Journey for Justice, is a fascinating story of Hassan Jallow’s early years in a deeply religious, polygamous Bansang family, where for several decades his father, AL-Hajj Bubacar Jallow, (1909-19890), served as Imam and teacher to a vast number of talibas (religious students). Hassan would grow up with his parents, siblings, and taliba-elders- his father, in particular, making no distinctions between his children and students under his charge. Hassan hails from a long and distinguished scholarly and religious heritage. His paternal grandfather from the Futa Jallon region, in modern-day Guinea, was a prominent Islamic scholar, his son, Imam Bubacar, was himself a prolific writer, having written numerous poems and books in Fula and Arabic on the Tijaniyaa Brotherhood and Islamic Law. Hassan’s maternal ancestry is also one of scholarly religious distinction and gallantry. His maternal grandfather, Baba Yandeh Jagne, (Borom Terreh- owner of many books in Wolof), was known for his large Islamic book collection. And, Hassan’s mother, Jahou Jaye, was named after Maba Jahou Bah’s mother, the legendary Senegambian Jihadist, who almost succeeded in uniting much of Senegambia under a single theocratic state.

 

Life in Bansang for young Hassan was orderly- interrupted intermittently by soccer and games like Kholi Saa Matta (hide and seek), swims in the crocodile-infested Gambia River, where mystical stories swirled around larger-than-life, Abdou Mali Faala ( the hippopotami killer, in Mandinka). Gambia in the 1950s suffered deep-rooted underdevelopment- endemic poverty, no physical infrastructure to speak of, poor education and short-lived lives ruled, for the most part, by centuries-old superstitions. Among them, impassable Jahali-konko- the once infamous hill believed to have been inhabited by spirits that saw the mysterious end of many truck-drivers lives. Despite these, young Hassan did well in both Arabic and colonial schools, which led him to high School in Banjul, law education in Tanzania, Victoria Island, Nigeria, and London- building numerous friendships and establishing professional contacts along the way.

 

Journey for Justice, also documents important landmarks in Gambia’s legal, political and historical developments; events that helped shape the country and its peoples: the PPP machinery and Government, the failed 1981 coup, PPP Conventions at Basse and Mansakonko, and the 1994 coup, all entwined with Hassan’s tenure as a young law officer, and later as, Attorney General and Minister of Justice. The book also highlights Hassan’s important contribution in crafting and negotiating national and international human rights laws. In particular, the African (Banjul) Charter for Human and Peoples Rights, and subsequent establishment of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, located in The Gambia.

Justice Jallow’s professional accomplishments are varied and numerous, having served as judge of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Judge of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone and now as the chief prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, among other accolades. Importantly, he was a loyal and trusted legal and political advisor to Gambia’s founding president, Sir Dawda K. Jawara- whom he deputized on several occasions as interim-president when Sir Dawda was away on foreign trips. Impressive as Justice Jallow’s career is, it is important that we delink it from the substantive issues, merits and weaknesses of the book in order to assess it carefully, fairly and adequately. 

 

Journey for Justice is fraught with severe organizational challenges that obscure a clear and coherent message, as Hassan tried to do too much- an autobiography, sophisticated legal analyses, story of the PPP, and a performance evaluation of the PPP Government. This mammoth of a book, 622-pages, in all, could have been better organized into three separate books to cover the above mentioned themes. The book moved from one topic to another, for the most part, without much organizational logic or an overarching connective tissue. One would have expected, for instance, a discussion of Hassan’s family background first, (Early Years) before delving into the 1994 coup in the first chapter of the book. He picks up the “coup” theme long after it had been forgotten in chapter 18, the last chapter, but failed to raise critical issues about President Jammeh, the coup, and its aftermath. Hassan was also deliberately reticent over his tenure as a justice of Gambia’s Supreme Court under Jammeh from 1998-2002. This rendered the autobiographical portion of the book incomplete- and left his readers yearning for more.

 

It is important to note that despite many mistakes and lost opportunities, Gambia under Jawara improved lives of many Gambians, and put the country on a potentially firm footing for future development. Thus, Hassan’s praise of the regime for its many accomplishments was warranted but he failed to take a critical look at Sir Dawda’s legacy, the PPP, and its government, even when the regime itself was crumbling. By contrast, he was very critical of Sheriff Mustapha Dibba (SM), and organizations that raised urgent alarms of endemic corruption in the Gambia Cooperative Union, in particular. For instance, when SM’s attempt to pass “a vote of no confidence” motion against Sir Dawda and his Government failed, in the House, his “protest” motion was instead amended by a PPP-majority into a positive vote in praise of Jawara and his government. Yet, the litany of political, economic and social challenges the regime faced, as well as cases of corruption that later came to light, vindicated him.

  

Honorable Jallow, as Attorney General and Minister of Justice, also lashed out at the press, and even supported an ill-fated legislation to muzzle journalists and limit freedoms of the press and of expression. Thus, having begun his law career in the civil-service as a non-partisan, apolitical technocrat, Hassan grew increasingly partisan, deeply political- wielding considerable political power within government and the PPP. Why Hassan would, thereafter, serve the quasi-military regime that ousted a government and president to which he was so loyal, remains to be addressed. Hassan, (perhaps because of his current employment with the UN System or perhaps an institutionalized gag-rule) has, remained silent, unengaged, perhaps, even distant to the struggles to peacefully dislodge President Jammeh from office.

 

Journey for Justice, in the end, is an ambitious, but, nonetheless, a good, informative, and readable book. It is truly encyclopedic in its expansive documentation of legal and constitutional developments of the country, parts of which must be required reading to aspiring legal students and scholars. The care and precision with which Hassan wrote the legal segments of Journey for Justice, was both scholarly and impressive. However, it would have been useful to cite more sources and provide a bibliography. The autobiographical parts of the book are no less fascinating, and at times humorous, as it resonates well with many Gambians of his generation or older, and some born before 1965. The political aspects of the book were less impressive. Overall, what emerged clearly from the book are Hassan’s serious-mindedness, deep and abiding faith, and dedication to country, family and the use of law to deliver justice to average Gambian, but also to defend the status-quo- sometimes at the expense of the former.