Whither Heads The Gambia?



The Independent

COLUMN
October 15, 2001
Posted to the web October 15, 2001

D.A. Jawo
Banjul, the Gambia

Most Gambians have no doubt been flabbergasted by revelations contained in
certain documents currently circulating in this country about a promise by a
certain Clark E. Enslin, claiming to be 'ambassador-at-large' and 'trade
attaché' for The Gambia in New Jersey in the United States of America.
According to the documents, this gentleman promised to send one million US
Dollars for President Jammeh's campaign, to be followed later by another
five million US Dollars, 5000 'T' shirts and 100 tractors, also for
President Jammeh's campaign.

Some of the documents are on the letterhead of the Republic of The Gambia
and the court of arms, bearing the address of the Gambian Embassy in
Washington DC and a stamp of the Gambian ambassador-at-large in New Jersey.

One of the documents dated 6th August, 2001 on the letterhead of Gotham of
Gambia Limited was marked 'confidential' and allegedly addressed to Baba
Jobe on fax number 011-220-49-5897, informing him about a bank transfer of
five million US Dollars from the United States to the Central Bank of The
Gambia for the setting up of an agricultural and housing bank. The letter
also called on the addressee to provide them with the needs of the
presidential campaign and a photograph of President Jammeh for use on the
5000 'T' shirts.

The other two documents, both on a Gambia government letterhead and bearing
the address of the Gambian Embassy in Washington DC and allegedly signed by
Mr. Enslin, were dated 27th August and 4th September and addressed to one
Mansong Jagne and Bubacarr M. Baldeh respectively. Both letters talked about
the alleged readiness of Mr. Enslin to assist President Jammeh in his
campaign for the presidential elections. While there is no proof of the
authenticity of the documents, but the situation on the ground tends to give
quite a lot of credence to the allegations. It seems to fit quite neatly
into the APRC jigsaw puzzle. We have all seen how the APRC has been
displaying wealth during their campaign, taking delivery of about 50 brand
new vehicles, dishing out quite a lot of money and distributing thousands of
'T' shirts all over the country, while President Jammeh has promised to give
three tractors to any constituency that gave him 90 percent of their votes.

There are also rumours of plans to set up an agricultural development bank,
allegedly by businessmen very close to the regime. Therefore, everything
seems to fit perfectly with the revelations in the documents.

The question therefore in the lips of many Gambians is who this Mr. Enslin
may be and how he got appointed Gambia's ambassador-at-large. It is also
interesting why the government has not seen it fit to respond to the serious
allegations raised in the documents. It has also raised questions as to
whether this country is not playing into the hands of money launderers,
which is certainly bound to land this country in big trouble one day.

The Poliec Versus Plotical Neutrality

I am sure many people were not only disappointed but also surprised by
recent comments attributed to the Deputy Inspector General of Police Jai
Sowe in the Daily Observer, apportioning blame to the UDP/PPP/GPP coalition
for all the clashes during the campaign. Every sensible person would have
expected that as number two-man in the police force, he would not have been
too hasty to pass judgments on such a partisan issue before the courts.

Instead, he should have left that to the courts to take care of the matter.

It is quite ridiculous to hear him commend Baba Jobe on how he handled his
alleged confrontation with some coalition supporters, when the court has not
yet determined who was responsible for what happened and who was at fault.

It was certainly not his role to apportion blame in such a situation,
because it tends to indicate biasness.

Looked at from another angle, particularly when we consider the trend that
every time there is a clash between the supporters of the APRC and the
opposition parties, it is almost all the time only the opposition supporters
who get arrested and detained by the police, one tends to see that the
remarks attributed to the DIGP seems to tally with such a position
apparently assumed by the police. The comportment and actions of the police
seem to give an impression that as far as they are concerned, the APRC
supporters are angels who never commit any wrong while it is only the
opposition supporters who cause trouble and the APRC supporters are always
the victims. However, that impression created by the action of the police is
certainly not substantiated by the reality on the ground. We have all been
witnesses to provocative behaviours of some APRC supporters and militants.

They are in the habit of riding on their numerous brand new pick up vehicles
mounted with public address systems either blaring with loud music or they
would be shouting provocative slogans against the opposition leadership.

Under such circumstances therefore, it would be quite wrong for the DIGP or
the police to blame the opposition for anything trouble arising from such
situations.

There are even allegations that there are some agents provocateurs being
sent by the APRC to allegedly dress like opposition militants and provoke
trouble in order for the opposition to be blamed. It is therefore the duty
of the police to thoroughly investigate everything problem rather than be
quick to apportion blame to the opposition. That is certainly not what
people expect from the police; in fact it gives more credence to the
allegations that the police are bias in favour of the APRC.

The police as a national security institution are expected to be above
partisan politics and it is very much out of place for them to appear to
favour any political party above the rest. It is therefore a shame to see
virtually all police and other security premises flying APRC flags. I was
even surprised to hear the DIGP try to justify that by saying that the
family members of the security forces have the right to manifest their
support for any party and flying flags was one way they could do it, and
which he used to justify those flags. Obviously, there is no justification
for such partisan symbols to be displayed at public buildings.n




_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>