Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue

Issue No. 62/2005, 8-12 August, 2005



Editorial

Advice to Alkalolu, Seyfolu and Commissioners

It is common for Alkalolu, Seyfolu and Divisional Commissioners to take part in the political campaigns of the ruling party. During the Njau Ward by-election the Commissioner of CRD went as far as to harass a polling agent while election was going on. The president needs to sit down and think of his oath to respect the laws of the country. It is categorically stated in the Code of Conduct for public servants in the constitution that "A person holding an office in a public service or any disciplined force shall not – (a) allow his or her political inclinations to interfere with the discharge of his or her official duties;"

Why then should commissioners continue to be in the campaign trail of the APRC?

The IEC should take note of the fact that Alkalolu, Seyfolu and Divisional Commissioners need a special workshop to enable them rule during the electoral process. If this is not done they will contribute to the perversion of the electoral process.

The opposition needs to take a clear and firm stand on the use of state vehicles and officials to promote one candidate to the detriment of another. The pressure should be put on the regime to discourage the practice of commissioners taking active part and giving advantages to candidates of the ruling party. Newspapers should focus on the activities of Alkalolu, Seyfolu and Commissioners during elections and put all their partisan activities and sayings on record for future action.

THE SEGREGATIVE WALL OF BRUFUT

By Surakata Danso

TAF Holding Company is currently engaged in building a high wall between the Brufut garden housing estate and the village of Brufut.

On Tuesday, 2nd August 2005, Foroyaa received some villagers of Brufut with the following complaints:

1) That the company had moved the original demarcation boundary pegs from their original places thereby encroaching on the space that had served as the boundary between the estate and the local settlement and

2) That because of the construction of the wall, 14 streets have been closed completely thereby denying them access to the main road (the Coastal High Way).

According to the concerned villagers, the building of the wall is a denial of their rights to easy access to communication. And in the event of danger such as fire accident and other emergencies, for example, fire service vehicles and ambulance services would not be accessed. They further complained that estates elsewhere have not been closed to the people of the existing communities, which made them part and parcel of each other and as one family. The group finally opined that because of the encroachment on the space which had existed between the main village and the estate, some of the compounds have been closed, since they will not have proper access roads.

These complaints had long been lodged to the Local Government authorities, the NIA and copied to the Office of the President and recently to the Ombudsman but still to no avail.

When Foroyaa contacted the Director of Physical Planning, he declined to comment. The PS could not be accessed but at the TAF Construction Company this reporter was informed that both Mustapha Njie and the General Manager were not at their offices. Foroyaa will get in touch with TAF Construction in order to make their views known.

CORPSE FOUND IN FONI

By Bubacarr K. Sowe

Sources reaching Foroyaa newspaper, indicated that a man has been found dead at the river banks of Santamba village in Foni.

In an interview with Foroyaa, the station officer of Sibanor police, Famara Jatta, revealed that the body was found on the 26th of July 2005 at 19.30 hours at the beach of Santamba.

He continued that the corpse had gunshot wounds on one of the feet and his whole body was covered with blood.

When questioned about the identity and the type of bullet which cause the wound, he admitted that he could not find out the identity of the man and the bullet.

When approached for comments on the matter, the CEO of Sulayman Junkung Hospital in Bwiam, were the body was first brought to, noted that the body was brought there and there is nothing that he can say beyond that. "We cannot talk to the press on this issue, the permanent secretary did not allow me. The only thing you can do is to consult the police." Mr Badjie stated.

Meanwhile, Foroyaa has learnt that the said body has been taken to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital for post mortem.

NRP COUNCILLOR SPEAKS OUT

By Baboucarr K. Sowe

Samba D.K. Ceesay, the NRP councillor for Kaur Ward, told FOROYAA that people in the APRC have been approaching him and using that to fabricate that he is about to cross carpet to the APRC.

