EDITORIAL

It is time for Lamin Waa Juwara, Ousainou Darboe and Sedia Jatta to summon
their supporters and invade the state house in Banjul. The opposition will
be doing disservice  to The Gambia and her people,  if they fail to
observer a  week  national show down action to condemn the illegal arrest
and detention of its officials.  Storming the state house, will be a good
move to end the Jammeh madness. Failure to take the necessary actions now,
might paved the way for more impunity and injustice in The Gambia.

The arrest of these peace loving Gambians,  is an attempt on the side of
Yahya to test NADD'S  bravery and its preparedness to respond to his bully
and intimidatory tactics, which he intends to apply come the 2006
Presidential elections.  Now that he had set the ball rolling, it is time
for the Niamina lion Waa, Darboe and Sedia to react with strong resistance
to Jammeh's intimidation.

The opposition should forget about the issue of legal redress and teach
vampire Jammeh and his cronies a  brutal lesson that they will never
forget in their lives. This is not the time to institute court action to
seek their release. This is not the time to negotiate with a murderer.
This is not the time to say let live things with God.  We must fight for
our liberation. We must demonstrate until Hamat, OJ and Halifa are
released.

Our judiciary is not independent and as such you don't expect justice to
be meted out to the opposition.  Just imagine, Jammeh's own former servant
in the person of Samba Bah,  was denied the right to bail by  justice  AK
Savage.  What does this development means for the detained NADD officials?
 We are hearing reports of subversive and terrorism charges being bandit
against Hamat, OJ and Halifa. Jammeh will no doubt hide in the name of
terrorism laws to victimise his  opponents. There is no grain of truth in
such bogus and false charges.  It is Jammeh,  who is practicing domestic
terrorism and not the opposition.

Gambians should bear in mind that freedom is not free, as  other
democratic countries fought very hard  to achieve the said freedom , we
want to see in our dear mother land. In the process of bringing freedom in
The Gambia, we must be ready to face the risk involved in pursuing such
patriotic moves. We must reduce the talks and be action oriented. The
media is playing its vital role in exposing the Jammeh dictatorship beyond
redemption.  We expect the opposition to complement our efforts by  taking
the bull by the horn  and take on the streets.  We don't expect our men in
uniform to  watch by and allow selfish Yahya killing Gambians any longer.
The arrest and humiliation of Samba Bah, should serve as eye opener for
security men not to use arms against peace loving Gambians.  Stop the
secret killings.  It is time to disown monster Jammeh .


Just few days ago,  we  published in the said column about Jammeh's plan
to frame the opposition.  Our  source at the State House should be
commended for his patriotic moves by exposing this murderous regime. The
classified information was released to us shortly after Jammeh consulted
his errand boys to strike on the opposition. The order to arrest Hamat, OJ
and Halifa emanated from Yahya Jammeh. We are aware of the emergency
National Security Meeting held at State House. It used to be at  Defence,
but this time round, it was Jammeh who presided over the meeting.  Orders
were given to security agencies to  shoot and kill people involved in form
of uprising.  We know what we are talking about.  Our sources dine and do
things with Yahya.  They are unshakable.


Jammeh will fail miserably in his drive to silence Hamat,  OJ and Halifa.
These are not chicken hearted politicians. The three had reaffirmed their
determination in the past and the present  to put their lives on the line
to bring democracy in The Gambia, come what may. Can Jammeh tell us,  what
led to Halifa saying that  his death will be greeted with strong reaction
by The Gambian  Community?  Why was Halifa firing the warning shots to
murderer  Jammeh?  Look, Jammeh, Halifa knows your dubious intentions and
he don't give a damn,  if you intent to take his life during his cause of
liberating Gambians.

Your  Press release on Halifa's whereabouts suggested two things. That
decent Halifa was  a  wanted criminal and that you are capable of killing
this principled and patriotic Gambian.  Our understanding of the
connotations used in your empty press release, suggested that Halifa was
on the run, which was far from the truth.  As my colleague Timbuktu
rightly  told me yesterday"The statement that Halifa was still at large,
speaks volumes." That he Timbuktu was concerned about Halifa's safety.
That this government was capable of killing Halifa and announce that he
was wanted as they did in the case of Foday Makalo.  Now that Halifa is
alive, we hope to hear from him when he regain  his    freedom. Harassing
Hamat, OJ and Halifa is not the way out to solve your political
predicaments.

The Commonwealth Secretary General and his envoy former Nigerian Head of
State General Abubacarr must be shocked  by  Jammeh's move to thrash the
peace deal accord recently signed in Banjul. That Jammeh is telling these
two world leaders that he doesn't care about their peace  mediation in The
Gambia. That he can continue to oppress and misrule Gambians with
impunity. That nobody on this universe can make him to be democratic, as
democracy is alien to him.

It is time for the Commonwealth, Britain our former colonial masters and
the United States of America to come to Gambia's aid.  Failure of which,
we will see another Liberia and Sierra Leone. The writings are on the wall
for all to see. Jammeh don't want peace.  All what he is interested about
is to plunge our country into turmoil and cancel the much talked about
2006 elections.  The world should not allow poor Gambia to be reduced into
a war zone. It is time to act now, to avoid further blood shed. When
people are oppressed to the extreme, they will resort to violence means.
To avoid blood bath in The Gambia, it is therefore imperative for the
United Nations, the Commonwealth, Britain and the US to mount pressure on
the repressive Jammeh regime.  What obtains in The Gambia today is
nothing,  but slavery and forced rule. Let take to the streets and  end
Jammeh's madness.  Once a coward,  is always  a coward and Jammeh is a
coward.  We rest our case.


The author is the former Secretary General of The Gambia press Union and
also a former Voice of America radio Banjul Correspondent. Mr. M'Bai who
now resides in the US State of North Carolina Raleigh was a leading
political and crime reporter with the Point and Daily Observer newspapers
respectively. He can be reached by email at the following addresses:
[log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

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