My Fellow Gambians,

This posting is directed to Gambians, especially those at home in our
beloved country, and to the International Community in particular.  Why the
International Community ? Because a section of them are in the habit of
referring to The Gambia as a "functioning democracy", merely because
presidential and parliamentary elections were held in 1996 and 1997
respectively, and because a new Constitution came into force in 1997.

The British Government and many (not all) of its officials are in the habit
of referring to The Gambia as a normal democracy, and give the impression
that they do really believe that the courts in our homeland are free, that
the judiciary is  free from manipulation or state interference,  and that
the independent press is free.

These UK Government officials often  claim that because The Gambia has a new
constitution in place,  which on paper guarantees freedom of speech, freedom
from arbitrary arrest and an impartial judiciary, then this must be the
scenario at home at the moment.

Kebba Dampha is right to point out that the British High Commission in The
Gambia is giving the impression to the British Foreign and Commonwealth
Office that everything in The Gambia is fine:  that there is an effective
democracy at work.

Indeed, a friend has recently been in touch with the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office to enquire about the political situation in The Gambia
at present, and has been given reassurances that everything is OK and that
there is a functioning democracy there.

For a long time, I have been building a case against Yahya Jammeh, and
explaining to people in the UK that everything is NOT OK in The Gambia.  I
have been asking them to help us Gambians in our struggle to restore genuine
democracy in our country, and also to lobby their government to cut off
support to Jammeh’s regime.

Those of us contributing to the Gambia L and to other Gambian-oriented
outlets, have been making the case against Jammeh, sending literature
relating to The Gambia and hard evidence to the relevant Departments in the
UK and else where, but there is still an uphill battle before us, compounded
by diplomatic blunders, such as the British Government’s resumption of
military aid to The Gambia (and this of course,  in the wake of last April’s
student massacre).

This therefore makes it all the more important for Gambians themselves to
take the lead in searching for the restoration of democracy in the country.
Western states are in the habit of tending to ignore those small countries
which are not strategically important to them, and a section of the
international community remains unconcerned about the true state of affairs
in The Gambia:  they are happy to wine and dine with Jammeh and his cohort.

Equally, however, there is a section of the international community which is
very concerned about events in The Gambia and which is willing to help us
concerned Gambians to restore a genuine democracy at home.  This section has
to be identified, nurtured and fully informed by all of us with an interest
in peace, justice and truth.

In any case, Gambians have to take the lead in the struggle to rid the
nation of Jammeh and the APRC, and to fight for the restoration of democracy
in The Gambia. But it should be the duty of foreign Embassies, High
Commissions and Consulates in The Gambia to report accurately the situation
in their host country:  they are morally and ethically bound to do this.

However, there does seem to be a disturbing trend amongst some of them  to
ignore the truth and to use diplomatic skew to hide the true situation.  For
a country like The Gambia, this is a perilous trend and it leaves our nation
at great risk.

The foreign embassies in The Gambia – particularly those of Britain and the
USA, are well aware of the true state of affairs  there:  they are well
aware that The Gambia is not even close to being a democracy.  I urge them
to report the FACTS to their governments.  If they do not do this, then we
Gambians have the clarity and the competence to do it for ourselves:  we can
put our own case effectively, and give ample hard evidence of the tyranny
which characterises The Gambia.

In this posting, I shall look at what makes a truly functional democracy,
and then compare these criteria against the current situation in The Gambia.



So what is "democracy" ??



Well, the word originates in the classical Greek City States, meaning the
rule of the "demos":  the citizen body.  It is an expression of the right of
all to decide what are matters of general concern.

Today, the size of nations has meant that democracy is no longer direct, as
in those early Greek days, but indirect:  through the election of
representatives by the citizen body.

There are a number of criteria which may be used to judge whether a
democracy is truly that or not.  The main criteria are as follows:

1. Are the elections of the citizens’ representatives free?  Are they held
frequently and periodically?  Does every citizen have the right to vote ?
Are candidates and parties free to campaign in opposition to the government
of the day ?  Is the voter protected against intimidation by the secrecy of
the ballot and other protectives devices ?


2. Are such elections providing an effective choice ?  Are they limited to a
single party? Does a majority vote against the government result in a change
of government ?


3. Do the elected representatives have the right of legislation, the right
to vote taxes, control the budget (by majority vote), and the right publicly
to question, discuss, criticise, oppose government measures without being
subject to threats of interference or arrest ?


4. Is the government based on a belief in the value of the individual human
being ? To what extent are certain basic human rights guaranteed IN
PRACTICE, not just on paper, to every citizen ?