Giving reasons why he cannot join the APRC, Councillor Ceesay said, "I joined the Council because of the hope that the decentralisation promised would enable us to know the problems of our villages and wards and help the people to have development. Since APRC came to office the only people who know development are the people on top. There are some structures like roads but the fares from our villages to the urban area prevent many from travelling on these roads. There are some hospitals but many of us cannot afford to buy medicine. In some of the villages people cannot buy fish or meat. They are really suffering," he lamented.

Councillor Ceesay observed that the APRC poses no threat to Mr Hamat Bah in Upper Saloum. He questioned the impact Mr Ali Kebbeh’s alleged defectors had on Saloum. He said the people of Saloum will take it as an insult for some one to sit in Sinchu and say that he would change their minds just to promote the interest of his individual family, Councillor Ceesay said.

"The APRC are left with people who just want to join the race to share the nation’s wealth. They think they can use the poor people of Saloum as bait to increase their gain. Many people4 ignore what they say as propaganda. No sane person in Kaur will listen to the APRC accusing Hamat of being dubious. They are not the ones who are qualified to criticise and those who join them are not qualified to criticise what they have left behind."

Councillor Ceesay concluded that women groups in Saloum are mobilised and they know their rights. "Saloum is not for sale in Sinchu Alagie."

RED CROSS ORDERED TO PAY OVER D120, 000 TO EMPLOYEE

By Emil Touray

Magistrate Richards of the Kanifing Industrial Tribunal on Thursday ordered The Gambia Red Cross Society to pay the sum of one hundred and twelve thousand dalasis to one Katim Ceesay for wrongful termination of service.

The Red Cross Society had terminated the service of the plaintiff in December 2004. The plaintiff then decided to drag his former employer (Gambia Red Cross Society) to the tribunal. When the case was mentioned in July, the defendant institution failed to show up. When the matter was called on Thursday for hearing, the defendant institution failed to appear. The tribunal then urged fifty four year old Katim Ceesay to give evidence. After hearing his evidence the tribunal went ahead and entered judgement in his favour.

In his judgment, Magistrate Richards ruled that the plaintiff has proved his case under balance of probabilities. He then ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff one hundred and twelve thousand dalasis. This amount represents monthly salary of one thousand and seven hundred dalasi for the next six year

(up to his retirement age). The defendant was also ordered to pay the plaintiff three thousand nine hundred dalasis, being arrears of money owed to him by the Red Cross Society. The tribunal also ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiff the sum of five thousand dalasis for breach of contract. He was also awarded 24% as interest starting from the date of judgment to the date of payment.

Letter To The President

Part 4

Mr President, you claimed that the courts are ineffective in serving as a deterrent to political violence and went as far as to threaten to take matters in your own hands by responding to violence with violence.

You would agree with me that such comments would only bring the office of the president into disrepute. In my view, the court’s role is to deliver impartial justice. It is the duty of those who are given the mandate to manage the affairs of the country and those who wish to be an alternative to them to bring about peace and stability in the country. A national leader of a sovereign republic should be able to speak to all sides of the political spectrum in dealing with matters of national interests. This is where you are failing in statesperson ship.

What is expected of you is how you can avoid violence between citizens. In short, which Gambian who is conscious of the fact that election is nothing but the exercise of their individual sovereign power to determine who will manage monies derived from their taxes and make laws to promote their welfare would allow himself or herself to be used to perpetrate violence to others to bar them from exercising their rights. A sovereign Gambian citizen cannot be a thug.

A thug is one who accepts to play the role of a dog with a master. A thug becomes dehumanized and senseless. One is robbed of conscience. One becomes a blind tool in the hands of the master.

Mr President, no sovereign Gambian can accept to have a master. All dignified Gambians who are conscious that their elected representatives are their servants and not their rulers would not allow their flesh to be food for their knives and bullets just to enable a person to occupy political office.

For your information, NADD has already made the decision to empower the Gambian people. It had prepared a code of conduct to promote decency in the politics of different parties. In fact if it were not for your own decision to pollute the political climate by calling the opposition donkeys, cockroaches and other names one would have been envisaging the most peaceful electoral contests Africa has had so far.

