Hamjatta, thanks again for your brilliant contributions. I know we can
always count on you to show up in our hour of need. Your idea about looking
into civil suits being brought by the families, is a great one. We know
genuine lawyers that will gladly go to court and fight for these families.
If we have family members in the United States, I join you and respectfully
counsel them to chat with lawyers to explore possibilities of bringing
actions under the Foreign Tort laws of the U.S. That way, the next time Yaya
sets foot in the U.S. federal marshals will serve him court papers and
freeze his ill-gotten gains deposited in foreign bank accounts.

Hamjatta, you are spot on about the faithlessness of some of our leaders. I
have a lot of pity for these people. Deep (superficially deep) inside these
people, they know that what they are doing is wrong. It was no accident that
Secka ran away from the press after delivering this despicable message. It
is no accident that people I know for twenty years or more, stopped talking
to me after they started dining with the Devil (Yaya). It was no accident
that Jassey-Conteh's cousin started avoiding Jassey as soon as he (Alagie
Conteh) decided to mortgage his soul to Yaya.

If someone has blood running in his or her veins, he/she cannot call me a
hater of our children and then turn around and support Yaya, the very person
that ordered the slaughter of our children in broad daylight. Yaya and his
cohorts have very sorry lives. One day when it is all said and done, people
like Pap Cheyassin Secka will come to us crying and begging for forgiveness.
Mark my words. Yaya has been living on borrowed time since April 10, 2000.

The massacre of our children is an indefensible act. Secka could not handle
the pressure of defending the despicable manner this case has been handled.
It is poetic justice that the murder of our children is what led to Secka's
demise. It shall also lead to Yaya's eventual downfall, because the vermin
cannot act honestly. Acting honestly in this matter would require Yaya to
resign and be tried before a court of law like any common criminal. We all
know that Yaya is incapable of doing that. So we have to force him.

Now that Secka is gone, another traitor has taken his place. I respect calls
made in this forum to give Joseph Joof benefit of the doubt. But I have to
tell Bojang and Samateh that that is a luxury the struggle cannot afford.
The vermin that decide to mortgage their souls to the Devil deserves nothing
but condemnation from us. We need not give Joof benefit of the doubt. He has
already shown us who he is. By accepting the post, he has told us that he
wants to side with Yaya in his war against the people. There are lawyers in
The Gambia that can school Joseph Joof about law. So he is not the best man
for the job. Those lawyers were all approached and they turned Yaya down.
Joof does not need this job to feed his family. He can legitimately make
more money in the private sector. So it is not about money either.

It is also not about serving the nation. Like I said, there are more
qualified lawyers than Joof in the country. Secondly, we all know that all
these intellectual prostitutes are so scared that they do not have the guts
to give Yaya good advise if they think that Yaya will not be happy with the
advise. Joof is not different from Secka, Bensouda, Sisay, Bittaye, Marong
or Mbye (I hope I did not miss one of our former AGs.) In other words, they
are all cowards. Secka's handling of the massacre investigation is a classic
example of how pitiful these people are. If Secka was not scared to offend
Yaya and acted like a real lawyer, the matter would have been solved months
ago. But because these people wear their hearts in their behinds when they
talk to Yaya, they give Yaya illogical advise; advise that on the surface
might be good for Yaya, but when you look at it objectively, the advise is
bad for the country and can only spell disaster for Yaya.

Take it from me that we cannot rely on Joof to change this circle of
intellectual prostitution - giving Yaya the only advise they think Yaya
wants to hear. What most of these people do not know (because they did not
know Yaya pre-1994) is that Yaya is a moron that knows nothing about laws,
economics, etc. So if these intellectuals wanted to do good and were not so
consumed with fear, they will give Yaya sound advise and allow the chips to
fall where they may. But what we have, is a recipe for chaos. We have a
moron that knows nothing lording over servants that are so scared to think
straight. Only anarchy and chaos will ensue.

Going back to Joof, he also showed us his colors by partaking in that bogus
commission of inquiry. He did not say a word when government officials came
before the commission and told blatant lies or refused to testify on certain
issues. This man has no integrity. When he was appointed to the commission,
I denounced him and urged the Bar Association to get rid of him as their
president. My reason for denouncing him was that Joof (as a lawyer) knew
that the commission was just a delay tactic. Lawyers know that criminal
cases belong in courts. So why did Joof partake in this fraud?