Is there:

*Security against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment?

*Freedom of speech?

*Freedom of the press and other media?

*Freedom of assembly?

*Freedom of petition and association (eg. to form parties, Trade Unions,
other societies) ?

*Freedom of movement?

*Freedom of religious practice?

*Freedom of teaching?


5. Democracy requires the establishment of an independent judiciary and
courts to which everyone can have access.




It is now possible for us to set the situation in The Gambia against these
above cited criteria of democratic governance, and to make a judgement about
the nature of "democracy" in present day Gambia.


1. The question of the electoral process and its freedom and fairness.

Well, my Nineteenth Message to All Gambians of yesterday, gave a good
indication that the electoral process and actual elections of 1996 and 1997
were neither free nor fair. The playing field was certainly not equal, and
there was a huge imbalance in favour of the incumbent military regime which
had transformed itself overnight into a "civilian" political party with a
"civilian" leader.

The opposition parties were not given equal access to the national media
services, and the state machinery was exploited quite openly by the
incumbent regime.  Opposition groups and individuals were subjected to
threats and harassment throughout the whole of the electoral process.
Although the actual voting appeared fair, there were serious allegations of
cases of multiple voting by individuals, and there were serious doubts about
the security and the integrity of the ballot boxes immediately after the
polls closed.


2. Effective choice.

The elections of 1996 and 1997 certainly did not give Gambian citizens
effective choice. The time span for the whole electoral process was short,
and opposition parties had no time to organise themselves effectively.
Jammeh has also now removed the clause in the Constitution which limits the
president to two terms of five years each.  In effect, and with skewed and
unfair elections, he could be in power for life (if the Gambian people let
him).



3. Rights of legislation, and the right to question, discuss, criticise and
oppose government measures without threat of interference or arrest.


Because the APRC is in the majority in the House following the 1997
National Assembly elections, it now means that there is no proper and
effective "check and balance" system in operation in the seat of government.
  The APRC has it pretty well stitched up.  Where the opposition parties try
to engage in reasonable discussion and honest argument, the APRC use their
majority in the House to overrule their colleagues in the opposition.

Also members of the opposition are subjected to threats, intimidation and
worse.  The case of Ousainou Darboe and the forty members of the UDP
arrested for ALLEGED "murder" in Basse immediately springs to mind, as do
the cases of Shyngle Nyassi and Yusupha Cham and others who were tortured by
  Jammeh’s security forces in 1997.



4. Basic Human Rights:

Arbitrary arrest and imprisonment are the order of the day in The Gambia:
the government and the NIA kidnap, hold incommunicado and without recourse
to the law,  a host of law-abiding Gambian citizens.  They deport
non-Gambians for no just reason.

Freedom of speech is grossly limited:  the NIA operates a "Big Brother"
watch on ordinary Gambians, and the country is characterised in the main by
sycophancy and fear.

Freedom of the press and media has been severely curtailed since 1994.
Journalists, and media operators are subject to constant harassment and
persecution:  radio stations are closed or burned by government;  the
national TV and radio service is severely restricted in its reporting of the
truth:  the country’s main newspaper has been taken over by a lackey of the
APRC regime.

Freedom of assembly, one could argue, is not readily assured since political
parties and groups have to seek permits from the police before being allowed
to hold rallies or meetings. The opposition parties are still subjected to
harassment and interference, even when they are granted permission to meet.

Freedom of association is also severely restricted in the Gambia: to form an
opposition party or other society has become increasingly burdensome and
costly.  Trade Unions are hard pressed to maintain their position in The
Gambia, and their influence has been eroded drastically
since 1994.

Freedom of movement is not a right for all people  in The Gambia. For
instance,  some public servants, some politicians, some business men, some
members of the media, some members of the public need to seek permission to
leave the country:  the NIA or the office of the president can intercept and
refuse individual rights to travel,  on a whim.

Freedom of religion has always been a guaranteed right of every Gambian, and
we have lived in a secular state.  However, these freedoms are being
threatened by Jammeh, and the signs are not encouraging. The Ahmadiyyans
claim to have been bundled out of the country by the government and they
also claim that the State House Imam was using state media services to
insult them.  Jammeh’s recent declarations on the introduction of Shariah
law signify a shift in official attitude to religious freedom.

Freedom of teaching has not so far been threatened, but certainly there are
now great fears that access to education at primary, secondary and tertiary
level is being severely restricted.  People are no longer able to pay for
the education of their children, and there are still insufficient places at
higher secondary and tertiary levels for all children who aspire to these
academic levels.



