I hope all these exchanges between Wa and "the religious leaders" is not
playing into Yahya's hand. Afterall, this thing about introducing Sharia
in the Gambia is still "Yahya said this....", "...no he meant to say
that....". Or am I missing something?

I do not think such remarks should be fodder for perpectual, meaningless
debate between a major political party spokesperson and a supposedly
"non-political group".

Malanding Jaiteh



[log in to unmask] wrote:

> Juwara on shariah
>                  Meanwhile, at a separate press briefing in his Brikama
> residence
>                  yesterday, the UDP propaganda secretary renewed his attack
> on
>                  the introduction of Islamic law in The Gambia. Mr Lamin Waa
>                  Juwara said the religious leaders "hyper-ventilating" in
> their
>                  advocacy for the introduction of shariah, should rather
> debate the
>                  rejection by government of all the recommendations made by
> the
>                  commission into the events of April 10, 11.
>
>                  De facto shariah
>                  Mr Juwara said the inclination towards the introduction of
> shariah
>                  "was manifested since the military takeover in 1994 when
> Yahya
>                  Jammeh built a mosque in State House at the expense of the
> state
>                  even though The Gambia is a secular state. That mosque was
> built
>                  for a political purpose because President Jammeh was trying
> to
>                  portray himself as a good Muslim, so that, he can sell his
> image to
>                  the majority of Gambians who are Muslims."
>
>                  The pulpit of State House mosque, he claimed, "is being
> used to
>                  castigate opponents of Jammeh... The State House imam,
> Alhaji
>                  Abdoulie Fatty, is on record for praying evil for the
> opponents of
>                  Jammeh in Mecca." Mr Juwara accused the Supreme Islamic
>                  Council (SIC) of "transforming itself into an organ of the
> ruling
>                  party.
>
>                  Some prominent members of the council before the 1996
> election,
>                  were engaged in distributing cola-nuts to sell Jammeh's
>                  candidature to the Gambian people. It was not in accord for
> the
>                  leadership of the SIC to attend political rallies of APRC.
> When
>                  Jammeh floated the idea of introducing shariah, religious
> leaders
>                  continue to debate the issue despite the denial by the
> State House
>                  spokeswoman. It was the same scenario in pre-election 1996
> when
>                  Jammeh described politics as dirty, and said he would not
> contest.
>                  The same people behind the scenario including headchiefs
> were
>                  used to prevail on him to stand as a presidential
> candidate.
>
>                  This is the reason why I personally took up the issue with
> these
>                  so-called religious leaders who are engaged in trying to
> use Islam
>                  for political purposes. They want to use the religious
> sentiment of
>                  the people and mobilise them to prevail on Jammeh as if
> they are
>                  speaking for the majority of Muslims in The Gambia to
> declare
>                  shariah and entrench this dictatorship as the sole leader
> of this
>                  country." Juwara said a "Jamahiriyya system will not work
> here."
>
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