LJD,
I will give our Brother a pass on that, could have been
because there was no launch of the book in UK; if I am wrong on that
probably because the book was too hot for him to get a copy. I remember
the rush to get a copy at the Atlanta launching. It was my opinion then
as I stated to some of the PPP stalwarts gracing the occaision that The
Gambians Deserve a Sequel, for what was left unsaid. Although; all
things being equal ( I am not speaking for the GODS), age might not be
on our side on that but atleast he can get it dictated for posterity.
Much obliged; keep at it,
Farang.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 6:48 am
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: [G_L] A REVIEW OF JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE by HASSAN B
JALLOW
Thanks Farang, and yes the debate is unavoidable with Hassan's
commendable book, and then BB Dabo painting a make believe picture of
the PPP era on Freedom Radio.
Do you not find it quite unbelievable that on Freedom BB openly
claimed/admitted to not reading Kairaba, the excellent book of his
former President
LJDarbo
From: Edrissa S. Sanyang <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, 3 January 2013, 2:30
Subject: Re: [G_L] Fw: Fw: [G_L] A REVIEW OF JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE by
HASSAN B JALLOW
Thank you Brothers, sounds to me the debate is getting us somewhere.
PEACE
and all the best in the new year.
Farang.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Jan 2, 2013 5:32 pm
Subject: Fw: Fw: [G_L] A REVIEW OF JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE by HASSAN B
JALLOW
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Abou Jeng <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, 2 January 2013, 15:08
Subject: Re: Fw: [G_L] A REVIEW OF JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE by HASSAN B
JALLOW
Lamin,
Season's Greetings!
Thank you ever so much for your continued interest in the search for
answers to our miserable national predicament. Your review of Alhaji
Hassan's Journey for Justice is a testament of your commitment.
Your analyses raise a number of questions that I privately battled with
especially in relation to my on-going enquiry into the origin of our
national troubles and prospects for the future. I share your reading of
both Kairaba and Journey for Justice within the context of a dominant
PPP and the dysfunctionality it symbolised. Although I am yet to
complete reading Alhaji Hassan's book, I'm beginning to convince myself
that beyond the reservoir of information, both his and that of Jawara's
Kairaba are ironically indictments of the scale of naivety of the PPP
leadership and the dysfunctionality of its governance structures. The
PPP had 30 years to rule, govern, stumble, rectify and change Gambia
for good. It ruled and stumbled many times, but never rectified and
probably changed very little or nothing at all. I remain disappointed
though, that neither Jawara nor Alhaji Hassan has gone any nearer to
taking responsibility for presiding over a process and a regime that
actively suppressed national ambitions, devalued individual autonomy,
and slowly and painfully steered our country into a big fat mess that
came in July 22, 1994. Often, we are told that Jawara and the PPP
brought peace, promoted human rights and allowed Gambia to be both free
and safe. Well this may be true, but only in relation to a margin of
12% of the elitist population -- the chosen few. For the neglected
majority, Gambia was far from peaceful, let alone free and safe.
True, there was peace without violence, but social and structural
violence were steeped in Gambian society. Though less visible than
direct physical violence, the type of social and structural violence
that operated during the PPP held our country captive, deprived people
the basic means of livelihoods, denied individuals the ability and joy
to dream about their futures, forced families -- particularly rural
folks -- to resign to a condition of 'harr yalla or mbey Allah batula,'
consolidated falsities in our national and social relations, distorted
the capacity and potential of the country, promoted laziness in minds
and deeds, and above all, implanted a hopeless sense of existence. For
instance, what was peace when over 60% of children and teen-agers had
to walk for miles to get to the nearest school? What was peace when 88%
of the population was impoverished and neglected? What was peace when
there was no equality of life chances -- where the talented majority
from impoverished social backgrounds were forced to have their dreams
crushed or at best sought comfort in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for
Godot, while the generally talent-starved few grabbed all facilities
and privileges? What was peace when a majority of the population was
less likely to celebrate their 55th birthdays? What was peace when 80%
of the population had no access to basic health care, clean
water and more likely to die from a mosquito bite than a teen-ager in
London would from a knife attack? What was peace when the majority of
the roads were virtually impassable? What was peace when the prospect
for a better life was extinguished at birth? What was peace when the
people in the coastal towns of Tanjeh, Gunjur, Brufut etc had no
meaningful commercial benefit from fish stocks? To my mind, part of the
problem seems to be that the PPP was more interested in ruling than
governing. Yet both Jawara's and Alhaji Hassan's books give a
romanticised -- and in some ways nostalgic -- impression of a party
political system that was good at governing and proud of ruling.
