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. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------