And Hon. Fatty had to hold a debate with Yahya on crime and circumstance and on the Death penalty instead of charge that it would be murder-so-foul if he were to kill those he planned to kill. And here's the kicker: I bet you can't tell who Hon. Fatty addressed this letter to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haruna.
			
GMC Enters Death Penalty Brouhaha
	Reads :221

Mai Takes Jammeh to Task

The leader of the opposition Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) has joined the brouhaha surrounding President Yahya Jammeh’s announced enforcement of the death penalty in September.  
Lawyer Mai Fatty – himself a victim of the Gambia government’s vicious attacks – described Mr. Jammeh’s statement as a mere “narrative” that “lacks in policy substance because his government fails to tell Gambians how he intends to create a crime- free society. He said such a narrative, which is “without realistic and sound policy foundation, is a non- starter.”
Find below GMC leader’s full reaction:
We welcome the President’s call for a crime-free society in the Gambia. However, with the majority of those on death-row being convicted of crimes of a political nature, it would be an irreversibly fatal travesty to put those people to death. We strongly urge the Gambia government to reverse its dangerous intention with immediate effect. On the death penalty, our policy position is fundamentally at variance with the APRC. GMC is fiercely opposed to the death penalty in the Gambia, particularly under prevailing political and judicial circumstances. We believe that we can realistically reduce crime, including violent crimes without killing a single soul. First, a sustainable policy to that effect, a professional security establishment, and a strong commitment backed by the required resources must exist. A GMC government shall abolish the death penalty within our first 100 days in power.
What Gambians anticipated from the government was to tell us its policy prescriptions for tackling crime. What we got from the president was a narrative, lacking in policy substance, while failing to state his government’s plans on how he intends to create a crime- free society. A narrative without realistic and sound policy foundation is a non- starter. The government has never conducted a study into the factors behind the increase in crime rate. They cannot tell you why crime is up because they don’t know. You cannot control crime without dealing with its underlying causes. There is no statistical evidence anywhere in the world, including The Gambia, attributing decline in crime rate exclusively to the death penalty. Unfortunately, for the past eighteen years, crime statistics has been non-existent in The Gambia to show government’s sincerity on the issue. 
Law enforcement agencies, particularly the police must be provided with the right professional training, tools and resources to combat crime. For now, the budgetary allocation to the entire Police Force is far inadequate to seriously tackle crime, even for one region of the country. Investment into the Police Force is critically low. From personal experience as a lawyer, every time you report a crime to the police, you would have to either provide them a vehicle at your own cost or subject yourself to the mercy of the situation. The undeniable fact is that the police are poorly equipped to do their job, and criminals know this.  The government is equally aware of the challenges faced by the Police Force. 
Incontestable evidence around the world, including the Gambia, has proven that miscarriages of justice or wrong convictions do occur. Persons who would later be proven not guilty would have been killed by the State. We must also look into the crime of prosecutorial misconduct where evidence is either concocted by security agencies or exculpable evidence intentionally withheld from the courts and defendants. I do not know of any criminal trial conducted over the past eighteen years where the prosecution submitted or shared exculpable evidence with the court. However, my personal professional legal experience in The Gambia proved that counterfeit evidence extracted via severe infliction of torture were presented in court to secure wrongful conviction for treason. We subjected prosecution evidences to ferocious legal scrutiny in court and they were rejected by the judge. The contrary could have led to wrongful conviction of an innocent person for capital offense, a crime he never committed. Most convicted and waiting on death-row at Mile two were not so fortunate.
The Gambia should not even consider the death penalty without first building strong state institutions, effective judicial and criminal justice systems properly insulated against the slightest political interference and financial incentives.   

the attachments to this post:

Mai Fatty

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