But for me though -- and this is where I tend to differ from many
people -- the dysfunctionality of the PPP era is at the centre of our
present national crises and dilemmas. No matter how distant the PPP
days seem now, the APRC's crises of governance are fundamentally linked
to the dysfunctional PPP and the criminally-under-ambitious collective
psyche of Jawara and his cabinet. So to better understand why Jammeh
violates Gambians, it is important to understand what the PPP did or
did not do. Let me elaborate. One of the primary functions of
a Government is to maintain law and order as well as provide the
platforms and resources from which people can pursue their dreams and
shape their destinies. An important part of this for post-independence
nation-states is the conception and consolidation of a national
narrative and identity. This provides the reference point upon which
the mechanics of a future can be outlined, one that allows people to
negotiate their spaces for freedom, individual personalities, family
structures etc. Neither the PPP as a dominant political entity nor
Jawara as a larger-than-life President came any closer to shaping a
national identity or narrative. Such a flaw in the PPP's leadership and
governance culture meant that Gambians had to fall back to a localised
cultural set up whose philosophical underpinnings -- muunge and maslaha
-- were and remain deeply disempowering. And history is replete with
examples to suggest that when individuals in society are not at ease
with themselves or do not have a formidable reference point to align
their daily struggles, aspirations and futures, they would ultimately
remain culturally shackled, politically
unfree, normatively dysfunctional and collectively resigned to whatever
tragedy that befalls them. This will only change when dreams become
ordinary.
The omission of a national narrative or identity for Gambia
becomes even more serious when you compare with our Senegalese cousins.
When Senghor came to power, he set out as one of his first priorities,
to formulate a narrative for Senegal and an identity for the
Senegalese. The former took the shape of building a Senegal that:
(1) took pride in itself; (2) desirous to be innovative and
enterprising; (3) open and free. For the individual Senegalese, Senghor
implanted: (1) spirited discipline -- 'fasjom'; (2) hard work --
'dandolleh'; (3) duty of care -- 'terral ak terraleh'. When combined,
the national narrative of Senegal and the identity of the
Senegalese provided reference points for the people and the country to
negotiate what they wanted and how they were to achieve these. This is
why every Senegalese tends to behave and act like any other Senegalese
(hardworking, open, free, and articulate, as well as proud of being
Senegalese) partly because they share a sense of purpose, direction and
ambition. Gambians had no such leadership and philosophical
offering post-independence. Jawara governed as if he was operating a
Kebab shop. There was also no sense of urgency, purpose or
direction (one newspaper advert carried a press release from Jawara's
office in 1967: 'Could the person who left reading glasses in the Prime
Minister's Office please go and collect them'). The pace of life was
slow and both the leadership and the people had this grand illusion
that God loves Gambians more than any other. When bad governance and an
impoverished political imagining arose in the late 70s and early 80s,
the best the PPP came up with was the mantra of 'Tesito'. Of course
this was an ill-conceived throw-back at the scale of austerity in the
wake of social and economic destabilisation. And so to this day, nobody
knows what Gambia's identity or national narrative is. Jawara may say
'Friendship With The World'. But that sounds more like the opening note
of a bad karaoke song than a national narrative. Some may say what's
the fuss? Well the fuss is unless we have an identifiable national
narrative and identity we will continue to live in falsehood. And it is
our falsehood that makes us culturally shackled, politically unfree,
normatively dysfunctional and collectively resigned to whatever tragedy
that comes our way.
So, it is good that you have, Lamin, raised questions and alarm bells
from both Kairaba and Journey for Justice especially in the nature of
the dysfunctionality and lack of vision of the PPP. With all the
disagreements I have with Halifa as regards our current constitutional
setting, I think he was very instrumental in exposing the falsities
that dogged the PPP and the hopeless direction of our country under
Jawara particularly at the beginning of the 1980s onwards. The price
Halifa and his colleagues paid was the barrage of an increasingly
dismissive Jawara who painted Foroyaa as an instrument for mischief
rather than an outlet engaging important national
issues. Unfortunately, there seems to be attempts to gloss-over the
catalogues of sins under the PPP in both Kairaba and Journey for
Justice. Increasingly also, BB Darboe has been doing the rounds with
the online outlets, telling people how great times were under the PPP
and how much great was still ahead of Gambia. Well he has a point.
