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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