I AM COMMITTED TO NADD, Says Darboe

 By Sana Camara

When the Supreme Court decided that National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) cannot be registered as an alliance of opposition ploitical parties, it nearly opened a flood gate of controversies, doubts and confusion among the citizenry while the future of Gambian opposition lies only on one thing - unity!

On the 25th of December 2005, one of the executive members of NADD Mr Ousainou Darboe had a chat with Portrait on many issues, centering on his political career, Gambian politics and current challenges facing NADD. Please read on....

Portrait: Would you tell us something about yourself?

Darboe: Well, I am what you’ve seen. (Laughs) I come from the hinterland of The Gambia - the CRD. I went to school in Bansang, St. Augustine’s. I read law at the University of Lagos and graduated with a bachelors’ degree in Law, before proceeding to the Federal Law School in Nigeria. It is worth noting that I am the first Gambian to read Law outside the traditional geographic area (U.K.). I also studied in Canada, did a Master’s Program in Law before coming home to briefly work for the government. It was seven years there before resigning in 1980 to start a private legal practise, setting-up Basang Sang Chambers. Basically, that is what I have been doing in my legal career.

You are a Lawyer by profession, why politics?

Let me say that law and politics are related in a mutually inclusive way. Constitutional law is a political document. When it comes to jurisprudence, you also read a great deal of political theory. But then, before the military came to power, I was not interested in politics. Suddenly, Gambians who were interested in seeing the country back to a democratic culture invited me to lead a party they have formed called the UDP. I took it as a unique honour and singular privilege to answer to this noble call. I also see it as a continuation of my father’s political legacy. It also showed the enormity of confidence those Gambians had in me. In the same vein, this made me discover certain qualities, which I could not discover in my person before.

We took up the challenge, even though we had to pay the price in strongly supporting the party’s course with intent to returning the country to its true democratic, peace loving, culture.

It has come to ten years today - what is your stake in politics under the APRC government?

A very horrible and hostile political environment! But, we have been taking solace in the fact that there are tens of thousands of Gambians who believe in and support our course. This gives us the impetus to keep going, even though many have suffered – in the form of torture, harassment, loss of jobs, properties, liberty and even asylum! But as you can see, somebody has to take that in order for the entire citizenry to be liberated and restored their dignity and rights to life, justice and economic development. It is the noblest course any one could undertake at this trying times of our historical evolution.

Your party (the UDP) contested and lost in two presidential elections. What will you subscribe to this?

We don’t see it as a loss, since the percentage of votes we garnered was possible in a very hostile political environment. In an otherwise different circumstance, the results will far outnumber what we scored. In 1996, all the security forces were engaged in political campaign of constant harassment, torture, kidnapping at night, as well as the arrest of influential UDP leaders like Kemesseng Jammeh, Kalagi Karamo Fatty, and Amadou Sanneh. Mr. Sanneh, our party treasurer, was arrested and severely tortured. You can still remember September 22nd at the Denton Bridge in 1996, when we were ambushed. With all these and many more, Gambian voters resisted it all and voted massively against Jammeh. Even though he was eventually declared the winner, he could not boast of scoring the sort of margin he hoped to get. In 2001, this margin drastically reduced by six percent.

Does this explain the amendment to Sec. 48 of the constitution to scrap-off the provisions of a second-round vote, if none of the contenders score more than half of the votes cast?

That is the only explanation! Because he knew that his popularity has been dwindling and he is loosing ground everywhere over the past ten years. How many years in recent times has he gone up river for a tour? It has been postponed for several times because of his fading popularity. But, there is a saying in Mandinka that "if you want to witness next year and next year doesn’t want you to witness it, then this year is not available." Come 2006, Jammeh will be out of State House through constitutional means.

With the formation of NADD, analysts believe such was crucial in order to make Jammeh’s dictatorship history in 2006. But is this not proving to be challenging?

Well, these challenges have been foreseen well before today – when we undertake such a unity in the first place! The trial of the ‘NADD Trio’ has just confirmed this. We knew the dictator will use every means, including extra judicial, to frustrate us. But we are not going to allow him frustrate us through confining us to the courtroom. By this, he hoped to have a free political terrain to himself. No, we wouldn’t allow that!

So what alternative strategy would NADD employ to disallow Jammeh not to confine you to the courtrooms?

We wouldn’t reveal that now because if we do, he would adapt counter measures!

The Indepen-dent has been privy to information that there is a growing mistrust between the rank and files of NADD. How true is this?

I don’t know what sort of mistrust people are talking about. What I know is that people are capable of saying things based on their personal imaginations. This should not be strange, especially to an organisation such as NADD, which comprise of five political parties and their leaderships - and hopefully, there may be additional parties joining the coalition. However, this may also be the work of opponents or those pretending to be NADD supporters, pretending to be committed to NADD when in fact, they are on the payroll of the opponents. These are the sorts of people who will go around saying there is distrust within NADD leadership.

Well you are talking of possibilities; but is it true that you are contemplating a pull out of NADD? Secondly if no, this is the second time such allegations are made against you, why you and not somebody else within the coalition’s ranks?

This is because there are people advancing such to put me in a bad light. Frankly, my party has the political muscle and there may be those who hate the course of Mr. Darboe and therefore resort to such. The last time the issue came up, the coordinator came up with a statement. Recently I read on the Internet, what I will regard as some silly comments - but at an appropriate time, the appropriate officers of NADD will meet and come up with a statement. What I can say right now is that I am committed to the coalition.

But how committed are you?

