Whither Heads The Gambia? The Independent COLUMN October 15, 2001 Posted to the web October 15, 2001 D.A. Jawo Banjul, the Gambia Most Gambians have no doubt been flabbergasted by revelations contained in certain documents currently circulating in this country about a promise by a certain Clark E. Enslin, claiming to be 'ambassador-at-large' and 'trade attaché' for The Gambia in New Jersey in the United States of America. According to the documents, this gentleman promised to send one million US Dollars for President Jammeh's campaign, to be followed later by another five million US Dollars, 5000 'T' shirts and 100 tractors, also for President Jammeh's campaign. Some of the documents are on the letterhead of the Republic of The Gambia and the court of arms, bearing the address of the Gambian Embassy in Washington DC and a stamp of the Gambian ambassador-at-large in New Jersey. One of the documents dated 6th August, 2001 on the letterhead of Gotham of Gambia Limited was marked 'confidential' and allegedly addressed to Baba Jobe on fax number 011-220-49-5897, informing him about a bank transfer of five million US Dollars from the United States to the Central Bank of The Gambia for the setting up of an agricultural and housing bank. The letter also called on the addressee to provide them with the needs of the presidential campaign and a photograph of President Jammeh for use on the 5000 'T' shirts. The other two documents, both on a Gambia government letterhead and bearing the address of the Gambian Embassy in Washington DC and allegedly signed by Mr. Enslin, were dated 27th August and 4th September and addressed to one Mansong Jagne and Bubacarr M. Baldeh respectively. Both letters talked about the alleged readiness of Mr. Enslin to assist President Jammeh in his campaign for the presidential elections. While there is no proof of the authenticity of the documents, but the situation on the ground tends to give quite a lot of credence to the allegations. It seems to fit quite neatly into the APRC jigsaw puzzle. We have all seen how the APRC has been displaying wealth during their campaign, taking delivery of about 50 brand new vehicles, dishing out quite a lot of money and distributing thousands of 'T' shirts all over the country, while President Jammeh has promised to give three tractors to any constituency that gave him 90 percent of their votes. There are also rumours of plans to set up an agricultural development bank, allegedly by businessmen very close to the regime. Therefore, everything seems to fit perfectly with the revelations in the documents. The question therefore in the lips of many Gambians is who this Mr. Enslin may be and how he got appointed Gambia's ambassador-at-large. It is also interesting why the government has not seen it fit to respond to the serious allegations raised in the documents. It has also raised questions as to whether this country is not playing into the hands of money launderers, which is certainly bound to land this country in big trouble one day. The Poliec Versus Plotical Neutrality I am sure many people were not only disappointed but also surprised by recent comments attributed to the Deputy Inspector General of Police Jai Sowe in the Daily Observer, apportioning blame to the UDP/PPP/GPP coalition for all the clashes during the campaign. Every sensible person would have expected that as number two-man in the police force, he would not have been too hasty to pass judgments on such a partisan issue before the courts. Instead, he should have left that to the courts to take care of the matter. It is quite ridiculous to hear him commend Baba Jobe on how he handled his alleged confrontation with some coalition supporters, when the court has not yet determined who was responsible for what happened and who was at fault. It was certainly not his role to apportion blame in such a situation, because it tends to indicate biasness. Looked at from another angle, particularly when we consider the trend that every time there is a clash between the supporters of the APRC and the opposition parties, it is almost all the time only the opposition supporters who get arrested and detained by the police, one tends to see that the remarks attributed to the DIGP seems to tally with such a position apparently assumed by the police. The comportment and actions of the police seem to give an impression that as far as they are concerned, the APRC supporters are angels who never commit any wrong while it is only the opposition supporters who cause trouble and the APRC supporters are always the victims. However, that impression created by the action of the police is certainly not substantiated by the reality on the ground. We have all been witnesses to provocative behaviours of some APRC supporters and militants. They are in the habit of riding on their numerous brand new pick up vehicles mounted with public address systems either blaring with loud music or they would be shouting provocative slogans against the opposition leadership. Under such circumstances therefore, it would be quite wrong for the DIGP or the police to blame the opposition for anything trouble arising from such situations. There are even allegations that there are some agents provocateurs being sent by the APRC to allegedly dress like opposition militants and provoke trouble in order for the opposition to be blamed. It is therefore the duty of the police to thoroughly investigate everything problem rather than be quick to apportion blame to the opposition. That is certainly not what people expect from the police; in fact it gives more credence to the allegations that the police are bias in favour of the APRC. The police as a national security institution are expected to be above partisan politics and it is very much out of place for them to appear to favour any political party above the rest. It is therefore a shame to see virtually all police and other security premises flying APRC flags. I was even surprised to hear the DIGP try to justify that by saying that the family members of the security forces have the right to manifest their support for any party and flying flags was one way they could do it, and which he used to justify those flags. Obviously, there is no justification for such partisan symbols to be displayed at public buildings.n _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>