Times were great for the chosen few, but utterly miserable for the
neglected majority. And when it was put to him that corruption was
rife, BB became tetchy, angry and even raised his voice to lecture the
interviewer on the ethics of journalism. Like Jawara and Alhaji Hassan,
BB is also yet to take responsibility for our national mess. But the
denial seems even broader and can sometimes be very proximate. I have
uncles and cousins, aunties and neighbours who served in the highest
echelons of the PPP regime. My grandpa too was very close to Jawara and
served as a Chief from 1952 upto his death in 1985. All of them saw the
PPP as the regime that made Gambia a Shangri-La. Fanciful! Fortunately,
the history they are attempting to re-write is not so distant a
history. Some do remember and many lived through it. It was far from
pleasant. It is also unfortunate that the resurgence of these PPP
ayatollahs are coming at a time when Gambia is vulnerable and its
people going through a painful process of soul-searching. But I only
hope that people do not start to visualise the PPP with nostalgia
or possible alternative however imaginary. Informative as these
books are, history won't be so kind to the PPP irrespective of how bad
the APRC messes up. The PPP and its leadership were good at ruling but
miserable with governance. They remain a fundamental part of our
on-going national problems. For a disgruntled me, I just want someone
to say sorry and leave us alone!
Many thanks once again, Lamin.
With warm regards,
Abou
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 7:09 AM, Lamin Darbo
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Book Title: Journey for Justice,
632pages, AuthorHouse
Author: Hassan B Jallow
Review by LaminJ Darbo
Rather poignantly, Journeyfor Justice commenced at the end of Hassan B
Jallow’s (Hassan) all-lifecareer as a Law Officer, specifically as
Chief Law Officer in his capacity asAttorney General and Minister of
Justice. That this magisterial work also closedwith the overthrow of
the PPP government underscores the significance of theseismic event
that was 22 July 1994.
From chapter one, “July 1994 – Coup D’etat”, the reader isconfronted
with the question of PPP’s fitness to preside over Gambian public
affairsIn the main, and in so far as the coup d’etat, those questions
centre on who, withingovernment, knew what about the events culminating
in the by then predictableintervention of the military in Gambian
governance.
Occupying the middleten years separating independence to 1984 and 1994
to 2012 – the publicationyear of Journey for Justice - therecord
suggests that Hassan’s tenure as Chief Law Officer easily makes him
themost productive and distinguished Attorney General so far. There is
nothing per se magical about the years inquestion, only that Hassan’s
president had the good judgement to leave him inpost for a decade, and
he himself the ability and vision to productively engagewith his
responsibilities. Herein the significance of Journey for Justice as
avital perspective on a contentious period in Gambia’s public life.
From the onset, therelurks in the background the disturbing issue of a
government so divided, and,or, incompetent, as to prove incapable - on
any objective analysis - ofadequately protecting national security.
There was the controversial issue ofHassan’s assignment by then Vice
President, Saihou Sabally (Sabally), to meet thePresident, Sir Dawda
Jawara (President Jawara) at the airport on return fromoverseas.
Inextricably linked tothis assignment was the unsettled question of
what Sabally, and Hassan, knewabout the political thunderstorm that was
to hit their government on 22 July.Sabally skipped the airport meeting
on the excuse he had “to go to Farafeni toattend the funeral of a
relative” p.17. Inexplicably, Sabally spent that very nightof 21 July
in Banjul and was in his office at the State House quite early
thefateful next day. “It is now established that Saihou Sabally was
back in Banjulthat night, or early morning and in his office in the
morning of July 22nd1994” p.17. Why was Sabally’s movement specifically
red-flagged when Hassanneglected to offer an explicit view on the
question?
On his part, and thisaccording to President Jawara in his
autobiography, Kairaba, Hassan brokeaway from the presidential convoy
without explanation. He neither briefed his Presidentabout the state of
affairs in the country, nor followed his convoy to StateHouse. And even
whereas Hassan dealt with the briefing issue, he avoided thecritical
protocol oversight of abandoning the presidential convoy as it headedto
the island of Banjul, that potential trap in times of public
uncertainty andconflict.