In fact, the first task I carried out as co-ordinator when NADD came into being was to have a meeting with the secretary of state for the interior and the Inspector General of Police. The list which not be completed because of eventual developments includes the National Security Council, the GAF and the NIA. The visits were to culminate with discussions with the members of the secretariat of all the parties that had not had relations with NADD with a view to motivating them to agree to a common code of conduct in pursuing our objectives.

NADD has therefore not been on the trail of bringing violence to The Gambia. It has been on the trail of consolidating democracy, which is characterised by the protection and promotion of the sovereign right of each Gambian to support the person of his or her choice without inducement or intimidation.

In fact, before you dismantled the IEC as previously constituted, all the parties met with the IEC and the representatives of the donor community, comprising the US Ambassador, the British High Commissioner, and the Representative of the European Union and the Resident Representative of the UNDP.

NADD made it abundantly clear that free and fair elections serve as a pillar of integrity for any government that comes into office; that while competing for political office separates the different political parties, the existence of an electoral system which will guarantee an outcome that reflects the undiluted choice of the people should be a common objective.

We undertook to look at the strength and weaknesses of the electoral system so that no interested party will be disadvantaged. I only hope you are in touch with your party representatives at such talks. If you have been fully informed, how then could you anticipate violence when mechanisms were being put in place for a peaceful co-existence of political parties?

Mr President, Gambia is at a crossroad. We can either take part in protecting a common destiny determined by the _expression of the free will of our citizenry or promote a clash of interests promoted by an unquenchable hunger for power or greed and facilitate the crash or disintegration of the common will to survive as a people.

You have the choice to preside over the peace and development of the nation or its destruction. At the moment, there is uncertainty and scepticism because of your gross intolerance of opposition. You need to abandon such a path if you are really interested in promoting national peace and stability. In 2006, Gambians will be saying, no to impunity, intimidation, violence and disunity. They will demonstrate zero tolerance for any attempt to pit the poor against each other just to consolidate the privileges of few political elites. 2006 shall be the year of enlightenment and empowerment of the people. It will witness the democratic opening up of the country and the association of the sovereignty of the people with overwhelming thoroughness. Those who will against the wave will be marginalised. The Gambian people want leaders who will promote the free exercise of their citizenship rights in a climate of peace, freedom and justice. They do not want rulers who will subject them to fear,
 intimidation, impunity, insults, threats of violence and tyranny.

There is absolutely no doubt that the 21st century is a century for democratic leaders and not a century for tyrannical rulers. It is a century of the people, when there will be no need for heroes and heroines or for a personality cult to be built. It is an era when all seemingly omnipotent and omniscient leaders shall b demystified. The people shall take ownership of their power at last and utilize it to promote their dignity, liberty and prosperity. Leaders shall be humbled to abide by the dictates of the common will of the people. This is the verdict of historical science and it is inevitable and irrevocable.

To conclude, allow me to say that every attempt you make to create obstacles to the opposition is in fact having the opposite effect of transforming some of us into heroes or heroines in an unheroic age. This is another form of mystification. The people of The Gambia should realise that it is tyrants who create heroes and heroines through their defence. Democracies do not create heroes and heroines since there is no tyrant to defy. There is only the hearts and minds of the people to be won. Hence in our battle to build a genuine democratic society, we must never be held to believe that we are liberated by an individual and build a personality cult around him or her. We must acknowledge that it is the duty of each to render service to the nation in accordance with one’s capacity but no one has the right to be more of a citizen than another.

Once each Gambian sees himself or herself as equal to others and sees their representatives as service providers they will never have a leader who would rely on their votes to climb on top of the pedestal of power just to become a powerful ruler who rules by might above them.

This, Mr President, is the Gambia that is emerging.

Your government is confronted with a new reality, which makes your old confrontational approach unsuitable. If you fail to see the new trend you will be left behind. The people will move forward to be the architects of a new destiny of dignity, liberty and prosperity.

