There are certain basic ‘Human Rights’ that all Gambians MUST expect.
Gambians NOT suffering from Ales should NEVER be bamboozled into ‘trading’
such rights for ridiculous notions like ‘socio-economic rights’. Say a big
NO! to Yaya when he tells you to give up fundamental human rights for the
‘development’ he ‘brings’ into the country. This argument might come in many
forms. BUT sane Gambians see through these arguments. Sometimes the
Dictatorship might want to convince us that these ‘human rights’ are
‘Western concepts’ that are not apt for our society and the ‘West’ is trying
to impose unworkable conditions on us. Needless to say, this is absurd. What
is ‘unworkable’ about having a free press?

The basic ‘Human Rights’ we ‘enjoy’ in Gambia are enshrined in OUR
Constitution. Although the Dictatorship tampered with the Constitution in
the final analysis, the bottom-line is that this document was NOT imposed on
us by some ‘Western Power’. The starting point of any serious discourse on
our so-called human rights is our Constitution; or should be our
Constitution. What are the rights that are guaranteed by that document? Are
those rights being safeguarded? It is disingenuous to have a Constitution
(guaranteeing citizens certain rights), have a government that abuses the
citizens and then turn around and tell them that the ‘rights’ guaranteed by
the Constitution are after all not important and should play second fiddle
to ‘socio-economic rights’.

Gambia is NOT at the stage the French were during their Revolution when
people were deciding on which way to go in terms of beefing up the bare
bones of their political slogans. We have passed that stage a long time ago.
People have already ‘decided’ on a Constitution. That Constitution inter
alia states that Gambians are guaranteed ‘freedom of speech and association’
and administration of due process of law. These are such basic notions that
it is mind-boggling to see anyone trying to argue against such ‘freedoms’ or
trying to peddle to people that such ‘freedoms’ are less important than the
building of an ill-equipped hospital.

Why can’t we expect from our government the (economic) development of the
society while at the same time safeguarding the BASIC ‘rights’ of the
people? All that Human Rights ‘activists’ in the country complain about is
that the government is violating the Constitution when it terrorizes its own
citizens. No one (except APRC) is arguing that the government should
disregard the laws of the land. APRC is the one that makes the law, violated
it and then argue that we did not need the law in the first place. The Media
Bill is a classic example. The Constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech.
The Constitution also enjoins the regular Courts to administer due process
of the law. APRC comes from nowhere, throw out the ‘guarantees’ in the
Constitution and then argue that the Gambian people should NOT protest
because Freedom of Speech is a ‘Western Concept’. This is ludicrous, to say
the least. The argument makes no sense. Even if this ‘freedom’ was NOT
guaranteed in our Constitution, the fact that some ‘Western countries’ adopt
such ‘freedoms’ should NOT be justification enough for us to abandon the
policy. What does fighting for this ‘right’ have to do with the government
taking loans and ‘developing’ the country? Why should we trade this ‘right’
with the silly AFPRC/APRC projects that are rendering our people poorer?
This doesn’t make sense. You do NOT even hear the most progressive
governments in the world (bringing meaningful ‘developments’ to their
citizens) making such preposterous arguments. Those governments do NOT tell
their citizens to forego their ‘human rights’ in order to give a free hand
to the government to develop the country. This tantamount to changing the
adage ‘you cannot talk and whistle at the same time, to you cannot walk and
whistle at the same time’. Of course people can walk and whistle
simultaneously. Just like governments can ‘develop’ a nation (socio-economic
development) while at the same time guaranteeing people’s fundamental ‘human
rights’ enshrined in OUR Constitution. Matter of fact, any Dictatorship that
tramples on people’s ‘human rights’ because of some mirage ‘development’ is
just setting itself up for eventual doom. Gambians should NEVER buy into the
fraud that they do not need certain BASIC ‘human rights’ because they are
‘Western Concept’. No matter where one is in this world, one should be free
to expect that the government does NOT disregard our laws and torture
journalists, abduct and illegally incarcerate political opponents, massacre
children as young as three with impunity, the list goes on about ‘human
rights’ abuses in Gambia. We should NEVER hate ourselves to the extent that
we rationalize cold-blooded murder and argue that our people deserve the
shortchange we are getting from the mental midgets ruining our society. Not
what the Dictatorship says are ‘important rights’ are the real deal. The
real deal is spelt out in our Constitution and the various international
agreements we have signed onto. NO! to enslaving ourselves because Yaya and
his cohorts ‘promised’ us some ‘socio-economic development’ that is
rendering our people poorer.
KB


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