Rene,
It is difficult to gather all the facts that are required to know exactly
what happened here after the coup in such a short period of time. What is
important to bear in mind is that Gambia is not a homogenous society. The
interests are many and diverse. Social being does determine social
consciousness. Because of the heterogenous nature of the society, it is not
always possible to serve all interests at all times. Everyone has the right
to exercise his or her freedom of expression. In the market place of ideas
competition for asserting legitimacy for one's views is not necessarily a
sign of intolerance. On the contrary, it avails the observer the opportunity
to weigh the views against each other and make a decision.
I know that the way I sound sometimes may be seen otherwise. I hope you
understand that every situation has its demands.
Rene, it is impossible to really project the forces that were all at work in
few exchanges. When we were defying Decree No. 4, which was dubbed Political
Activities Suspension Decree, even die-hard PPP members were in support of
the coup because of Bakary Dabo's assumption of ministerial post. It was not
only the youths who expressed disagreement with us. These people whose
government was overthrown were going about saying that Bakary was patriotic
that is why he sacrificed to leave Senegal and come back to rescue the
country and that we were just trouble makers who were never in one boat with
anyone; that we always think that we know everything. They would say things
like: who has every heard political parties operating after a coup?; that
the ban aimed to just stop FOROYAA from operating; that the exercise was an
act of creating a level playing field for all political parties.
It was incredible, Rene, just incredible. Members of rulking party and
opposition were all creating a picture that we who could have comfortably
sat at the back of mercedez benz and enjoy the sweets of being ministers
were actually the trouble makers.
An article was written in the Daily Observer attacking me in the same
language that those who are now accusing me of complicity with Jammeh are
using. The article indicated that I have stood for elections without
winning; that our dogmatic posture is the reason why PDOIS had not gained
support in the country; that I am a respected person but too dogmatic with
my principles; that the country did not need the type of provocative action
that we had engaged in; that this type of action could lead to the
destabilisation of the country.
The person who wrote the article may not have had the interest to harm me.
This is why I hate to recall such things. Notwithstanding, when I wrote a
reply, Mr Best told me that he was advised that the publication of my reply
would constitute a contravention of Decree No. 4. It is not necessary to
mention the type of exchanges which occurred at the time.
Letters were being written to The Point Newspaper indicating that I was not
a Nelson Mandela; that I was in fact getting closer to Dawda Jawara; that
before the coup I was a critic of Jawara and instead of helping the young
revolutionary I was sabotaging things. They demanded that I should state my
position whether I was with Jammeh or with Jawara.
I will have time to extract all these letters and information from the
newspapers just to give you an impression of the situation we found
ourselves at that material time.
We developed a strategy for Sidia Jatta and I to be the custodians of PDOIS
and FOROYAA so that if any arrest were to occur, Sam Sarr would be left
behind to cover the court case and distribute the court findings. If you are
interested in a collection of the reports they are available.
What was interesting is the reaction of some of these people who can now be
seen supporting some of the parties in this country to the reports. They
refused to even touch these reports as they considered them to be
clandestine literature. Do you understand what I mean?
However, when the situation developed and they saw that AFPRC was not
creating a level playing field for them to engage in a football match by
so-called stopping FOROYAA from publication, they turned to us and expected
us to roll back the wheel of history to the point where we started in
confronting the AFPRC at a time when we had already resolved to adopt a new
strategy of pushing the AFPRC to a national conference.
Hence, it is clear that I have a lot of explanation to do and I am very
comfortable in doing that now. Before, I had difficulty in doing so because
of the discomfort of talking about what I have done. What I have realised is
that you must mention the names of people when you start talking about what
you have done. For example, I did mention Mustapha Marong in connection with
Koro's case. Of course, we knew the limits of the civilian ministers during
the period. Hence, we cannot cast blame on people.
For example, when Musa Manneh was arrested in connection with the
distribution of the petition prepared by the Democratic Front, I contacted
Mr Fafa Mbye who expressed willingness to do something but I later
discovered that he could not do something. I then went to the police and was
directed to the person in charge of operations, Nicola Williams and then the
Inspector General of Police. You can see the foolish comments alluding
cowardish from some quarters in the L. Nicola Williams and the then
Inspector General of Police would confirm my protest words that I was the
author of the declaration of the Democratic Front and the petition and
should have been arrested instead of the distributor. The only thing they
could tell me was that the matter was beyond them. This is what led me to
contact the then Minister of Interior. I have already mentioned that when I
started my series of discussions with him, he would leave the Inspector
General of Police and other high officials sitting while we continued
discussing. How can I be afraid of people who would render such respect for
a person who was allegedly violating a decree? In fact in normal human
relation, I should have felt honoured and just abandon any attempt to work
for the restoration of a constitutional order.
To conclude, Rene, I have no right to complain for personal wrongs against
Jawara or Jammeh. Jabez Ayo Langley, who was one time Secretary General
under Jawara, would confirm that Sidi Sanneh brought a message from him and
we both went to his office so that I would be given a grade 17 job which was
the post of a deputy permanent secretary while I held the post of a grade
13/14 job as a Social Welfare Officer. Since my work at the Social Welfare
kept me in close touch with the people, I never accepted the post. What has
Jawara's government done to me personally? People like Landing Jallow Sonko
had appointed me to boards.
In short, before I was even 30 years I was already a known personality who
could have climbed in the bureaucracy and attained any privilege that a
Gambian could attain in the society.
I have also said that under the Jammeh regime, I have been accorded
ministerial posts. Personally, I have no qualms with any of the two regimes.
My differences with them is based on principles, on my conviction of what
can make our country a better place for all of us to live in.
As for the youth in this country, they come to me by their numbers to
confirm that they were wrong in trying to influence me in accepting the
ministerial posts. They constantly claimed that they were carried away by
the fact that the AFPRC could initiate many projects within a short period
of time and that if they were to have honest intellectuals they would have
been able to achieve more. However, when we show that the AFPRC met a debt
of 3 billion dalasis when they took over and have since then added a debt
burden of 1.8 billion dalasis, it is not often difficult to explain that
development is not merely reflected by the infrastructure that is built but
by the capacity to build a productive base that could sustain a good living
standard for the people.
We really do not have any problem with the young people in The Gambia. Of
course, this is a generalisation for the young people are also not a
homogenous group. Let me therefore say that we do not have any problem with
the young people who have been our target group.
In fact, in our rally in Salikene, our-fourth of the village came to our
meeting. Some questions were raised by members of other parties. When the
questions were answered, the youths took the microphone and affrimed that
deception was no longer possible. As far as we are concerned the truth will
ultimately prevail. It is just a matter of time and I am more than willing
to continue to be engaged for as long as anybody feels it is necessary.
As Kwame Ture (Stokely) told one Gambian intellectual when i was a young boy
after the Gambian intellectual felt offended when he gave a reply to his
question sarcastically that "when personal assault comes I would hit you
right in the face". I must also say that I do not have the humility of a
prophet for I am not one. When there is any assault to my integrity, I would
exercise the right to maximum defence and deterrence.
Greetings.
Halifa Sallah
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