*OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT JAMMEH*

By Baba Galleh Jallow

July 23, 2015

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing this open letter to you in direct response to your speech of
July 22, 2015 granting amnesty to several categories of people, including
those convicted of treason in The Gambia and those members of the Gambian
Diaspora who have been in disagreement and/or outright conflict with you
and your government. This letter is motivated by pure love of country and a
desire encourage what I understand, rightly or wrongly, to be a potential
beginning of change for the better for our dear Motherland. My
uncompromising hatred for all forms of injustice is only equal to my belief
in the human capacity to evolve and improve. In granting forgiveness, I
understand from your speech that you desire to be forgiven for crimes
committed under your watch, if not by the victims of these crimes, then by
God.

Some members of the Gambian Diaspora community who have been in
disagreement and/or conflict with you and your government are not liars as
you characterized them; nor have they ever committed a single crime in
their lives. Their only “crime” has been to criticize you and your
government for doing things they believe to be detrimental to the wellbeing
of our country, and to offer advice on how best to move our country in the
best direction. They have simply been criminalized by the spirit of
intolerance that characterized your regime and which, I dearly hope, is
about to become a thing of the past. Of course, no one can claim to be
infallible and we have staunchly resisted and rejected your claims of
infallibility in the past. And should you claim to be infallible in the
present or the future, some of us will reject it out of hand; for
infallibility may only be claimed by the All Mighty God to whom you make
frequent reference. If you do indeed read the Quran everyday as you
mentioned in your speech, then this fact is not lost upon you. Human beings
are fallible creatures and peace will elude them as long as they refuse to
acknowledge that fact and act accordingly. Perhaps your frequent reading of
the Quran (in translation I hope) is beginning to bear fruit. Perhaps you
are growing increasingly capable of recognizing the error of your ways and
making amends to that effect. That can only bode well for our dear
Motherland.

I hope you understand Mr. President, that saying you forgive your critics
and opponents in the Diaspora does not mean that they will not criticize
you where they find this necessary, or desist from advocating the kinds of
political changes that they feel is best for our Dear Motherland. Indeed,
our freedom of expression and association is absolutely nonnegotiable and
inviolable by any leader or government on earth. We reserve the right to
condemn unjust laws and object to the abuse of our God-given rights by the
State which is our child and servant, or the head of state who is our child
and chief servant. We conceive of the Nation as one big family - the Family
Nation - in which the people are the parents and the government the
children. The head of state deserves due respect as the First Child of the
Family Nation. But he/she will be censored if he/she disrespects or in any
way unjustly abuses public authority, the dignity of any member of the
national family or our national institutions. So will all members of their
government. Disagreements are inevitable in any social unit; but
disagreements within the Family Nation should never be elevated to the
status of enmity; they must be tolerated and resolved where possible. Where
it is not possible to amicably and/or legally resolve disagreements within
the Family Nation, family members must be content with agreeing to
disagree. No member of the family should be forcibly silenced or punished
because they disagree with other members of the family. All members aspire
to help our Dear Motherland become a universal model of all the beautiful
virtues expressed in the Holy Scriptures – from forgiveness, which you just
practiced - to justice, respect for human dignity, freedom of worship, and
unconditional tolerance of differing opinion within the nation-state space,
among others. The task of helping our Motherland become such a model is a
perpetual work in progress that we will carry out as long as is humanly
possible and that future generations of Gambians will continue after us.
And the fact that the Nation is a work in progress means that we and those
who come after us bear the responsibility of pointing out faults within our
leadership and our political and cultural institutions and seeking remedies
for them. In effect, what I am saying is that if you do something we feel
is not good for our nation, we will criticize you for it and we will say
what we believe, rightly or wrongly, is the best thing for our nation. No
Gambian may claim to love The Gambia more than any other Gambian, and it is
important for those handling the affairs of our nation to be perpetually
and immediately cognizant and respectful of this fact. So while I
personally appreciate the fact that you have released political prisoners
and other people convicted of various offenses in The Gambia, and the fact
that you have decriminalized those innocent critics of you and your
government residing outside our beloved country, I believe that there is
still much more you can and should do in your own personal interest and in
the interest of our Dear Motherland. Below is a very short list of
suggestions:

