Sister Jabou:
Will you please print this letter and post it to Rep Johnny Ford's address
in the US.
Brother Ebrima
___________________________________________________________________
Representative Johnny Ford,
82nd District (Bullock, Lee, Macon),
State House Room 523-B,
11 S. Union Street,
Montgomery,
Alabama 36130
27 January 2001
Dear Representative Ford,
I am writing to you on behalf of many Gambians throughout the world and in
The Gambia who are dismayed by your decision to hold the next World
Conference of Mayors in The Gambia in June 2001.
Please allow me first of all, to introduce myself to you. I was an Editor
of the Gambia Daily Observer from late 1994 to the end of 1996. I was also
the BBC Correspondent in The Gambia during this same period. In these dual
roles, I was in a position to analyse events as they unfolded in the country
following the military take-over by Lt. Yahya Jammeh on July 22nd 1994.
Given the persistent and ever-increasing harassment and persecution of the
independent media in The Gambia, I left my home country at the end of 1996,
and have been resident in the UK since then. I am currently undertaking
Post-Graduate research at the Centre of West African Studies at the
University of Birmingham, UK, and I have remained in close contact with The
Gambia and events there.
My present research relates to the Military and "democratisation" in The
Gambia from 1994 onwards, but this work is in the wider context of Third
World Politics and in development issues in Africa and Black Britain.
The reason that I have spent time introducing myself to you, is to enable
you to understand that I (amongst others who will contact you) am competent
to address issues relating to The Gambia, both following the military coup
and in relation to wider political perspectives.
It is good that African Americans, or Africans born in the Diaspora, are
returning to the African continent to retrace their ancestry and culture:
links between the African continent and the wider world should be enhanced
at every opportunity. The connection is there at a very deep level: from
the earliest days of the enslavement of Africans to labour in the western
world, to the present day.
Black people throughout the world should be looking to connect with each
other, and to rejoice in our brother/sister-hood. Distance is an issue, but
the bonds which link us together can never be severed: they go beyond
nationality and territorial boundaries: they are the bonds of heredity and
blood tie.
By working together in sincerity and openness, we can do a lot to uplift the
plight facing black people throughout the world. Blacks have come a long
way: there is a marvellous history of black achievement. However, we still
have a long way to go, and we should be forging further links and
connections through organisations like yours which are set to serve the very
best of Black interests.
There is a lot we can do mutually through the promotion of education,
economic investment, sport, arts, music and culture, science and technology,
medicine etc. We need each other today more than ever, and we should be
focusing on ways in which can foster our mutual interdependence.
However, it should not just be about intentions and wishes - the abstracts:
it is more to do with being practical, sincere, determined and dogged. We
need to cut back on the romanticising of Africa and our African-ness. There
has been a tendency for some Diasporan-born Africans to do this: to
mythologise their African heritage and to romanticise the continent both in
the past and present day.
There is nothing romantic about the poverty, repression, tyranny, famine,
war, economic stagnation and corruption which characterise much of today’s
Africa. Our continent is in deepest crisis and it is time we all started to
face the realities of African life for Africans there. We need to be
working on ways to improve the lot of ordinary African citizens.
Not so long ago, I was asked to participate in a Pan African Conference in
the UK and I was taken to task for failing to wear African dress. Having
been born in The Gambia, I told my fellow participants that I had nothing to
prove about my African origins. I told them that there is nothing romantic
about having to live in a simple mud and thatch hut, lacking safe water and
without electricity. I do not have to wear an African outfit to prove my
African-ness: I have lived in the huts and drunk the open well water.
The situation in Africa is critical: it really is a question of life and
death. Wearing kente clothes, or eating African food with the fingers, or
listening to African music will not change the desperate realities of life
in Africa today. Our continent is synonymous with famine, poverty and
underdevelopment: these are the contemporary life and death issues there.
