The July 22 Anniversary: Is There Any Cause for Celebration? The Independent (Banjul) OPINION July 23, 2002 Posted to the web July 23, 2002 By Sheriff Bojang Jnr. Banjul "Fellow Gambians, fellow countrymen the patriotic armed forces of The Gambia are in full control over the destiny of this great nation. And there has been no bloodshed. For the security of the general public you are to remain in your houses. A curfew is hereby announced, which is being placed from 7pm to 7am till further notice. The PPP is hereby dissolved. All former ministers are to report to the nearest police stations for their own protection. The Constitution is suspended. All political parties are banned. The airport, seaport and land borders are closed for entry and exit. These actions are not directed against any foreign government and all foreign in nationals in The Gambia are advised to remain at home for their own safety. An Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council is hereby instituted and its members will be announced later. This supreme sacrifice was necessitated because of rampant corruption and retrogressive nature of the country under the PPP regime for the past three decades. Henceforth a new dawn of freedom, progress, democracy and accountability will be the order of government. Any malicious attempt to counter this patriotic move will be mercilessly crushed. Long live the Republic of The Gambia! Long live the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council." The above statement was made by the late Lt. Basiru Barrow the then commander of the First Infantry Battalion of The Gambia National Army. It was in the late hours of July 22, 1994. He was announcing the famous revolution that put an end to the 30-year rule of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara and his Protectorate Peoples Party (which later became People Progressive Party). Alas, after 30 odd years in the presidential hot seat Sir Dawda the president became a thing of the past. He was chased across River Gambia on that cool Friday morning by the soldiers he groomed and nurtured. His PPP government collapsed perhaps forever. An interim council was instituted and it comprised of Lts. Yahya Jammeh, Sana Sabally, Sadibou Hydara, Edward Singhateh and Yankuba Touray. So what next for the Khaki boys? Even though it was a popular revolution and that there was ample need for a change in the country, the doubting Thomases were there. The coup left most Gambians in a situation of desperation and anxiety. They were not confident that the outcome of the coup would be indifferent from all other coups in Africa and elsewhere. They were not confident that the new regime would be able to keep the good human rights record of the PPP. Above all, they thought the culture of peace and stability in the nation would be ruined. During those hard days The Gambia was an isolated nation. Nobody wanted to empathise with us. No powerful nation, be it in the west or east was interested in fraternising with us. We cried, we wailed, we pleaded for mercy and none had the ear to listen or heart to feel the pity. The Gambia was threatened with aid suspensions and donor pull-outs because a democratically elected government was over thrown. The western world raised an eyebrow. Military dictatorship was at work. Draconian and obnoxious Decree No 3 which empowered the vice-chairman of the AFPRC to make detention orders where he is satisfied that it is in the interest of the state. Obnoxious exercises were carried out by or on behalf of the authorities. Fear was instilled in the minds of the people. Our colonial master's Britain felt it necessary to react to what was going on in The Gambia though according to some people it was an over-reaction. On November 23, 1994 Britain issued a travel advice urging British nationals not to travel to The Gambia and those with essential businesses in The Gambia to register their presence with the British High Commission in The Gambia. A short while later, Denmark also issued a similar advice. Other Scandinavian tourists left the country for security reasons. Because of The Gambia's high dependence on tourism for economic growth the tourism industry was brought to the brink of collapse. Thousands of tourists left the country. About 12,000 tourism-related jobs had been lost by more than 10,000 people (most of them Gambians), foreign exchange was scare in the banks, some medium-sized hotels had closed and the few ones in operation had an occupancy rate ranging from 30 to a mere two percent. Government has lost an estimated D50 million. Many years into the AFPRC/APRC rule the economy of the country remained that of a disaster. The living standard of the majority of Gambians declined. The price of basic commodities such as sugar and soap increased rapidly. There was a major depreciation of the dalasi against major foreign currencies. Shortly before the July 94 take-over, 1US Dollar was changed at a little less than D10.00 and eight years into the military coup it jumped to about D20.50 which is a clear manifestation that there is a steady devaluation of the dalasi. The value of Gambian indebtedness had increased from 390 million US Dollar in 1992 to 56 million in 2000. This indicates that almost half of our budget is being disbursed for debt servicing. For two to three consecutive farming seasons, the government