I will not at this stage go into personal stuff I know about Joof and his
unfitness to do the job at hand. I will follow all the professional moves he
makes while in office. I shall criticize loudly each and every wrong move he
makes and I shall ignore any right move he might make. I will also document
all the atrocities (including his participation in the bogus commission) he
participated in and ensure that when the time of reckoning comes, he shall
account for his actions. Joof has been around since 1986 and has done a lot
of things he cannot be proud about. We know those things. The guillotine
will drop if need be.

He already has his work cut out for him. He needs to ensure that there is a
conviction in the Ebrima Barry case. He needs to ensure that Dumo et al have
their day in court forthwith. He needs to ensure that those ridiculous
constitutional amendments Secka was trying to push, get shelved. He needs to
ensure that all those undemocratic and draconian decrees get repealed. Above
all, he needs to ensure that the criminals that perpetrated the murder of
our children get brought before a court of law and punished for their
heinous actions. I am sure there are numerous other rotten things going on
in the country that need the urgent action of a true Attorney General. If
Joof is honest with himself, he will realize that he cannot deliver on these
issues. That is why he should have turned down this offer in the first
place.

Lastly, I would like to plead with people not to pay mind to the fact that
Joof was the president of the Bar Association. This is an empty title. This
was my fear when he was appointed to the commission. The reason I urged the
Bar Association at that time to get rid of him was because I knew Yaya and
his cohorts will try to use that title as a public relations gimmick. They
will try to portray Joof as an accomplished and important lawyer. People who
are not in the know, will think that Joof is someone that is highly regarded
by lawyers and is someone that is interested in justice. Let me inform you
that Joof is not highly regarded by lawyers. The Bar Association is the
weakest such association in the whole world. Why do you think accomplished
lawyers like Antouman Gaye and Ousman Sillah are not heading the Bar
Association? It is because no respectable lawyer gives a darn about the
Association. Self-promoters like Joof use manipulative tactics to get such
empty titles. Like I said in this forum before, and Ebrima Ceesay can attest
to this because he was at the Observer then, the Gambian Bar Association
gave the weakest condemnation of the July 1994 coup. Even the language from
the doctors' petition to Yaya and his gang, was more forceful. If a lawyers'
association is not strong enough to bring their colleagues together and tell
Yaya that some of his moves are blatantly illegal, that association is a
failure in my book.

Joof will be hard pressed to tell us one significant accomplishment he got
while president of the association. He can may be tell us that he had
traveled a few times to attend meetings; silly meetings that other
association members did not even know about. What he will not be able to
tell you is what he and his association did when their colleagues (like
Borry Touray, Ousman Jammeh, Felix Lartey and the numerous AGs) were
bastardized by this regime. What Joof will not talk about is what his
association did about the unlawful abductions and incarcerations of people
like Dumo. Where was the Bar Association when a moron like Mustapha Marong
who did not even have the required post call experience, was appointed AG?
That appointment was illegal and we did not hear a whimper from that
lame-duck association. The lawyers that helped Yaya write these draconian
decrees and helped Yaya form the kangaroo courts he called commissions and
participated in those commissions, will all account for their actions.
Lawyers are some of the most culpable people in this mess. They had a
potential to do a lot of good things and they refused to do it. In my book,
after the soldiers, the lawyers are the second worst profession in that
country. I hasten to add that this is a generalization and there are
obviously some good soldiers and some good lawyers.

Imagine what it will be like if lawyers refused to go to court because we
have illegal political prisoners in the country. They will bring the country
to a standstill. Police stations will be flooded with criminals that cannot
get trials. There will be chaos in the prisons system. It will be a simple
act of defiance on the part of the lawyers. But it will make the country
ungovernable. Better still, other citizens will be encouraged by that simple
act and stand up against the tyranny visited on them on a daily basis by
this callous regime. Why are the lawyers not standing up to Yaya? Because
they do not have a strong association. Noble men like Antou Gaye, Ousman
Sillah, Emmanuel Joof, cannot do it alone. All the lawyers in the country
(including judges and magistrates) need to come together and ensure that
Yaya and his gang stop the lawlessness in the country.