Although it is easy for those who are living in stable western democracies
to idealise "an African life", although it is good for Diasporan Africans to
be retracing their family roots, I would suggest that their energies would
also be well used in trying to ensure a better life for Africans in Africa.
Those in Africa who struggle with repression, injustice, ill health
(including HIV and Aids), hunger and despair on a daily basis, need our
input: they need our dedication to bettering the life and living conditions
of those who are suffering: they need our help to rid the African continent
of tyrannical and brutal regimes.
The real world is a million miles away from the romantic notions we may
entertain of our homeland and our black heritage. It is time for us to
become realistic and to take a sober look at the deteriorating situation in
Africa. We should be asking ourselves what we can do together actually to
put things right, and change things for the better.
I feel bound to take issue with the statement you gave to the Director of
Press and PR at State House in Banjul, which was reported in the Gambia
Daily Observer of 24th January and on GRTS news.
When Jammeh seized power in 1994, nobody forced him to make long-reaching
pledges. Of his own volition, he claimed that the criteria against which he
wished to be judged were transparency, probity, accountability and justice.
He claimed that the rampant corruption of the Jawara regime necessitated
his and the army’s intervention. He spoke in detail of the flamboyant
lifestyles of many of the country’s politicians and civil servants: he
described their unnecessary first-class travels throughout the world, their
high-expense account lifestyle at home.
Jammeh insisted that his rule would be temporary – "we are just here to
rectify things and then hand over to a civilian government". He vowed never
to become a politician because this was for "the rogues, thieves and
drunkards". He took over power promoting a self-image as "Mister Clean,
Mister Africa, Mister All The Best That Is Gambian"." He took the community
to task for failing to live up to the African image he was promoting: he
berated the dreadlocks of the Rastafarian boys at home; he criticised the
bumsters who were fond of marrying white partners; he criticised those women
who bleached their skins and straightened their hair.
Six years on, "Dr, Colonel (Retired), President Jammeh" is living precisely
the life of those he had previously chastised. He travels extensively
throughout the world with an ever-increasing entourage and using only first
class travel facilities (including his "own" private jet purchased from
Gambian public funds); he has married a light-skinned woman from Morocco.
He has built himself a presidential palace in his home village of Kanilai,
far away from the traditional seat of power in Banjul; he is taking full
advantage of every material advantage upon which he can get his grasping and
greedy hands. He epitomises the very worst in corruption, underhand
dealing, repressive leadership style and despotism.
The current situation in The Gambia is both grievous and precarious.
Indeed, it is at a critically acute stage. Repression, poverty, tyranny,
mismanagement of public money, arbitrary arrest and kidnapping and killing
of opponents are the characteristics of Jammeh’s regime. The US State
Department Country Reports for The Gambia from 1994 onwards, give a very
clear indication of the deteriorating condition of The Gambia.
Reports from Amnesty International and other Human Rights groups throughout
the world, testify to the debasement of The Gambia and its citizenry under
the APRC and Jammeh. There have been countless decrees promulgated by the
APRC which enable the security forces to tap telephone lines, fax lines, e
mail and internet services; to arrest without warrant; to detain without
trial; to muzzle the independent media; to interfere with the independence
of the Judiciary.
There is supposedly a new Constitution in place, but clearly government is
still by Decrees which contradict the provisions of this Constitution.
Under Jammeh, we now know that around 124 Gambians have been murdered. On
November 11th 1994, in an alleged counter coup attempt, almost 40 soldiers
were killed on Jammeh’s orders because he believed them to be enemies.
Civilians are being killed: on April 10th/11th 2000, 14 young students (the
youngest a child of 3) were gunned down in cold-blood for demonstrating
peacefully in support of a fellow student who had been tortured and killed.
By virtue of his despotic rule, Jammeh has directly or indirectly, sent
into exile a conservative estimate of 5000 Gambians. The situation is now
so desperate that many overseas Gambian students refuse to return home to
The Gambia on completion of their study programmes.
