Gambia-L:
I an sending excerpts from Claire Short's letter to The Gambia's Development Partners, on the deteroriating political situation in The Gambia. Claire Short is the British International Development Secretary and she is very influential. Because I got this letter from a source close to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, I have decided only to send extracts from it to protect my source in London.
So let the struggle continue. We are getting somewhere. And if I lay hands on the letter she also addressed to Yahya Jammeh, I'll send it instantly.
Sarian Loum, Soffie Ceesay and Momodou Camara: Thanks for the Clarification on the new rules.
Hamadi Banna: I enjoyed your last piece on Jammeh. It was brilliant! You are a very good writer and you should write more often.
Ebrima Ceesay,
__________________________________________________________________
TO: The Commonwealth, E.U, World Bank, IMF
I am writing to you about my concerns regarding deteriorating governance in The Gambia.
As you may be aware, since late November (2000), there has been a spate of suspensions or dismissals of key public servants: the suspension of the Auditor-General; dismissal of the Head of the Independent Electoral Commission (and one other Commissioner); dismissal of the Deputy Inspector General of Police and moves against members of the judiciary.
At the same time, the Gambian government has presented to the National Assembly a raft of proposed amendments to the Constitution which, taken together, will effectively weaken the position of the Independent Electoral Commission and the judiciary, whilst strengthening the power of the President’s office. The timing of these moves – in the run-up to the Presidential elections at the end of this year – cannot be a coincidence.
The Government has also rejected any culpability in the events of April last year, when a number of students demonstrators were killed, despite a Commission of Inquiry report which puts the blame clearly on the security forces and other members of the authorities. The impact of these events is likely to undermine transparency and accountability in economic management, weaken the administration of justice and distort the democratic process.
We have made clear to the Government through our High Commission in Banjul, our concerns about several of these events but have yet to receive a satisfactory answer. I therefore intend to write to President Jammeh on this issue and stress that our continued support for The Gambia, both bilaterally and in multilateral agencies, will depend on effective action to promote transparent financial management (including through the Auditor General’s office); implementation of a strong PRSP based on genuine popular participation, and free and fair elections.
I consider it important that the international community, particularly those members who are donors to The Gambia, give a coordinated response so that the government, including the President, can be in no doubt about the implications of these worrying moves for continued international support.
Taken together, they indicate an erosion of governance which, if ignored, will seriously undermine and hinder development and poverty reduction in The Gambia. I hope you agree that we should act together to make our concerns plainly known to the Gambian government.
CLARE SHORT