In the chaotic earlymoments of military intervention in Gambian public
life, some ministers admittedhearing inklings of something akin to 22
July a whole two weeks prior. Ratherextraordinarily, others heard
nothing! Even when the noose was tighteningaround Banjul, the boss of
the National Security Service was assuring Cabinet ministersall was
well. In Kairaba, Sir Dawda claimed he was unaware of the presence
ofthe American naval vessel, US La Moore County in Gambian territory.
He pointedthe finger of suspicion at Sabally! However viewed, this was
quiteextraordinary, and the evidence, admittedly circumstantial,
appears to suggestthe PPP Government was actively self-canibalising in
its sunset months, weeks,and days!
And so it happened thatministers in the country, along with some
security chiefs, were held captivecommencing that fateful day when a
thirty year government spectacularlycollapsed like a house of cards.
President Jawara and other senior figures wereafloat on national waters
headed for lands beyond our shores. What aninglorious, and some may
say, fitting end, to three decades of a generally do-nothingand
tremendously corrupt government. It was in this climate that the
AFPRC’s irreverentSana Bairo Sabally, if only briefly, set to work
traumatising former ministersand the unlucky that crossed his path.
In Chapter two, “Early Years”, Hassan dealt with hisBansang beginnings
through high schools at Saint Augustine’s, and Gambia High,in Banjul,
and to Tanzania to “read for the LL.B. degree at the University
ofDar-Es-Salaam” in 1973 p. 42, from where he graduated “with an LL.B
(FirstClass Honours Degree)” in May 1976. His educational journeys
continued throughthe Nigerian Law School in Lagos in October 1976 from
where he “passed the Barfinals” in May 1977 p. 47. In September 1978,
Hassan entered the UK on aBritish Council scholarship to study “for the
Master of Laws Course atUniversity College London” p. 58, returning
“exactly a year to the day” he leftBanjul, and having specialised in
public international law. At the tender ageof 28, Hassan graduated from
rural childhood in Bansang, high school and urbanchildhood in Banjul,
and higher education at institutions in the great andexciting cities of
Dar-Es-Salaam, Lagos, and London. His permanent career wasto commence
and end at the AG’s Chambers where he worked since 1976.
In Journey for Justice, Hassan discussed the African (Banjul) Charteron
Human and Peoples Rights and its interface with OAU politics (chapter
3),and dealt with The Special Criminal Court Act 1979, at chapter 4.
Chapter 5 dealtwith Kukoi and his 30 July 1981 incident, and chapter 6
dilated on the politicallyexpedient Senegambia Confederation. In
chapter 7, Hassan became SolicitorGeneral, and entered the big league
as Attorney General and Minister of Justicein chapter 8. As Chief Law
Officer, Hassan embarked on systematic reform of law(chapter 9), and
did what he could to enhance operations in the chronically
inefficientGambian judicial system (chapter 10).
In chapter 11, Integrity in Public Life, Hassan extensivelydiscussed
the single issue that ultimately sunk the PPP, i.e., rampantcorruption.
Chapter 12 dealt with governance and not only undertook a
comparativeanalysis of the 1970 and 1997 constitutions, but lauded the
democraticcredentials of President Jawara and the PPP, and in chapter
13, Hassan discussedhis “Early Political Duties” as amember of the
Cabinet. Chapter 14 dealt with overall party political tapestryand
elections, and in chapter 15, he tackled the famous and watershed Fifth
PPP National Congress at Mansakonko,and chapter 16 dealt with his
Government’s last general elections in 1992.Chapter 17 dealt with the
gathering storm that already undermined the castle ofsand that was the
PPP Government as its incompetent hubris was about to catchup with
destiny. As earlier mentioned, Journeyfor Justice ended, at chapter 18,
with “1994Coup D’etat – Postcript”.
Viewed in the round, Journey for Justice is an excellent bookespecially
in terms of the sheer volume of cogent factual information. From
apurely intellectual perspective, the analysis equally passes muster,
but here thereader must remain alert to Hassan’s understandable
partiality. In the face ofoverwhelming evidence of runaway corruption,
Hassan consistently questions thevalidity of any such contention.
Indeed, the Bishop of Banjul, the Rt ReverendMichael Cleary, attacked
“bribery”, “corruption”, “greed” and “an appallinglack of
accountability ... fast taking root in the country” p594-6. In
hiswords, there were “disturbing signs that the good name which the
country hasfor upholding justice is being rapidly eroded. Hardly a week
passed by withoutreports of a financial scandal in government,
parastatal bodies or businesscircles”.
