The following is culled from Burning Issues (FOROYAA Publication) Wednesday, 7 March 2001 ********************************* The Government Spokespersons' Committee's Press Conference A Government without Self Confidence Journalists were enthusiastically waiting for the first press conference by the new Attorney General as member of the government's spokespersons committee. Many journalists were expecting new pronouncements on the status of decree 89, constitutional amendments and the status of the report on the April 10 and 11th incident. When some people engaged in speculation by asserting that the former attorney general was removed for advising the government to engage in the un-progressive enterprise of trying to amend some progressive provisions of the 1997 constitution and for rejecting the reports of the coroner and the commission of enquiry on the April 10th and 11th incident. Foroyaa indicated that governments operate on the basis of the principle of collective responsibility and that no judgment should be passed on the former attorney general until the position of the government changes because of acceptance of new policies. The meeting of the spokespersons' committee provided an opportunity to determine whether there were any policy changes. The lessons became clear that the policy changes were minimal after the spokespersons' committee gave their views on certain burning issues of the day. ON DECREE 89 The spokespersons' committee tried to evade the question but eventually indicated there is 60% assurance that it will be repealed but that they would do so at their convenience; that no one would pressure them to repeal it. This confirms that this government lacks integrity and self confidence. In short, the members of the PPP and other parties are part of the APRC. They are speaking in favour of the APRC. Some are even former ministers. On the other hand, some members of the PPP and other banned parties are praising their parties and are criticising the APRC here and abroad. These open criticisms have not done anything to undermine the stability of the country, on the contrary, the Gambian people are being offered a new opportunity to learn from the debates which are unfolding. This is what democracy is all about. It is the empowerment of the people with knowledge so that they can make informed choices. Nothing can be healthier than to have the PPP and the APRC sitting side by side to defend their own records while parties which offer alternatives join in to try to defend their own programmes. This will enable the people to judge who can best serve their interest. If the APRC had integrity and self confidence it would have been quick to repeal decree 89 and open up the national media for a greater national debate. The party lacks confidence in its policies and manner of government of the country otherwise it would never be afraid of any opponent, especially the PPP. Only a party which lacks integrity and self confidence can put a barrier to prevent the PPP leadership from standing on a political platform to defend its record. In fact Sam Sarr did question the constitutionality of decree 89. The Attorney General indicated that under section 7 of the constitution decrees are laws. Sam Sarr pointed out to him paragraph 6 of the second schedule of the constitution which indicates that existing laws shall have effect with such modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions as may be necessary to bring them into conformity with this constitution. This is why decree 57 which calls for detention for three months without trial and which abolished the viability of court action to demand the appearance of prisoners cannot be implemented while section 19 of the constitution establishes the 72 hours limit for detention without court appearance. This is why Sam Sarr pointed out section 26 to the Attorney General which states in no uncertain terms every citizen of the country shall have the right to vote and stand for elections at genuine periodic elections and that such rights shall not be subjected to unreasonable restrictions. Nothing can be more unreasonable than a monarchically inclined and extravagant APRC leadership to restrict others right to stand for election on the basis that they were misrulers''. The APRC has lost all moral justification for self righteous pronouncements. What it should do is to open up the political atmosphere so that political parties will debate on the viability of their programmes rather than on decree 89 and other restrictions of freedoms. On the proposed amendments, the Attorney General indicated that they will be considered by the next meeting of the national Assembly. He defended the appointment of chiefs instead of their elections as respect for tradition. One wonders what is traditional in having a president elected by the people appointing and removing a chief as he desires. This is nothing but a characteristic of absolute monarchy. The fact that the Spokes persons of the Government continued to defend the appointment of chiefs instead of their election confirms that the APRC is not a progressive party. It is a party which aims to restore monarchical institutions of by gone colonial years. Lastly, the Spokes persons indicated what was said at the national assembly that government has accepted the reports of the coroner and commission of enquiry. They however indicated that prosecution is ruled out as an option in dealing with the recommendations of the commissions of enquiry. They invited recommendations from the public. FOROYAA calls on the government to give a copy of the report to the parents of the children killed, the media houses, GAMSU and the Human Rights Organisations and then open up discussion with the parents and GAMSU on the contents of the reports. The media houses will then inform the public of the contents and ask for public opinion. To conclude, it should be clearly stated that if there was conspiracy of silence the government would not have changed its position. The role of a government is to serve the interest of the people. No government is fit to exist which ignores the demands of the people. The people must therefore know what their rights are and insist for them to be respected. Otherwise, they should remove from office any government which ignores their demands. Democracy means the sovereignty of the people. They create governments to serve them and remove them if they are guilty of misrepresentation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------