open court. This
is a sad state of affairs for ordinary Gambian citizens. We are still being
ruled by Decrees. What we have is NOT a constitutional government. Our
Constitution does NOT mean a thing to these bandits. Whenever the AGs
realize that the law is not on their side, they take the law into their own
hands. Instead of telling Yaya to follow the law, the despicable AGs craft
ways for Yaya to legalize lawlessness.

Let us not give undue importance to the process Yaya follows to legalize his
lawlessness. The fact that Yaya uses the MPs, the NIA thugs, the July 22
Movement, the Chief Justice, Joseph Joof, Pap Cheyassin Secka, Ousman Jammeh
etc. to perfect his criminal enterprise, is important for us to consider.
But what is more important is for us to analyze the situation that makes all
these repugnant laws necessary. During this election season when we will
have a presidential election before we have a parliamentary election, let us
not absolve Yaya of culpability by focusing on his cronies in parliament.
They are all nonentities that we will get rid of once we get rid of Yaya in
October.
KB

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