In the past by-election, I have manifested my commitment by going to all the constituencies and campaigning – in Serrekunda Central, Jarra West, Upper Saloum and Wuli West – all at my personal expense. This is an indication of my commitment because if I were not committed, I would have confined my campaign to only one constituency or asked NADD to provide funds for my campaign activities. And it is my view that my appearance in these constituencies made a little wouldn’t say much - difference.

Some analysts believe NADD is better off being registered as an alliance, instead of a political party. Do you share the same view?

Let me say that people are entitled to their opinions - and that is something I respect. But whether it is better off being registered as an alliance or a party, I express no particular view on it.

What do you have to say in reaction to assertions that the recent Supreme Court ruling on NADD’s registration has superficially imposed the alliance’s registration as a political party?

The Supreme Court found that it was registered as a political party but those who followed my arguments in the court will find that we didn’t want to register a political party but an alliance. However, the Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the law and we couldn’t go further than that.

What is your relationship with Halifa Sallah?

Halifa is a gentleman I respect.

How can you explain your representation of his colleagues and not him, in the ‘NADD Trio’ trial?

The question of representation is personal. I am not representing O.J. and Hamat because I belong to NADD. There should be that distinction between Mr Darboe the lawyer and Mr Darboe the politician. I am representing them (O.J and Hamat) because I am a lawyer. It is constitutional that every accused person has a right to be represented by a legal practitioner of his or her choice, if he or she cannot defend him/herself. As I stated in court, Mr Sallah wants to represent himself and it is a view that we have to respect. This has nothing to do with politics.

The state has appealed against the High Court ruling that acquitted you of the charges of alleged murder. Some analysts believed it was a plot to end your political career because, in the words of President Jammeh, your acquittal was "a disaster to the maintenance of the rule of law" in the country. What do you make of it all?

In fact, the ambush at Chamoi was directed at murdering me. That could have been the end of my political career! But what I want to tell President Jammeh is that whatever he does or plans… (Quotes the Qur’an) he will fail. For I know I don’t harm even an ant. So to accuse me of murder is the biggest insult to my integrity because I don’t even defend people who are charged with murder. Well, I know they have appealed and we will meet in the courts….

What I find disturbing is for the Head of State to sit down and publicly say that he doesn’t have confidence in the judiciary. Yet, he is appointing people to the judiciary who are public servants. Does this mean he now has confidence in the judges he newly appointed to do the job for him? That was an unfortunate statement from him and I believe it was wrong for him to say such remarks against a court ruling. I have realised that any time he has the opportunity of speaking on the judiciary, he always refers to this case. The Attorney General has admonished lawyers to refrain from speaking on cases before the courts. I think that remark should have been directed at the President. We are waiting to see what his newly appointed judges entrusted with my case are going to do....

We understand that you also descended from a religious family background. Please, explain that?

It’s true that I come from a family that is God fearing – they believe very much in Islam and they did embrace Islam in all its ramifications. Probably I don’t fall into that category but I am also trying my best to be God-fearing in my relations with fellow-human beings. I try to follow the teachings of Islam. "Dobo" – my village is traditionally called "Karang Bantang" which in Mandinka, means a "Center of Learning" and I believe it is still a center of learning.

My great-great-grand father, Dobo Kemo was a man closer to God in the spiritual sense. His history explained that he had asked God to bestow blessings on his family descendants. So before he died, he promised that within the seventh generation of his lineage would be born, learned, wealthy or a people of leadership or authority.

But have your generation or yourself, seen the fulfilment of his prophesy?

Well, I am a fourth generation of his descendants, and my father Numukunda Darboe, was a MP. He was nearer to Dabo Kemo than me. As far as education is concerned, those who pursued the Islamic knowledge are quite a lot – my uncle Almami Sankung Darboe, who was living in Dakar and another uncle, Yusuf Darboe, are well-educated people. The later was a contemporary of Kamanding Kanteh of Siffoe who just passed away; The old-man in Senegal, Ma-Ngansu Nyang. My father I believe was also a learned person in his area of knowledge. And for those of us who pursued the conventional education, you’ll be surprised to know that Dr. Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe is another great-great-grand child of Dobo Kemo. He is among several PhD holders, which include Dr Momodou Darboe, my brother. He is a professor at Sheppard college, the US; Dr Lamin Ceesay is the personal Assistant to Kofi Anan; Dr Sana Ceesay is a professor at Rust college, Mississippi, and you have the half-educated ones like myself, and Lamin Darboe, who was a magistrate in Senegal, (where he was brought –up) and became the Permanent Secretary to the speaker of their Assembly, and is currently working in the United Nations. So in a nutshell, all these are indications of his prophesy, or in other words, God has answered to his prayers.

What final message do you have for Gambians?

What I will tell Gambians is that the stakes are very high. It is the duty of every Gambian, whether a government minister or a labourer to make sure that in whatever sayings or doings they engaged in, it is in the ultimate benefit of the Gambian citizenry. It serves no purpose for anyone to engage him/herself in activities or utterances that have the effects of polarising the society, more so for those in leadership positions. It is their responsibility to behave or act in ways that will unify Gambians, irrespective if political, religious persuasions or place of origin.

It is my hope that as we enter the New Year, leaders will adopt new measures of executing their duties in conformity with their constitutional mandates, that I believe, will be in the ultimate benefit of all Gambians. I only hope that this New Year will witness such a change. Afterall, this is our country. If those in the executive think that they can use their positions to oppress their political opponents in order to achieve their goals, then they are making a great mistake. The Gambia is our homeland and we all have a stake in its development.

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