5. We have all witnessed what has happened to the Judiciary under Jammeh.
Court judgements are not honoured at times (for instance, Justice Mam Yassin
Sey ruled that Dumo Saho, Lt Lalo Jaiteh, Ebrima Yarboe, Momodou Mareneh
etc. be released on bail, but the government has openly flouted the court
ruling and these people are still languishing behind bars illegally).

Attorney Generals come and go with monotonous regularity, and senior members
of the Judiciary are dismissed at the whim of Jammeh.  For instance, the
Master of the Supreme Court has recently been dismissed, as has Judicial
Commission’s Secretary, Isatou Combeh Wadda.

When Magistrate Bory Touray transferred the case of Ousainou Darboe and
other members of the UDP from Basse to Banjul, he was also sacked.

However, it needs to be pointed out that there are some dedicated and right
minded judges like Justice Wallace Grante and Mam Yassin Sey who continue to
struggle to maintain an independent judiciary:  they are people of
conscience who are doing their utmost to support the rule of law.



By all these criteria, we can see that The Gambia is not a functioning
democracy in the present day.  Human rights violations are a matter of
course, and a cause of great concern to international organisations like
Amnesty International, Interrights, Article 19 etc.

Jammeh’s record on human rights is abysmal.  If one also uses the
definitions of the African Charter on Human and People’s rights (such as
access to education, access to housing, access to health facilities, access
to food, access to shelter), then Jammeh’s dismal  record goes way below
zero.



My Fellow Gambians !


The message is clear:  The Gambia is far from being a functioning democracy
as portrayed by a section of the International Community.  Some of the
Western diplomats can choose to misinform their governments for whatever
reason, but this is an era of information and of clarity.  Gambians owe it
to themselves, for the record and for posterity, to tell the powers that be
in the world of the real state of affairs in The Gambia.

A country where at least fourteen young kids (and some unofficial estimates
put this figure as high as forty) were murdered by the government and many
more seriously injured – and NOT ONE PERSON has been held responsible with
these dreadful act.  What kind of a democracy does that represent ?

There are people in the international community who truly do not care what
happens in our tiny nation or others like it, but equally there are
right-minded people who DO care.  These are the people whose support we need
to harness:  we should be approaching these people and making our case in
the strongest possible terms to them.

As I said in my posting of yesterday, information is a liberator.

The stakes we are playing for are high:  if democracy is not restored and
restored soon in The Gambia, then there is the potential for our nation to
go the way of Sierra Leone or Liberia. What a tragedy in the making !

By the way, Jammeh has claimed in the past that democracy is a Western
concept and is not suitable for Africa or The Gambia.  What bunkum the man
speaks !  The notion may have started in ancient Greece, but the idea is
universal and the criteria for democracy are universal.  Western democracy
has its own short-comings:  we acknowledge this and know that the West
itself is far from being a perfect model:  but it is far, far better than
what prevails in much of Africa,  and especially in The Gambia.

Democracy is not only a Western paradigm and we should not allow Jammeh to
get away with suggesting  that it is.

My Fellow Gambians, we face an uphill task, but I do believe we can achieve
our goals.  Let us not give up:  we have to continue to talk about the
issues affecting The Gambia to those who want to hear AND to those who
prefer to be deaf to our messages.  We have to keep going; keeping up the
pressure until we are heard, and heard clearly.

The Movements for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia in both the USA
and the UK are highly commendable, and the UK group will be addressing
Members of the British Parliament at the House of Commons on February 28th.
These groups are serving as catalysts for action and change, and we should
coordinate our efforts more effectively to support them.

We also need to be approaching other institutions in the UK (the BBC World
Service, BBC Focus on Africa programme;  Amnesty International; Article 19)
and in the USA (the State Department, the UN, the National Democratic
Institute, and Voice of America’s popular TV programme called  "Africa
Journal".

This programme, hosted from Washington DC, is also available on the
Internet,  and  is watched by many in Africa via satellite TV. It is also
widely watched by policy makers on Africa in the USA and in the UK.  We
should be lobbying its presenter, the Senegalese Journalist Maimouna Mills
and the producers, to look at The Gambian case and present our views).
These are all outlets which can be used to our advantage, by arguing our
case for The Gambia eloquently and effectively.

I reiterate that we should coordinate our efforts, and go down every avenue
with one strong voice and unremitting pressure and resolve.

The bottom line is that Jammeh must go, and SOON he will !


Ebrima Ceesay E.B.A.L (!)
Birmingham, UK.

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