From The Independent Independent View No other conclusion Make no mistake about it. Come to no other conclusion. The NIA is one Gambian institution many love to hate. Post electiom anests and the closure of Citizen FM are more reasons perhaps for people to hate them even more. Originally known as the National Intelligence Agency, it has been transformed into the National Intimidating Agency which poke its nose into everything and everybody save those it serves in the name of security. It is in most cases usurping what should be the functions of the police to deal with fraud, embezzlement, civil cases and other incidents whose implications limited as they always are, remain far removed from the issue of security. The celebration of Jammeh's election victory was being maned by surging tales of arrests and detention, whose head and tail are hard to fathom. Distinguishing oneself as an opposition sympathiser was enough to send plainclothes rushing to your door. The aim more than anything else is to scare and harass people into living quiet lives, that they may not have to question anything and react in any way. However, of all the recent NIA "security" activities the closure of Citizen FM and the arrest, release and rearrest of its Proprietor Baboucarr Gaye stands out as the most absurd. The fact that the only 'sin' committed by the proprietor was to be in arrears in terms of operational tax amounting to D93, 000 says it all about how far removed the NIA are from their original terms of reference, which is to investigate security matters of national proportions. There is really no NIA business in the payment of a radio station's operational tax or otherwise. That is the job of the Income Tax Office, which is being outlandishly usurped for no clear-cut end other than to make sure that the station is prevented from operating. What is more - no law in The Gambia ( if the constitution would apply here) gives the NIA the right to order the closure of a radio station for not paying its operational tax. Only the courts have such powers to do so if we should be talking in terms of the true spirit of Gambian democracy. If the courts have not done so, who or what on earth could have given the NIA the powers to close a radio station by the touch of a telephone. It is unfortunate to think of how far these "men of security" would go to injure the media. Indeed Citizen FM was an a blessing for The Gambia. Never before had a radio station attracted a teeming listenership. For the first time in our history, the unlettered majority who have been the silent majority were given access to information hitherto reserved for the educated few. Its pungent programmes of social significance confirmed the station's important status as a reservoir of hope for all who care about the media as the agent of free, unhindered flow of information accross the country. What a shame that this promising trend was cut short by the unrefined impulse of people who thought strangely otherwise. It is really absurd to think of how our intelligence agents have made themselves the permanent target of hate among people who felt profoundly wronged and abused by them without any convincing explanation other than the abstract excuse tied to security. They must never forget that casting themselves in the image of an organ of terror and intimidation will do the NIA no good. They should do better. _________________________________________________________________ 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 To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>