*Institute Term Limits:* This is one of the most important steps you should
take in the interest of our Nation. Moreover, it is a step that you
strongly promised Gambians that you will take 21 years ago when you took
over the reins of our national government. I am sure you clearly remember
saying that even ten years is too much for any single person to be in power
in The Gambia. Instituting term limits is not, as you recently suggested,
an act of pandering to the West, or being a puppet of the West. It is an
act that will heal our nation in ways that we can only imagine at this
time. Giving ownership of democracy, human rights, term limits or any other
aspect of political civility to the West is giving the West power it does
not possess or agency it may never lay claim to. Civility is a human
virtue, not a Western imposition because the West has no power or authority
to impose it. Instituting term limits is simply the right thing to do and I
hope you will do it in your own personal interest and in the best interest
of our dear Nation. Occasional changes of political leadership propels a
nation forward; it allows for experimentation with different ideas as to
how best to improve the conditions of a nation. On the other hand,
overstaying in power may give the illusion of progress but is actually a
recipe for political, cultural and developmental stagnation, if not
outright national disaster. The fact that Jawara overstayed in power was
among your primary excuses for toppling him. Do not repeat his fatal
political mistake.

*Annul the 2015 Elections Amendment Law:* As a leader who seized power in
the name of bringing about political freedom and equality, you have many
times abrogated that declared intention. However, with the incredible
increase in electoral fees that your government is in danger of imposing,
you have literally gone way over the top and reached perhaps the farthest
point away (so far) from your initial declared intention of bringing about
political freedom and equality. The best thing to do in the interest of our
Dear Motherland is simply nip this unjust idea in the bud and leave the
fees as they are. It is manifestly unjust to make it virtually impossible
for well-meaning Gambians to offer their services to the nation through
elected office simply because they are not as wealthy as yourself and
cannot afford the fees. Let the Gambian people choose their leaders in free
and fair elections, which are already hard enough to conduct within the
context of our current political culture.

*Consider Alternative Views:* Ideas, Mr. President, are the building blocks
of a nation. Therefore, it is incumbent upon you as Head of State to
seriously consider all ideas proposed in the name of helping our Dear
Motherland, regardless of their origin. The Gambian media needs to be free
to agree or disagree with you and your government, because they are equally
invested in the welfare of our nation. The criminalization of legitimate
public opinion is much like cutting your nose to spite your face and
represents a violation of the fundamental God-given rights of citizenship
every Gambian should enjoy without let or hindrance. Where media or
journalists explicitly break the law or commit sedition or libel, let the
rule of law take its due course rather than have state agents unlawfully
pounce upon them. The practice of punishing journalists and media houses
simply because they criticize their own government is utterly
counter-productive. Just as parents have the right to criticize and correct
their children, so does journalists have the right to criticize and correct
their government, whose members are their children and servants.

I understand that our alternative political parties are suggesting a list
of electoral reforms for your consideration. It would perhaps be
unrealistic to say that you must accept all their suggestions, which may in
fact be the best thing for you to do. However, I would urge you to
seriously consider some of their proposals if not in recognition of their
merit and legitimacy as coming from well-meaning, well-respected Gambian
citizens, then in the interest of what is best for our Dear Motherland. Our
electoral politics are in much need of improvement and I am sure the
proposals coming from our other political leaders have something to offer.
You will notice that I do not refer to them as opposition parties because I
think the term “opposition” does not adequately capture the essence of our
alternative political parties and leaders. We need a rethinking of not only
our political culture, but the political nomenclature that is of this
increasingly outmoded culture, including terms like opposition, honorable,
and excellency.
Finally, Mr. President, I heard you say that you have turned a new page. I
dearly hope you have. Let me just say that turning a new page is much more
than offering amnesty to convicted criminals and allowing Gambians in the
Diaspora the freedom to visit their homeland without fear of arrest or
persecution. That is certainly a significant step, but it is only one step
– however significant – that you need to take towards bettering the
condition of our Dear Motherland. I have outlined a few other crucial steps
you need to take in this short open letter. If you have already decided to
take these steps, praise be to God. If not, I urge you to seriously
consider taking them sooner rather than later, in the best interests of our
Dear Motherland.
All Power Belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds.


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