"Another pertinent question is whether President Jammeh himself would and
should appear before the commission. While almost everyone is unanimous on
the need for him to appear before a commission of inquiry to ascertain how
he acquired his enormous wealth within such a short period of time since
he became head of state, it is hard to see how a commission chosen and
appointed by him would genuinely probe him. That is just like asking a
thief to chose his own judge, jury and prosecutor."

Kabir, this is why this whole comic relief is just that.  We as a people
cannot expect Yaya Jammeh to incriminate himself, he's not that stupid!
Thus, we need to demand that he tell us where he stole from, for we know
the resources he's sitting on were stolen.  We cannot call it wealth
either, for it was never earned, but stolen.  We know he stole from the
people, we just want to know where and for him to cough it up.  Again, the
Alternative are given lemons, they need to make lemonade.

Chi Jaama

Joe





> "A Person Who Sell Eggs Does Not Start a Fight in the Market" the
> Commission of Inquiry - Who Are the Targets?
>
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200407121259.html
>
> The Independent (Banjul)
> OPINION
> July 12, 2004
> Posted to the web July 12, 2004
>
> By D.A. Jawo
> Banjul
>
> When President Jammeh launched his 'Operation no Compromise' about a
> year ago, hardly anyone took him seriously, but instead people saw it
> as yet another tactic to divert people's attention from his regime's
> mounting economic and social problems.
>
> However, when he started to order the arrest and detention of certain
> high profile personalities like the 'Almighty' Baba Jobe, some people
> changed their perception and expressed the hope that something positive
> would come out of it.
>
> However, it did not take long before people's hopes were dashed when
> there was apparent reluctance on the part of the regime to pursue the
> case of fraud involving certain big shots at the Central Bank,
> including its all powerful foreign exchange manager Lang Conteh with
> the same vigour as they pursued the Baba Jobe case. There was indeed a
> clear case of lope-sided justice being practised, and most people began
> to question the sincerity of the regime to pursue the matter,
> particularly after the Director of Public Prosecutions ridiculously
> announced his withdrawal of the case from court on the pretext that the
> accused persons have settled the amount involved. Apart from the fact
> that no one actually believed an iota of truth in that assertion,
> people were quite flabbergasted by the
> possibility of letting such high ranking public officials occupying
> such positions of trust to go scot-free after they have allegedly
> accepted liability for such large sums of public funds. Indeed the
> whole episode smacked of someone trying to keep some skeletons tightly
> closed in the cupboard in order to prevent some embarrassing
> revelations being made when the matter goes to court. It is therefore
> not surprising that the case is still in limbo and there are hardly any
> efforts to proceed with it.
>
> While all the drama regarding who to prosecute or not to prosecute was
> going on, there suddenly from the blue an announcement of the setting
> up of a commission of inquiry to look into the assets and activities of
> a certain category of public officials, both past and present since
> 1994, including all those who served as ministers/secretaries of state
> since the "revolution".
>
> Indeed the setting up of the commission was quite welcomed by almost
> everyone, particularly in view of the stories of rampant corruption in
> virtually all sectors of the public services. However, there are still
> several issues that the people want clarified before they would accept
> the commission as a genuine attempt to cleanse the regime rather than
> just another smokescreen to divert the people's attention from the
> realities on the ground. One such issue is no doubt a clarification as
> to who is actually eligible to be probed and who is exempted. This is
> quite
> pertinent in the sense that most of members of the commission
> themselves are either present or former public officials. Therefore,
> one would ask whether they are morally qualified to sit on such a
> commission under the circumstances.
>
> Another pertinent question is whether President Jammeh himself would
> and should appear before the commission. While almost everyone is
> unanimous on the need for him to appear before a commission of inquiry
> to ascertain how he acquired his enormous wealth within such a short
> period of time since he became head of state, it is hard to see how a
> commission chosen and appointed by him would genuinely probe him. That
> is just like asking a thief to chose his own judge, jury and
> prosecutor.
>
> Therefore, it is hard to imagine the commission chairman Justice
> Madabauchi Paul or any of the other commissioners mustering the courage
> to ask President Jammeh how he acquired his wealth, let alone find him
> culpable for any wrong doing, knowing fully well that he has the power
> to not only sack them but also send them to 'Baba Jobe's hotel'.
>
> Therefore, many people see President Jammeh's possible appearance
> before the commission as just a mere formality, and that it may even be
> an opportunity for him to clear his name from various crude oil and
> other scandals he is alleged to have been involved in since he became
> head of state. Indeed if anyone in this country deserves to appear
> before a commission of inquiry, it is certainly President Jammeh. It is
> a well known fact that he has acquired several times more wealth and
> personal assets and properties than he had before he became a head of
> state.
>
> Therefore, the people would like to know how he was able to transform
> himself from a poor army lieutenant in 1994 to one of the richest men
> in the sub-region today. The people would definitely want to know how
> he managed to acquire such expensive properties like the Gambia New
> Millennium aircraft, a king-size mansion in Kanilai, and virtually
> transforming that obscure little village into the only settlement in
> the country that enjoys 24 hours electricity and water supply, as well
> as financing an expensive commercial venture like the Youth Development
> Enterprise, in addition to his flamboyant lifestyle and the frequent
> dishing out of millions of Dalasis to those ready to sing his praises.
>
> It is certainly not enough for him to tell us that his money comes from
> the Almighty Allah's world bank, because we all know that it does not
> exist, at least for him. Therefore, he needs to come out clean and tell
> us where he gets all that money.
>
> "It would be quite unfair for President Jammeh to ask his colleagues
> and others to reveal the sources of their assets and properties while
> he chooses not to reveal his own sources of funding," said a senior
> civil servant, who for obvious reasons begged for anonymity. Indeed if
> President Jammeh suspects some of his colleagues of dipping their hands
> into the pie, then he should know that unless he tells us the sources
> of his wealth, people would conclude that he is also doing exactly
> that.
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>
> Copyright © 2004 The Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by
> AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
>
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--
Chi Jaama
Joe Sambou

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