Outside PPP circles, BishopCleary’s view was the consensus in the
country. and the evidence supporting it wasoverwhelming. But Hassan
thought otherwise. “As a lawyer when I spoke ofcorruption I did so in a
technical legal sense which is different from the offencesof theft or
embezzlement of public funds and property”. p597. He continued:
Iam mindful that the opposition NCP and others made much noise about
corruption
andits rising levels. But when challenged to identify specific cases to
the policeor
theAttorney General they were noticeably short of any concrete
information. One
developedthe impression that the opposition, in order to discredit the
Government,
merelylatched onto this popular anti-corruption slogan p.597-8
Contrary to Hassan’scontention elsewhere in Journey forJustice, it is
irrelevant whether Government leadership was involved incorruption or
not. Indeed, there was evidence of leadership-level corruptionyears
before 1994, including in the Sanna Manneh saga. In any case,
theGovernment had oversight responsibility for the public purse! There
wascompelling evidence that Hassan’s government had no serious
commitment to rootingout corruption.
For example, when theAsset Evaluation Commission was launched by Fafa
Mbai as Attorney General, hewas hounded out of Cabinet and himself
dragged before the Commission. Accordingto Hassan, of the complaints
lodged with the Commission, only Fafa’s came fromthe State House. “I
believe all the complaints submitted to the Commissionerother than the
one in respect of Fafa, which was forwarded by the office of
thepresident, were filed by two individuals whose identity eventually
became amatter of public knowledge in Banjul. With the result that they
became theobject of private criminal prosecutions. And great dislike”
p.300.. The two were charged with the now viral offenceof “giving
false information to a public servant”, a PPP-era law!
Who lodged Fafa’s file withthe President’s Office and why were two
citizens prosecuted for doing the biddingof the Commission within its
established operational framework? This was aperverse abuse of the
Commission framework which was based on information fromthe public. It
stands to reason thatmembers of the public who volunteered information
must be protected and asAttorney General, Hassan was duty bound to
block the malicious privateprosecutions via the agency of the police
power of the state.
In explaining why thescheme was ultimately scrapped, he had this to
say: “As time went on theCommission began to be faced with a
credibility problem as the society, rightlyor wrongly, began to
perceive the exercise as being manipulated and used as apolitical
weapon targeted principally against the urban elite of a
particularethnic group”. p. 300 Hassan offers no personal thoughts on
this allegation ofwitch hunting but there was no question it was
founded on utter fabrication.The victim “urban elite of a particular
ethnic group” controlled the governmentand masterminded the sacking and
subsequent humiliation of Fafa.
Regardless of Hassan’sperspective, the PPP era was inseparable from the
widespread corruption thattook such firm root in the country that
ill-gotten gain was flaunted as thenorm. When the Special Criminal
Court Bill was tabled in Parliament in 1979,then Attorney General M L
Saho stated: “It is not alarming to say that thiscountry will be
destroyed if this cancer is not arrested now. Me make noapologies for
this Bill ... No stone would be left unturned in the fight toprotect
the interest of the public from the rapacious mafia withinour society”
p. 298. In 1980, “one Member of Parliament expressed the view thatmore
stringent measures such as hand amputation ought to beintroduced” to
stem the tide of runaway corruption. “A Parliamentary
Secretary,addressing Government accounting personnel, was reported by
the Gambia NewsBulletin of 10th July, 1980 to have suggested the
firingsquad for embezzlers” p. 298.
It was in this climateof mass disaffection with a do-nothing government
that Kukoi emerged in 1981,and in which Fafa M’bai, Attorney General in
1982, shepherded the Evaluation ofAssets and Prevention of Corrupt
Practices Bill” which “came into force on the31st of December 1982 as
Act No. 17 of 1982” p.298. We know whathappened to Fafa and his Act
when the “rapaciousmafia” went to work on him. It is noteven
persuasive to contend that the “society” perceived “the exercise as
beingmanipulated and used as a political weapon targeted principally
against theurban elite of a particular ethnic group”. It was clearly a
case of jaalo singo bey forango kang and this particulardevelopment was
an utter stain on PPP’s willingness and, or, ability toeffectively
discharge its responsibilities as overall manager of our public purse.
Aside the PPPGovernment’s principal and ultimately fatal albatross of
runaway corruption, therewere other instances of illiberal conduct that
continue to negatively impactGambian public life some two decades after
its demise.