failed to purchase the farmer's groundnut thereby making life harder for them and discouraging them from farming. While the nation was going through this trauma there was an extreme wastage of limited resources. The government could not stop buying expensive and luxurious cars. It was the hardest time for the press. When Jammeh and his colleagues tested the trappings of power the press became an enemy. The good Jammeh- press relationship went sour. Dissent was heavily crushed and the free flow of information barred. Around October 25, 1994 The Daily Observer proprietor Kenneth best was whisked off from his office by the all-powerful security agents and taken to Kartong where he was detained a few days and finally bundled out of the country to his war-torn country Liberia. Hiding behind dictatorial fallacy the authorities tried to adduce that Kenneth Best was deported as a result of tax evasion. On the contrary, we were well aware of the fact that he became a victim of the regimes high handedness merely because he had set the pace for the world to hear the voice of the voiceless and paved the way in informing the uniformed. Shortly after Best's deportation senior Daily Observer staff Pa Wenton and Moco McCauley, Liberian journalists were deported. On March 30, 1995 The Point Newspaper reporters Pap Saine, Alieu Badara Sowe and Brima Earnest were picked up by security agents over a story captioned "Revolt at Mile II". They were charged with publication of false news with the intent to cause fear and alarm to the public under Section 59 Subsection (1) of the Criminal Procedures Code. All the three journalists were later acquitted and discharged by the Banjul Magistrates Court. On July 26, 1995 The Daily Observer's staff reporter and one of The Gambia's most famous prolific writer Cherno Baba Jallow was picked up together with a handful of other Observer staff by NIA over an article entitled "Jammeh's Chequered Year". The NIA were not happy with what Cherno wrote in the said article. As a result he was thoroughly interrogated at the NIA headquarters. Intimidation and harassment of journalists are numerous and I can go on and on. In 1996, notorious Decree 70/71 was promulgated. It was first with Decree 70 which requires individuals wishing to start a newspaper in The Gambia to execute a new bond of D100,000 and not the D1000 bond originally required by the Newspaper Act. This decree has exempted existing newspapers in the country from this new bond. A short while later, Decree 71 came into effect. It requires existing newspapers in the country, which were exempted by Decree 70 to execute a new bond of D100,000 or face the possibility of a closure. All these were geared towards muzzling the press. Despite all odds attached to the AFPRC/APRC regimes The Gambia had been witnessing significant changes since July 94. Many years into the coup, The Gambia has got improved radio services and a fully-fledged TV station. Roads were constructed across the country. These include D112 million Kombo Coastal Road. Bridges were constructed. Senior and junior secondary schools and primary schools were built all over the nation. The establishment of a university will ever remain a plus in the AFPRC/APRC record. Under the new regime we have a standard terminal at the airport which is appreciated by all. Health centres and hospitals were established and upgraded. Markets were built and women affairs were promoted. This week marks the eight anniversary of the popular July 22 1994 take-over that brought President Yahya Jammeh to power. While I am taking this opportunity to congratulate him and his cronies from the bottom of my heart on the occasion, I feel it is my responsibility as a son of the ink to draw the president's attention to some of the unfinished stories and events of his eight year rule. Koro Ceesay's mysterious death One of the saddest and most unwelcoming news that hit The Gambia's streets was the mysterious death of Ousman Koro Ceesay the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs in the military regime. An honest, brilliant and energetic young Gambian, Koro was another fine specimen of those rare breeds called gentlemen. He was a sun on the rise but along the way unfortunately he experienced a premature sunset. Koro Ceesay, 33 at the time of his death met his end in a very shocking, strange and controversial manner. The questionable and tragic nature of his death was and is still glaring. It was on the fateful day of June 24 1995. This date marked the end of the journey for one of The Gambia's brightest intellectual hero in the making. On June 23 Koro was at the Banjul International Airport with other government officials to see off the head of state who was leaving for Ethiopia. From the airport the rest of the story on Koro became cloudy. His charred remains were found in his burnout ministerial car (with registration number GG1322) at a completely isolated road in the outskirts of Jambur village, Kombo South. He was found beyond human recognition. According to newspaper reports, with the exception of some ash burnt bones the frame was found intact sitting in the driver's seat with what remained of the skull slightly tilted. The flesh and most of the left bones had been completely burnt and the skeletal frame that was left was itself fragile. Koro died shortly before the budget speech, which