Jammeh has arbitrarily sacked or prematurely retired over 90 senior Civil
Servants who do not toe his line.
Right now, Lt Lalo Jaitteh, Ebrima Yarboe, Dumo Saho and others, have been
detained and held incommunicado for months, in total violation of the
Constitution. Even when the Courts ruled that they should be granted bail,
Jammeh refused to comply, and initially he even went so far as to say that
these people were not in detention.
The independent media has been a particular target of Jammeh and the APRC
since 1994. Journalists have been arrested, detained without just reason,
taken to court, harassed and persecuted. Citizen FM was closed down for no
reason by the Government for two years. Recently Radio One FM offices were
attacked in an arson attack orchestrated by the APRC and the Proprietor
George Christensen burned.
Over 60 non-Gambian West African journalists (all of whom were involved in
some way in the fields of journalism, media, teaching, health services, or
the judiciary, have been summarily deported. Kenneth Best, one of West
Africa’s most respected journalists, was deported to his wartorn home
country of Liberia.
In one of the worst violations of human rights in October 1995, Jammeh
handed over a Sierra Leonean journalist, Cherno Ojuku Ceesay, to the
military government in Sierra Leone: this man had fled his country to seek
sanctuary in The Gambia because the military in Sierra Leone wanted him.
Knowing that Cherno Ceesay would face execution if returned to Sierra Leone,
Jammeh did not hesitate.
Thanks to the intervention of the international community and international
media pressure, Cherno escaped execution but he was incarcerated for a long
time following his deportation from The Gambia.
Jammeh acts without any regard for the law: he has interfered with the
independent judiciary. Recently, he sacked 2 Magistrates and the Master of
the Supreme Court, warranting the Chief Justice to resign in protest. He
also sacked Bishop Johnson, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral
Commission, even though constitutionally he was not empowered to do this.
In January 2001, Jammeh also sacked Peter Gomez, Head of News at Radio
Gambia, for no just reason. Peter had reported a statement made by Jammeh
to a group of religious elders, to the effect that he intended to introduce
Shariah Law in The Gambia before the end of the year. When the
international media picked up the story and highlighted it, people reacted
adversely to the statement.
Jammeh sacrificed Peter Gomez by claiming that Peter had misquoted and
misrepresented him. I personally listened to the tape, and in no way had
Peter done this: in Wollof, Jammeh clearly announced his intention to
introduced Shariah.
Representative Ford: Jammeh has nothing to offer to The Gambia, to Africa ,
to Black people throughout the world. He is a travesty of a president, with
limited intellectual skills, with poor linguistic skills, and with very
low-rated communication abilities. He is a corrupt and corrupting tyrant,
who has brought The Gambia into worldwide disrepute.
I wish to take issue with your statement of January 24th, following your
audience with Jammeh. In today’s world, it is necessary to have a critical
mind, sound judgement based on fact and knowledgeable analysis. It is
dangerous to take things at face value, and indeed you will be able to
verify all the points I make in this letter to you, from other sources which
I shall provide at the end of the letter.
Jammeh’s leadership of The Gambia is neither strong nor positive. It is
based in a climate of fear, and is characterised by corrupt practices,
mismanagement of public money, poor political judgements and insensitivity
(Jammeh was the only world leader to congratulate Bush on his electoral
successes in the USA before the final result had been announced !). The
nature of government in my country tends towards barbarism and brutality,
even for ordinary citizens.
The Gambia is not a functioning democracy in any sense of the word. The
elections which have been held in 1996 and 1997 have been questionable:
they were certainly neither free nor fair, and have been the subject of
international criticism. Because the APRC is in the majority in the House
of Representatives, the Legislature in The Gambia has been manipulated with
impunity. Where Judges and Magistrates disagree with Jammeh and the APRC
they are subsequently sacked from office. Free speech has been put at great
risk, and people live in fear of arrest and arbitrary torture and detention.
