Folks, below is how we performed as a people in the last Oil Scandal.  The
trump card was the National Assembly.  This time around, Yaya will try to
use the same escape route.  We have to stop them, even if it means
disbanding the Assembly.  We cannot let them get away with this.  The APRC
Assembly members have already been bought by Baba Jobe.  Please refresh your
memories.

The crude oil saga: The National Assembly lets the nation down

The Independent (Banjul)

OPINION
July 10, 2000
Posted to the web July 10, 2000

D.A. Dawo
Banjul

Once again, the National Assembly has failed the nation by voting against
the motion to set up a parliamentary committee to investigate President
Jammeh's alleged role in the crude oil contract said to have been entered
into between the Gambia Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation.

The proceeds were allegedly diverted to a private bank account in
Switzerland. This is yet another clear manifestation that the APRC members
of the National Assembly are more concerned with protecting the interests of
their supreme leader than those of the people they are claiming to represent
in the assembly.

There is of course overwhelming evidence that the crude oil contract
actually existed, which fact was confirmed by both President Jammeh during
his marathon interview with Neneh Macdoll on GRTS and an earlier press
release on the issue by the government. There is also irrefutable evidence
that the Gambia Government was found guilty of a breach of contract in a
London court and fined over $600, 000, which has apparently been paid. Yet
still, all these transactions seemed to have been done under a cloud of
secrecy. Also they seemed to have occurred completely outside the normal
official procedures with only very few people aware of it until when it
reached the court in London. If it was indeed a clean transaction, why was
it not done through the normal official channels?

There is obviously much more to the contract than both the government and
the APRC members are ready to accept. Even the very fact that the kingpin in
the whole saga, apparently to facilitate his role in the deal, contradicted
both President Jammeh and the government press release on the subject is
enough grounds for anyone interested in the truth to suspect an attempt to
cover up something fishy. While both President Jammeh and the press release
acknowledged that there was indeed a crude oil contract entered into in the
name of the government of this country, Mr. Sarr in his recent exclusive
interview with the Daily Observer, allegedly facilitated by some APRC heavy
weights, and which not surprisingly was extensively quoted on the GRTS news
bulletins, confirmed the existence of the contract. But he denied that it
had anything to do with the government, but instead claimed that it belonged
to an individual, whom he declined to name. It appears that Mr. Sarr did not
co-ordinate well with President Jammeh's 'bouncers', otherwise they could
have avoided the apparent contradictions between his statement and President
Jammeh's on the matter, which has made many people even more interested in
the matter. It is therefore worth asking why the 'bouncers' are going all
out to prevent the matter from being investigated. By voting against the
setting up of the parliamentary committee, the APRC members did not only
commit injustice against those they represent in the National Assembly, but
have also denied President Jammeh the best opportunity he ever had to clear
his name from such a damaging scandal, particularly when both he and them
are convinced that his hands are clean.

I agree with Sidia Jatta the member for Wuli that the papers so far
presented on the issue, the authenticity of which some APRC members have
questioned, were really not the issue. What was of consequence is the fact
that the holder of the most important post in the country is alleged to have
been involved in an issue which has the potential to put into disrepute that
very office. Therefore, if the APRC members were really convinced of their
supreme leader's innocence as well as in transparency and accountability,
then they would have been at the forefront to set up the committee to clear
his name. However, by their very defensive posture, they have made the
matter even worse and a lasting stigma on the regime.

I can of course understand the position of the majority leader Tamsir Jallow
and deputy speaker Cecilia Cole, as well as those hand-picked by President
Jammeh to be in the National Assembly because it would be foolhardy for
anyone to expect them to vote for anything that would put him in a tight
corner. It was however a surprise to hear some members say that the National
Assembly has no power to set up such a committee as if they do not know the
constitution. It is a shame that certain members do not seem to know the
extent of the powers of the National Assembly, or that Section 109 gives
them the power to set up a committee to investigate any matter of public
interest. If that was not sufficient for them to set up the committee, then
I wonder what more power and authority they needed to act, if only they were
sincere in serving the interests of the people. It however appears that the
APRC members were merely looking out for any slight justification to throw
out the motion in order to save the reputation of their supreme leader. They
should however know that the people are no longer that easily fooled and
that they shall be waiting for them at the polls in less than two year's
time.

Now that the APRC members have rejected the motion, the only other
honourable way out for President Jammeh and his regime on this crude oil
saga is to set up a commission of inquiry to thoroughly investigate it -
exactly what they did in 1994 with ex-president Jawara. It appears that the
APRC members have also forgotten that the AFPRC investigations into the
Jawara crude oil deal were based on information obtained from some papers
that the junta stumbled onto, which also could have been false, but on the
face of those papers they still went ahead and hurriedly set up a commission
to investigate the matter. Therefore, why would the same people now fight
tooth, nail and claw to sweep a similar deal under the carpet, apparently
just because they are afraid of the consequences? They should however
remember that if natural justice is to take its course, then what is good
for the goose should be good for the gander. For both goose and gander are
geese.







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