Hamjatta, thank you again for your insights. Your dedication to this cause
is also quite inspiring. Your contributions, both on G_L and behind the
scenes, is well appreciated. I am honored to be on the same side of the
struggle as you.
KB



>From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Justice Denied
>Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 06:07:33 EST
>
>Brother KB,
>When I first read that Jammeh had refused to accept the findings of both
>the
>Coroner and the Commission, I was reminded of the ancient aphorism that a
>leopard is born with spots and will die with spots - some things in life
>will
>never change. But then some of us are on the record for opposing both the
>Coroner and the Commission not in principle but the terms of reference and
>the expedient nature of their wherewithal that literally turned them into a
>damage limitation strategy. Time, that refuter and debunker of illusions
>has
>proven our case again. I say and write this without any slight hint of
>gloating but of regret that we have allowed a fat head like Jammeh hoodwink
>us into another scam. It tells you a lot about the state of the Gambia -
>morally, politically, socially and intellectually. If Gambians let Jammeh
>get
>away with the murder of our brothers and sisters, without raising hell and
>ungovernability by agitating through peaceful and decent means, then we
>might
>as well throw our towels in and ready ourselves for life in exile -
>forever!
>Our indifference and lack of proper response to the Jammeh Mess can only
>lead
>to the Sierra Leone type of situation.
>Just look at the PDOIS response - I'm still trying to comprehend the
>breath-taking naivety of this once-upon-a-time sophisticated, radical
>sincere
>and smart party! After all we have gone through with Jammeh, these guys
>still
>naively think Jammeh has the moral wherewithal to act sincerely and see to
>it
>that justice is not only done but also seen to have been done. And their
>obsessions with commissions? Especially truth and reconciliation
>commissions
>and the ahistorical analogies of South Africa's Apartheid and the Gambia's
>Jammeh Tyranny. Do I have to tell them that reconciliation can only come
>after oppressors' machinery of oppression had been laid asunder and not
>vice
>versa? The calling for a truth and reconciliation commission is not only
>logically absurd at this stage but more importantly it exposes a
>fundamental
>flaw in their reasoning: The idea that this immoral regime of fat heads and
>low- lifers are genuinely interested in the dispensation of swift and fair
>justice.  Do these guys really believe that criminals genuinely set up
>stuff
>that will land them on the downside? Do they honestly believe that that
>tooth-less and muscle-less commission and coroner can effectively dispense
>the justice needed after the April murders? Do they honestly? Frankly, I
>have
>to come to accept their low-risk and soft criticisms of this regime but it
>is
>on the naïve bit I have some catching up to do.
>Well, at least they have released a statement condemning the gov't's
>rejection of the findings of the both the Coroner and the Commission. As
>you
>rightly queried, what about the other players - The UDP, NRP, and the rest
>of
>civil society? I have once said somewhere - can't quite remember where
>exactly - that the reason why we have come this far with a fathead like
>Jammeh is the general lack of faith in Gambians and the virtual
>non-existent
>of any civic society that under circumstances would coalesce and fight a
>common enemy. People think faith is just going to mosque and dispensing
>with
>nominal duties of a practising believer! In my book, faith starts off as an
>abstract leitmotif and remains at a rock bottom abstract. What do I mean by
>this? Faith is not so much about the lengths you to be seen to be doing
>nominal and routine believers stuff but how far you let your conscience be
>the guardian of your actions and the extent you let it tolerate or even
>accommodate injustice or evil. Going by the aforesaid paradigm, clearly the
>Gambia has a faith problem. But then the recent hypocritical howling for
>"sharia" after a mass murderer, thief and sinner moots the idea just about
>exposes how faithless our society really is.
>Brother, I still think that us that think and view Jammeh differently can
>practically and positively fight against the evil that has hijacked our
>country. Brother I saw it reported a while ago in one of the local papers
>one
>family of the victims of the April murders called for civil litigation
>against the gov't. We should look at this very seriously. Stuff happens
>that:
>In a society where there is what Tony Giddens calls "civic liberalism", the
>families of the victims would have coalesced and formed a support/pressure
>group that will independently fight its corner. I suggest we liase with the
>folks on the ground and help them form such a group; we might even call the
>group - Families/Victims of April 11 Support Group. Then those who are
>really
>interested in justice can contribute whatever they can lay their hands on
>to
>push forward the agenda of those who are still traumatised by the April
>events. I'm sure there some good lawyers out there who wouldn't
>representing
>this group on a pro bono basis and sue the gov't for its shabby,
>despicable,
>disgusting and odious handling of the welfare of the victims of the April
>events. Above all, I'm of the conviction that courts of law would in the
>very
>end be far more effective in unravelling the truth behind April events and
>establishing a premise for one to ponder an international litigation
>against
>the gov't, if need be.
>Brother, I thank you for your vigilance, resilience, wisdom and above all
>your sense of justice that from had inspired and to this day continues to
>inspire.
>Hamjatta Kanteh
>
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