The Gambia is in no way moving forward. Infrastructural development has
been piecemeal and designed for immediate impact rather than long term
benefit. Millions of the people’s Dalasis were wasted on an triumphal
archway at the entrance to Banjul, which is now falling to bits: the new
airport building is creaking at the seams, and our roads are in a
diabolically bad state throughout the nation.
Electricity is an unreliable commodity, and our global communications
systems are deterioriating by the day. Education to secondary level is
increasingly expensive and many parents are not able to afford to pay their
children’s school fees: children are taught in two shifts, with all the
difficulties and problems this gives the teaching profession. Our health
services are reaching crisis point, and social services are virtually
non-existent. Ordinary life for most Gambian citizens is characterised by
struggle and despair.
There are no "attractions of investment": our tourist trade which could be
our greatest earner, is in tatters and in danger of collapse: there is
country-wise economic stagnation and the Gambian Dalasis continues to
depreciate in value at an alarming rate. According to the 2001 Budget
Speech, The Gambia’s total debt stock is $566 million. In 1992 it was $390
million, an increase of 45% in 8 years. This year, we shall spend 500
million Dalasis to service our country’s debts.
In the latest Human Development Report, The Gambia is ranked 161st out of
173 (only just ahead of wartorn Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan etc.). A
recent International Labour Organisation study showed that in 1998, 60% of
Gambians were subsisting below the poverty line: by 1999, the figure had
risen dramatically to 69%.
I urge you to read the Participatory Poverty Assessment Report published by
The Gambian Government in 2000. According to this study, in Upper River
Division 99% of the people are subsisting below the poverty line and there
is no food security. In Central River Division the figure is 94%; in Lower
River Division the figure is 86%; in Banjul 89%; in Western Division 94%; in
North Bank Division 90%.
50 per cent of our entire population do not have access to safe water.
Infant and maternal mortality rates have skyrocketed and our Health Services
are characterised by lack of resources, lack of trained personnel, lack of
equipment, and lack of medication.
Representative Ford: history now demands that you retract your statement,
rescind your plans to hold the World Conference of Mayors in The Gambia, and
find a more suitable and truly progressive and democratic venue.
You have a moral duty to help us Gambians in our struggle to restore genuine
democracy to our small nation. You have a moral duty to inform your
government of the current chronic regime in The Gambia and its disastrous
effects.
We urge you to sever all links with Jammeh and the APRC regime. African
Americans know a lot about struggle: they have to fight their own struggles
to make headway in US society. By associating yourself and your
organisation with the regime in The Gambia, you are in essence helping to
perpetuate the repression in The Gambia. This would be against the heart of
the very principles for which African Americans and Diasporan Africans
have struggled for so long.
Dr Dubois, the celebrated African American, would be turning in his
Ghanaian grave if he were to be told that democratic organisations such as
yours are aiding and abetting despots and tyrants like Jammeh.
May I ask you to read Professor Arnold Hughes’s November 2000 article
–"Democratisation" under the Military in The Gambia - published in the
Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol 38 no 3). Also,
please read George Kieh Jr’s paper Democratisation in Africa – a Balance
Sheet 1999, in which he compares The Gambia to Liberia, Sudan, Sierra Leone
etc. in terms of repression.
If you require further information, please contact the Gambian Professor
Abdoulaye Saine at Miami University, Ohio. He would be more than pleased to
share his research on The Gambia with you.
The choice is yours: you can opt to go with your group, wine and dine with
Jammeh and his cohorts, and consolidate his regime. You can opt to find an
alternative, more acceptable venue.
But one thing is certain: the verdict of history is inviolable: it does not
lie. It will exonerate the just, and always condemn and indict the injust.
For some of us, we should rather be on the side of history than to be in the
garbage can of it.
Ebrima Ceesay
Birmingham, UK.
_________________________________________________________________________
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