Greetings.

THE END

Letter To Bala Jahumpa

CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE

Unlike the NCP/APRC Alliance the parties which formed the NADD chose to establish an alliance which can sponsor candidates in its name; an alliance which will not be manipulated by any single individual or party.

Needless to say, we were fully aware that NADD could not put up a candidate unless it was registered. We realised that there was no specific provision in the Elections Decree for the registration of an alliance.

However, one provision encouraged us to leave it to the discretion of the IEC TO REGISTER THE Alliance. Allow me to quote section 127 of the Elections Decree to buttress a point that should be registered in the minds of all those who are honest enough to recognise truth when they see it.

Section 127 of the Decree reads: "Where any issue arises relating to electoral matters which are not addressed by this Decree or any other law, the commission shall resolve such issue in keeping with the standards and rules of natural justice and fairness."

Now, Mr Jahumpa, if you were in our place and you discovered that no law exists to indicate how an alliance is to be registered and you come across section 127 of the Elections Decree, would you approach the IEC or leave matters to lie? Common sense would dictate that one should approach the IEC to know whether the alliance can be registered or not. This is precisely what we did.

The IEC considered it wise, right and proper to enable us to exercise our freedom of association to form an alliance of parties by registering NADD as an umbrella party. In short, the constitution empowers the IEC to register an association as a party. An association can have individual or group membership. An Alliance is an association based on group membership. The IEC sought to remedy the absence of a law to register the Alliance by registering the Alliance as a party.

As far as we were concerned this constituted the lawful exercise of authority by the IEC in accordance with section 127 of the Elections Decree. This is how NADD was registered. How then have we read any constitution or law upside down? I hope when you give a reply you will make concrete quotations of the constitution to show what we were ignorant of. If you fail to reply in writing then people should conclude that you are the one who is politically bankrupt.

In our view, the registering authority registered the Alliance as an umbrella party and their legal counsel had indicated this to the court without any ambiguity. As far as the IEC was concerned the registration of an umbrella party did not negate the existence of our parties. Suffice it to say, we did not resign from our parties and were not expelled. Hence at the time of hearing we had not ceased to be members of the parties to which we were members when we were elected. If the IEC knew that the court would not recognise its discretionary powers under section 127 of the Elections Decree, they would have never registered NADD. It goes without saying that unless we had extra sensory perception one could not know that the Supreme Court would have no regard for the discretionary powers of the IEC under section 127 of the Elections Decree.

Mr Jahumpa, there is no specific provision in the constitution which states that if you belong to two parties you have vacated you seat in the National Assembly. If there is any such provision can you quote it for the readers to benefit. If you fail to make any such quotation then the public should know that you are not criticising me based on your knowledge of the constitution, on the contrary, you are just repeating what you have heard without any critical analysis.

How then did we lose our seats?

The answer is simple. The decision of the Supreme Court is law. Courts make law when they make decisions. It is the Supreme Court which states that they consider NADD as a distinct party rather than an umbrella party. It is the Supreme Court which ruled that we cannot belong to NADD and the individual parties at the same time. It is the Supreme Court which creates a divided loyalty between NADD and our individual parties and concluded that since we now subscribe to NADD we have ceased to be members of our individual parties. Whether the decision accords to common sense or not is left to each analyst to decide.

What is incontrovertible is that the decision of the Supreme Court is what carries legal weight. This is how we lost our seats.

Hence, we are not facing any option of either resigning from either the individual parties or from NADD in order to qualify to contest the September 29 by elections. This is as you stated a figment of your imagination. The Supreme Court has already decided that we are NADD. If you disagree please reply in writing to defend your point.

Furthermore you wrote: "A man who is fund of making references to the constitution has now found himself in a dilemma by the same constitution. All these go to show that he is not educated, or did he turn the constitution upside down when he was reading it?"

Mr Jahumpa, can you quote the section of the constitution that I read upside down or did not know about? Of course you will not be able to quote a single section when you give your reply.

