Another sad chapter to the misery of our people.  Mrs. Saho we are with you
in spirit and please stay firm.  And who said the judiciary is not
controlled by the dictator?  Justice denied to anyone is justice denied to
all of us.  However, as long as we see this travesty of justice as a Dumo et
al problem, then justice will forever be denied to us.  Any just minded
Gambian should be disgusted with the willful disregard for the rights of the
accused.  Since when does an AG detain folks then begin to scratch his head
as to what charges to make up years down the line?  The AG and Yaya do not
have a case and are embarrassed to admit that.  A dictator never gives you
anything by just asking, but by demanding and forcing him to leave his
ground.  This government believes that they instilled fear in our lot and
thus, does not care however ridiculous its actions.  Every aspect of life in
our country is strangled: farmers, students, unemployed, employed, the
overwhelming poor, etc.  Yet we just resigned to suffer peacefully.  The
only group that went against the grain is the students only to have the
adults suffocate them to submission because of the adults lack of bone.  All
they needed was the support of the grown-ups to right the wheels of justice.
  You see the chain effect of the "not my problem mindset".  The students
were crushed because our society at large did not and would not relate to
their plight.  The farmers are not paid three years running, yet their sons
and daughters would not come out to support their cause as long as the
sons/daughters are getting their paltry sums.  Non-APRC supporters were
fired unjustly only for folks to tell them that its "Mbiri Yallah lah" and
they have tens of mouths to feed.  The general public is paying for
electricity that they did not use.  Every aspect of life for the
overwhelming majority of Gambians is marginalized, yet we refuse to come
together regardless of ethnicity, party affiliation, or gender to change the
system.  Similar to the recent presidential elections where we had the
opposition parties missed the forest for the tree.  We've got to stop
playing the politics of the belly and realize that we have a common problem.
  We did that for 37 years and counting and it did not get us anywhere.
When are we going to stop this business of "Aam Kerrsa" and fight for our
destiny.  Gambians can obtain justice if we really want it.  However, if you
have folks that are hundreds of miles away from home still fearing what this
government would do to them if they speak up, do we blame the ones that are
in the trenches.  This is where good leadership comes in and we already have
opposition platforms as rallying points, let the party leaders see what's at
stake and stop the jockeying for front seat.  The recent presidential
elections taught us that the UDP may be the front runner among the
opposition, but it will take all the entire opposition to turn things
around.  How long can we keep on living like this?  Its our call.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou


>From: Annika Renberg <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Fwd: Observer on the Dumo case
>Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:22:05 +0100
>
>OBSERVER Wednesday, March 6, 2002
>
>Dumo Saho, others treason trial takes dramatic turn case to be reassigned
>to another High Court Judge
>
>The treason trial of Momodou Dumo Saho, Momodou Marena, Ebrima Barrow,
>Ebrima Yarbo, Lt Lalo Jaiteh and Lt Omar M Darboe, yesterday took a
>dramatic turn at the High Court in Banjul when the presiding judge, Justice
>Grante, informed the court that the state had made a request for the
>transfer of the matter to another judge.
>
>In a letter addressed to the presiding judge, Justice Wallace Grante, among
>others, the state requested that the matter be reassigned to another Judge
>in the High Court in Banjul. Defence Counsel, Lawyer Ousman Sillah
>indicated that it was very unfortunate for the state to have made such a
>request at this time. He said the accused persons have been languishing in
>prison for over one year now.
>
>Lawyer Sillah argued that the decision made by the state to reassign the
>case to another judge now, was subjective since no reason was advanced by
>the state. He further argued that though he was indisposed for sometime, it
>could not have been the reason for the delay in the court proceedings.
>
>Lawyer Ousainou Darboe on his part, disclosed that he was flabbergasted by
>the move taken by the state. Darboe further disclosed that it was the first
>time to see a request of this kind in his short career at the Gambia bar.
>Lawyer Darboe argued that the acting Chief Justice should not have minuted
>the letter to the presiding judge without the director of public
>prostitution giving any reason why it wanted the case transferred to
>another judge. Darboe stated that the move was a direct attack on the
>integrity of the judge. He further argued that the state should have filed
>an affidavit or make an application for the matter to be transferred to
>another judge.
>
>On his part, Chief Akomaye Agim, director of public prosecution (DPP) said
>he respected the integrity of the court, noting that it was incorrect for
>the defence counsel to assert that the state must give reasons why it
>wanted the matter to be transferred to another judge. DPP however argued
>that the state may or may not have reasons as to why it wanted to transfer
>the matter to another judge.
>
>The presiding Judge, Justice Wallace Grante, declared that he had no
>objection to the request made by the state to have the matter transferred
>to another judge. Justice Grante however gave the assurance that the
>accused persons would be informed in due course when the case is reassigned
>to another judge.
>
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