As Attorney General,Hassan embarked on extensive and useful law reform
(see chapter 9 generally)but also came across as a man wedded to the
law and order school, as someonewith a conservative philosophy of
justice. It was ill-advised of the Governmentto sanction the “private
prosecution” of the two individuals who providedinformation to the
Commission regarding certain corrupt individuals. They appearto have
acted within the framework established by the Government. And what
wasthe charge? The now notorious offence of “giving false information
to a public servant”that Professor Jammeh’s APRC government is
utilising with reckless abandon againstthe innocent (see p 299).
There was also thesmall matter of Sana Manneh’s prosecution on
allegations of criminallibel for fingering four ministers as corrupt.
“I felt that this libelwas not an entirely private affair with the
victims being left to instituteprivate legal proceedings to defend
their integrity. They had been libelled intheir official capacity and
it would be unfair to leave them on their own. Idecided to institute a
case of criminal libel...” see p. 302-10 generally. Soundsfamiliar?
Absolutely! Criminal libel/defamation is now apotent weapon against the
journalism profession. Ala Hassan, Sana Mannehultimately won “on a
technicality”. What is law without its “technical”baggage! As we say,
process is everything!
In the legislativedomain, there was the treason regime that excluded
the overt act requirementand introduced the elastic conspiracy element
thus creating vast room forabuse. “Thus it was that on the 26th of
March, 1986 I moved theHouse for a second reading ... There was no
debate on the Bill, I supposethe members were satisfied by my
explanation of its contents. It wentthrough Committee stage and its
third reading, received the Presidential Assentand came into force as
Act No. 8/86” p. 234. Extraordinary considering theHouse just passed
the ultimate political offence without a word of debate! Whendealing
with a parliament of this nature, an Attorney General placed as
Hassan,was duty bound to utilise a heighten regime of self-restraint.
That was notevident in the treason legislation when parliament
completely dropped the ball!
On the issue ofpersonal law affecting Muslim inheritance, he oversaw
the legislative scrapping(see section 30 of the Wills Act 1992) of the
laudable Court of Appeal decisionin Saidy v Saidy “that a Muslim
whomakes a will in the English form in contravention of the Islamic
rules ofinheritance is deemed to have opted out of the Islamic law of
succession”, andthat “his will must thus be given effect, despite the
conflict with hispersonal law” p. 247.
Other instances of thisapparent law and order fixation manifested
themselves in the relationshipbetween politicians and the army. In June
1991, there was a mutiny by a“contingent of soldiers of The Gambia
National Army” staged at MacCarthy Squareover payment of allowances for
peacekeeping operations in Liberia whichincident the government
regarded “as a gross act of indiscipline” p 426-27. Colonel Ndow Njie
was consequently retired p.428, Major Maba Jobe was put in charge, and
Nigerian soldiers under Major Dadawere brought in. “In a separate
development, the IGP Sidney Riley called me onMonday 5th August 1991 to
tell me he too had been requested to leave...” p. 429. President Jawara
didn’t bother to inform his Cabinet about Rileyand the Nigerians!
A similar mutiny, andover the same complaint of unpaid allowances
occurred on 03 February,1992. Hassan was away in Bansang butwhen he
returned, he agreed, on a phone conversation with Sir Dawda “on theneed
for firm action to be taken this time against the mutineers.
Somedeterrent action was called for to discourage a recurrence and put
an end tothis serious and dangerous indiscipline within our armed
forces” p. 479-80. “Fourmonths after the Army incident in February, the
Acting Army Commander MajorMaba Jobe was compulsorily and prematurely
retired from the Army at the tenderage of 30!” p. 481. I wonder how the
Government thought that “discipline” wastheirs to impose on the
restless and officially armed segment of society.
Journeyfor Justice is some 632 pages of vital factual andanalytical
tour de force. There isplenty of material on internal PPP politics,
including candidate selection forgeneral and other elections. The
frequent cross carpeting from other parties tothe PPP is the clear
culprit for the disgraceful section 91 (1) (d) of the
1997Constitution. And there is a lot of informationon the MansaKonko
Congress and the confusion occasioned by President Jawara’s
bizarreannouncement of not standing as a candidate for president in
1992. It was utterchaos with grown men behaving as though no person in
the party was capable of succeedingJawara. In government, it triggered
the ill-informed and sycophantic ao-called CivilService memo on
presidential succession.
