4. GOVERNANCE.

BACKGROUND.

The government of The Gambia is based on the 1997 constitution that ushered
in the 2nd republic following the peaceful overthrow of the democratically
elected government of the former PPP regime of former president Alh. Sir
Dawda Kairaba Jawara. We have a republican constitution comprising of an
executive (the President), the Legislature (National Assembly) and the
Judiciary. The executive and legislature are both elected by universal adult
suffrage and each is elected for maximum term of 5 years. The constitution
also allows for the executive to nominate a number of national assembly
members. The president, based on the recommendation of the judicial Service
Commission and approval by members of the National assembly, appoints the
judiciary. The constitution is the supreme law of the land.

In the first republic, the president appointed his ministers and
parliamentary secretaries from members of parliament. This resulted in a
situation were by one’s personal loyalty to the party and the president was
absolute if one wanted to hold any of these influential positions. This
effectively compromised the effectiveness of parliament who, in most cases,
would rather go with the executive, hoping to be rewarded than show any
decent based on matters of principle. The effectiveness of parliament, as an
independent arm of government, was thus effectively compromised. The
effectiveness of opposition parties was also put to severe test by the
temptation of changing allegiance for better things. This became very
rampant in the 1970s and 80s (the cross-carpet phenomenon). This was
considered very unhealthy for democracy. The term of the presidency had no
limitation and this resulted in the virtual self-perpetuation of the
presidency of Sir D. K. Jawara. The AFPRC promised to rectify all that.

a) THE TRANSITION PERIOD.

When the government of the first republic was overthrown in July of 1994 and
the constitution suspended by the then AFPRC, most people were either
indifferent or actually rejoiced. The 4 year transition period announced by
the AFPRC was rejected by most people which prompted them to set up a
National Consultative Committee (NCC) to sensitize people about why they
needed a 4 year transition period in order to “Rectify all the wrong things
that the PPP government did in the name of the people”. They alleged that
the former PPP government was inept, corrupt to the core, misused public
funds, mismanaged our meager resources, neglected our basic infrastructure,
led flamboyant lifestyles to the detriment of the ordinary people, that it
was only a few who were fattening themselves on the national cake to the
exclusion of the rest, etc, etc. Various commissions of inquiries were set
up to probe in the how the government operated. The commissions unearthed
massive corruption by many individuals, mostly by civil servants. A lot of
people had their assets seized, bank accounts frozen, some exonerated and
others went into exile. Most of the revelations of these commissions did not
surprise many as most witnessed how some junior civil servants led
lifestyles that were not commensurate with their incomes. However a very
surprising revelation that was made, was the fact that the government of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria had given concession to The Gambia to lift crude
oil and sell to help us with our balance of payments. That this had been
going for years and nobody new about it came as shock to most people.

Meanwhile the NCC having carried out consultations throughout the country,
submitted its report to the then AFPRC who later announced that it had
accepted the 2 year transition period recommended by the NCC.

Another important event that took place during the transition period was the
formation of the Constitutional Review committee. This committee had the
mandate to consult people from all walks of life, to scrutinize the
suspended 1970 constitution and write a repot that reflected the wishes and
aspirations of our peoples. This committee, under the chairmanship of Mr.
Gabriel Roberts, now the chairman of the IEC, also did their job as mandated
and handed their to the AFPRC. Even though the report was not made public,
it is alleged that it was seriously doctored to suit the AFPRC. Many alleged
that they omitted from the final report, the recommendation for a 2 term
limit for the presidency, reduced the age limit for the presidency from 45
years to 30 years and inserted an indemnity clause to indemnify the AFPRC or
anyone acting on its orders for whatever they may have done or failed to do.

Another significant change to the constitution was that cabinet will not be
drawn from members of the national, that during their tenure their
emoluments will not be altered to their advantage and that anyone wishing to
change allegiance from one party to another must first resign his seat in
the national assembly and seek afresh mandate from the people. This was seen
by most people as a very positive improvement on the 1970 constitution.
People thought that this would eliminate the sycophancy of previous members
of parliament and put a stop to the very unhealthy cross carpeting that the
previous government effectively used to render opposition parties
ineffective.

On the other hand, many expressed their mistrust of the ruling AFPRC and
their motives for seizing power in the first place. During this period, the
junta ruled with an iron fist. The security forces, especially the NIA and
Immigration police, picked up anyone on the flimsiest of suspicions/excuse.
People were harassed, illegally detained for long periods and a few
civilians shot dead by some members of the security forces. In most cases
however, the security forces that killed people were arrested and remanded.
Meanwhile, the “Doctored” CRC report was put to a referendum and
overwhelmingly passed. The AFPRC members declared their intention to contest
the forth-coming elections after being “persuaded by some opinion leaders
and elders”. To enable them to contest the elections, they retired from the
armed forces, transformed themselves into civilians and formed the APRC
party.

b) THE BUILD-UP TO THE 2nd REPUBLIC.

The build-up to the ushering in of the second republic also saw the
formation of the UDP and NRP parties and resumption of party politics by the
PDOIS. The former having been banned earlier was not allowed to contest. The
political campaign was nasty, to say the least. There were frequent clashes
between the APRC and UDP supporters and their militants. The APRC campaigned
openly with the security forces and a massive following of civil servants.
The UDP was prevented from using the public media, allegedly for their
insults and incitement of people. The security forces severely harassed the
UDP supporters, arresting their key members, often for weeks contrary to the
constitution. Journalists, considered to be sympathetic to the UDP, were
constantly picked up, detained or deported if they were foreigners. The UDP
militants also retaliated with more insults and inter-party fights became
common. Some international observers withdrew from the country saying that
the elections cannot be regarded as free and fair considering the virtual
monopoly of the public media, which incidentally had nationwide coverage, by
the APRC. When Yahya coughed, it made the headlines. This nasty situation
continued throughout the campaign period and beyond.

To be continued.

Bye 4Now, KB Jobe.

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