Hence your evidence and verdict lack logical sequence. You have not revealed the provision of the constitution I was ignorant of and how I found myself in a dilemma because of the provision. Yet you conclude that I am uneducated. Without facts your conclusion can only be seen as an attempt to dismiss the unpleasant facts I am revealing about your government with angry invectives. It should be abundantly clear to all that we relied on the law that we have quoted that gave discretionary powers to the IEC to deal with a matter not provided by law. The dilemma was brought by the rejection of the product by the court of the exercise of such discretionary powers by the IEC. Hence the only thing we did not know in advance is the mind of the judges.

If you disagree with such conclusion you should offer proof.

Finally, you alleged that "Halifa is only interested in debates and that he will be better off if he goes to the university or joins a debating society."

Debate requires facts and reason. It is the source of clarity when there is a dispute. It is unfortunate that you prefer to close the chapter to a debate without making a single allegation that is backed by facts.

I hope that you will redeem your image by going back to the people in the Sandika area and tell them when your alleged action oriented government will save them from the environmental hazard you have subjected them to. If you fail to do so them you should stop claiming that you are an action man. You can rightly be called a show man.

I hope that would not be the last chapter and verse of the debate you have started. I hope that your conscience will be pricked to remember those who spend everyday of their lives in the replica of a pigsty.

THE 8 UNKNOWN CORPSES BURIED

Reliable sources at the mortuary have confirmed the burial of the eight unidentified corpses, which were found between the settlements of Brufut and Tanje on the 24th July, 2005. According to the source the unknown bodies were buried together with three others in an open pit at the Old Jeshwang Cemetry on Wednesday 27th July, 2005 as they had started decomposing. The source further indicated that no authority was responsible for the bodies, since they were dropped at the mortuary one Sunday evening.

On whether they were identified or not, the source replied in the negative. It could be recalled that the 8 unknown bodies were found between Brufut and Tanje on the 24th July, 2005.

According to our source, the BCC provided the sum of D440 for the expenses on the burial of each body, making a total of D4400. Efforts to reach the PRO of the RVTH proved futile.

AN EMPLOYEE WINS IN LEGAL BATTLE

The Kanifing Industrial Tribunal presided over by Magistrate Richards on Thursday ordered Wazni Nazirr of Techno Photos to pay his former employee, Lamin Touray, the sum of nineteen thousand and two hundred dalasis for wrongful termination of service.

The court reached this decision after the parties were asked to go and negotiate among themselves. The court had earlier delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiff Lamin Touray. However, the defendant’s counsel, Lamin Jobarteh applied to the court for the said judgment to be set aside. The said application was granted by the court.

At Thursday’s hearing, Pa Modou Faal, a unionist who represented the plaintiff and Lawyer Jobarteh agreed to settle the matter out of court. A short stand down was therein granted by the trial magistrate. When the concerned parties returned after the stand down, Jewru Krubally, a unionist who attended the negotiation and counsel Jobarteh, informed the court that the parties could not reach an agreement. They informed the court that the plaintiff has insisted that he should be compensated a three year salary. They informed the court that the defendant is willing to compensate the plaintiff two years’ salary.

Magistrate Richards later urged the plaintiff to consent to the offer made by the defendant. The Magistrate then entered judgment in favour of the plaintiff. He ordered the defendant to pay two instalments of nine thousand and six hundred dalasis to the plaintiff. The defendant has promised to pay the plaintiff first instalment on Monday and the second instalment next month.

Press Release

By NADD Executive

8 August 2005



Reports reaching the NADD Executive that NADD is in a disarray as conveyed by the press is without foundation.

Following the Supreme Court decision there exist some legal, political, organisational and administrative issues to deal with to consolidate the status of NADD and its members.

The Executive is engage in a consultative exercise in order to come to a final decision which shall be made public at a press conference.

At the moment no party has opted to revoke its link with NADD and NADD is definitely not in disarray.



Halifa Sallah

For The Executive Committee



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