There was the ruthless parliamentarymanoeuvring that, via a
constitutional amendment, expelled P S Njie, and BubaBaldeh, from the
House in 1972, and 1985 respectively p. 389. And the unfairelection
processes that allowed use of government resources for
politicalcampaigns, and made the Permanent Secretary of Local
Government as Supervisorof Elections. Hassan kindly gave us his
thoughts on presidential term limits,and considered the Daily Observer
at the height of its glory as “subversive”.Poetic justice then that
Kenneth Best was deported by the political authoritythat replaced the
PPP. He gave us information on the banning and unbanning ofMOJA(G).His
recollection conflicts with that of President Jawara on the issueof an
amnesty for Kukoi! There is extensive literature on the
SenegambiaConfederation but absent a perusal of the governing
instrument, Hassan’sassertion that it did not trigger a referendum must
be approached with some caution.
Singaporisation? p. 564.A dream pure and simple considering Gambia and
Singapore attained statehood thesame month of the same year, with
virtually identical chances of surviving inthe global milieu they were
born into. Lee Kuan Yew documented Singapore’s extraordinaryjourney in
his memoirs From Third World to First. WhatSingaporisation required was
way beyond the mediocre capacity of Hassan’sGovernment. What utter joke
that was!
Notwithstanding that Journey for Justice ended with the PPP’soverthrow,
Hassan exceptionally touched on the controversial recent
prisonerexecutions in light of the PPP’s abrogation of the death
penalty in 1993. Herecalled the parliamentary debates on the issue:
The member forNiamina, Lamin Waa Juwara, supported the motion
and then
propheticallyproposed that while Sir Dawda, an acknowledged humanist
was still
around, it was bestthat the abolition of the death penalty be
entrenched into the
Constitution, lestsome future leader of a different inclination were to
reactivate
its application.How prophetic indeed!p. 347
What a difference inWaa Juwara’s perspectives between 1993 and 2012!
Not to succumb to WaaJuwara’s firepower in the prophecy department,
Hassan, in final chapterreflections, mused on the teachings of the
ArabSpring:
Thepolicy of opposition to unconstitutional changes of government,
commendable
andnecessary as it is, is not meant to provide a licence or sanctuary
and security
todictatorship. If one important lesson is to be drawn from the ‘Arab
spring’ –largely
playedout on African soil in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, it is this: that
no amount
ofintimidation, repression and security systems can forever deny the
peoplesyearning
forjustice, freedom and respect for human rights and that in the face
ofpersistent
systematicoppression and dictatorship, the people will, in the absence
of effective
avenuesfor redress, exercise their ultimate right of rebellion against
dictatorship p. 619.
Howvery true!
Comparedto what replaced it, the PPP Government was quite mild compared
to itsreplacement. Would we still have the PPP in one form or the other
without 22July? It is entirely possible but that would be a degrading
prospect for anindependent country. No matter how tragic our present
condition, who says lifeis an easy passage. A government that collapsed
so spectacularly without somuch as a shot fired did not deserve to be
saved. Good riddance PPP!
Without question,Hassan belongs to that rare breed of Gambian lawyer
whose preoccupation is not merelywith black letter law and its
technical application, i.e., theft as offence,its elements, and
questions of guilt or innocence. From my reading of Journey for
Justice, his understanding of law and its publicpurpose is far deeper
and more visionary. This is not to say Hassan’sphilosophical window on
public life as of 1994 represents my ideal standard. Thereis ample room
for reasonable people to analytically disagree from reading thesame set
of factual circumstances. And it is imperative we remember the PPP
eraas belonging more in the contemporary sphere than in ancient
history,especially for those Gambians who were in secondary school as
of 1994.
Nevertheless, Journey for Justice assures that Hassan’swill remain
among the abiding public voices on the PPP era. He is a third of
atriumvirate of higher level political operatives within the PPP
Government whosesolid intellectual credentials will remain a challenge
to contrasting views onthe era. The other one is President Jawara
himself! Isn’t the third obvious?
Although there isindeed a lot of it, Journey for Justiceis not merely
about law. It is more of a political memoir with the law therein
arguablyincidental to Hassan’s career as a Law Officer from 1976, and
as Chief LawOfficer between 1984 and 1994. Do not merely congratulate
Hassan for writing Journey for Justice. Purchase this significantbook
on Gambian public life.
I recommend it highly!
Among other outlets, Journey for Justice can be purchasedfrom the
publisher, AuthorHouse, and from Amazon
Lamin J Darbo
01 January 2013
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