he was supposed to deliver as the Finance Minster. Seven years after, the circumstances surrounding Koro's death were still not known. According to family sources, there has been no formal police report, no x-ray or autopsy report, no suspects named, no arrests made. The police claimed that investigations into the death were stagnant because people were not co-operating. However, that shouldn't be an excuse. Koro was an indigenous Gambia, a state minister who died while in the services of the state. The government should have been willing enough to go the extra mile of setting even an international independent commission of enquiry by inviting international investigation experts to probe the incident, it is not late. I implore the government to do this. Again Koro's family should be compensated for the terrible loss of their son while in the active service of the state. The truth can be hidden for sometime but I am full of optimism that in the long run the circumstances surrounding Koro's death will be known because he was a darling of God and God stands for truth. Commissions of Enquiry The main motive behind the 1994 take-over, according to Jammeh and Co. was to stamp out the rampant corruption, nepotism and other retrogressive activities taking place during the PPP era. To recover the "stolen" public funds, the Jammeh administration set up various commissions of enquiry like the Alghali Commission to probe the activities of former ministers and government officials. They were arraigned before the commissions on different alleged scandals. What still remains unclear is the fact that the government has failed to publish the final report of those commissions. If they are saying that minister X or Y is corrupt and has looted the economy of the country to the brink of collapse, let the authentic document that justify the allegation be published. I hope that the government will publish this report as immediately as possible or else we will declare those past ministers and government officials as clean and innocent as a newly born baby. April 10 - 11 Mayhem April 10 - 11, 2002 will forever remain one of he hardest and gloomiest days in the annals of Gambian history. These were the days when helpless and defenceless children of this land were gunned down, butchered and maimed by trigger-happy military personnel. Like the Soweto crisis during the apartheid days in South Africa, the children were openly brutalised and their constitutional rights to express their feelings and made their voices heard in a tranquillised manner were impinged upon with impunity. On April 10 - 11, 2000, markets and other public venues in most part of the Greater Banjul Area were as quiet and empty as in a war situation. Brutal guns boomed, blood flood in the streets, heads rolled on the ground, properties were vandalised, vehicles were burnt to ashes and twelve good lives were lost. The state's first reaction to the unrest came from the vice president, Isatou Njie-Saidy. In her speech, which was delivered in the evening of April 12, VP Njie-Saidy claimed that " .contrary to the erroneous belief that the shooting started from the security forces on the ground, it is confirmed that, in fact, the shooting started within the demonstrators ." This statement came as a big surprise and an insult to many Gambians and it caused fracas in their minds. It totally lacked contour and reality. The fact that only security agents had access to guns was glaring and it would be baffling for anybody to say that student demonstrators had guns during the disturbances. Perhaps, it was one area where Isatou Njie-Saidy, the second most powerful citizen and a parent for that matter, had betrayed her loyalty to the nation and she should bend on her knees before Gambians, particularly those who lost their loved ones to the incident, and ask for forgiveness. All was said and heard by various people. A commission of inquiry and the coroner's inquest were set up. Testimonies were heard and the reports were submitted to the government for implementation. Disappointingly, the government came up with the "No prosecution" decision. This is the worst travesty of justice that has taken place in this country since independence. While we celebrate yet another July 22 anniversary, I want to call on the president and his government to rescind the infamous decision. There is the need for justice and let justice take its course. We will wait for the verdict of history Amnesty for Sir Dawda Jammeh's unconditional amnesty for Sir Dawda Jawara was indeed a bona fide move. The amnesty was given at a time when The Gambia was getting into another phase of democratisation. If not anything else, Sir Dawda's experience in the political arena will help the nation to reach the political climax. But what about his ministers and other government officials who had been in exile since 1994? Like the Sir Dawda case, it will do The Gambia no good if these people continue staying away neither will it do The Gambia any harm when they return to the country.Thus, I want to implore the president to grant them amnesty in the spirit of national reconciliation. Dear readers, whether or not the July 22 revolution is worth celebrating, should be judged by those facts. Criticisms and reactions are highly welcomed. Excuse me. Peace! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~