*Issue No. 29/2006, 17-19 April, 2006*

*Editorial*

*Ten Thousand Man (Woman) March*

*AN APRC RALLY OR A MARCH AGAINST COUP AND FOR DEMOCRACY?*

The ten thousand man (woman) march scheduled for 15th April, 2006 is now
history. The National mobilizer of the APRC indicated that they distributed
10,000 T-shirts. Our findings confirm that public corporations, departments,
banks, hotels, private enterprises, NGOs, youth and women organizations,
student groups, educational Institutions, journalists, and other civil
organisations were requested to mobilize those under them to participate in
the event. The impression was given that the fundamental objective of the
march was to say no to coup and yes to democracy. This is a captivating
slogan for democrats.  Many people took the courage to attend because of the
slogan.  Radio and TV programmes were launched to sensitize the population
against coups. It  was declared that a revolution was in the making to put
an end to coup d'etat in the Gambia.  This is why in the crowd one found
sympathizers of the opposition.

However, when the President started to speak he read a slogan which
indicated "No to Coup and yes to democracy" and then indicated that if he is
asked his opinion as to whether there should be a coup d'etat or not some
will be shocked by his reply.  People were indeed shocked when he stated
that a coup d'etat to overthrow a government that has betrayed a country and
her people was justifiable. The president even went as far as to call for a
coup if he betrays the country but added that there will never be a cause to
overthrow him because he will never betray the people.  While the organizers
preached the doctrine to put an end to the culture of coup in the Gambia,
once and for all, the President preached that coups to salvage a Country
from a leadership that has betrayed it is justifiable.  The President and
the organizers did not speak the same language.

To confirm that the occasion was a rally instead of a state affair the
President went to declare that those who want to replace him should be as
patient as vultures; that he will have to use the oil money to create
prosperity and attain what is stipulated in Vision 2020 before handing over.
He said that even though an opposition is good he described the type of
opposition in the country as one that is either tribalist, power hungry and
greedy and another which claims to be knowledgeable but lacks intelligence.
He swore that such people cannot become headmen of villages not to talk
about being President. He also expressed his readiness to combat all foreign
threats.

Foroyaa is still questioning what the organizers of the march wished to
achieve? They claimed that they wanted to put a definite end to the culture
of coups but the president said that some coups are justified in
contravention to all the established principles. Secondly, the President
calls for National Unity but instead attacked the opposition using
derogatory remarks to show his hostility.

Lastly, instead of promoting democracy, that is the empowerment of the
people to determine their manner of government he was preaching why he
should rule indefinitely.

We now wonder which opposition leader would attend such activities given the
unpredictability of what could be said and done to undermine the very
principle and purpose of holding them.  It should now be clear to the
Gambian people that all that glitters is not gold.  The wise therefore must
have foresight not to follow bandwagons only to find oneself in the wrong
company.

Coup can occur only in places where the people are not empowered to take
charge of their destiny.  The aftermath of coups is to establish
transitional administrations that do not derive their authority from the
will of the people.  Coups are never justifiable under constitutions and
regional conventions.  An administration that is genuinely committed to
democracy will never see coups as an option to charge.  Instead it will
preach for people to remove them from office if they are dissatisfied with
its manner of government.  We can safely say that the people left the ten
thousand man/woman march more confused than they were when they came.  People
should therefore depend on their own powers to determine what happens in the
Country rather than depend in the pronouncement of leaders.  Once they are
conscious of their own powers they will not be confused by leader.





*SAMUSA REPLACES DIBBA AS NOMINATED MEMBER*

Since the March 21st alleged abortive coup, many prominent citizens and
military officers have been arrested and sacked. But the arrest, detention
and termination of appointment of Sheriff Mustapha Dibba as nominated member
came as a surprise to many.  A radio Gambia announcement indicated that the
President relied on section 231 subsections (1) and (2) of the constitution
to revoke the appointment of Mr. Dibba as a nominated member.  Mr. Dibba
was, up till the revocation of this appointment, Speaker of the National
Assembly.  The press release announced by the radio also revealed that the
President appointed Mr. Dibba's longtime colleague from the same party, NCP,
as a nominated member of the National Assembly.  This means that at the next
sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday 18th April members of the
National Assembly may well elect a new Speaker of the National Assembly.

It could be recalled that Mr. Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, was arrested at his
house at 47 Perseverance Street in Banjul on 5th April 2006. He was
subsequently confined in an undisclosed location for eight days before his
appointment as a nominated member was revolved.

The reason forwarded for this termination is that Mr. Dibba was involved in
the last month's alleged foiled coup Mr. Majanko Samusa was a NCP National
Assembly Member for Lower Baddibou Constituency when Mr. Dibba was the
leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives, during the former
PPP administration.

However, when the news of Mr. Dibba's termination was made known to the
public, tiny residence was filled with relatives, sympathisers and cronies
of NCP to show their solidarity to the family about his detention and
sacking which did not go down well with many of his them. An old man in his
60s said, it was a hard stuff for him to swallow when it was said that Mr.
Dibba was involved in the alleged abortive coup. This old man who claimed to
know Mr. Dibba since the time they were youths, categorically denied the
statement made against Dibba. He described Mr. Dibba as one of the peaceful
sons of Africa. "If Mr. Dibba was a violent man, he could have joined the
failed 1981 Coup d'etat for which he was implicated by some people, but
later proven innocent, and in 1996 when he and his party were banned by
Decree 89, he did not act in any violent way. So why will he attempt to
overthrow the government of which he is the Speaker?" the old man asked. A
very ardent woman supporter indicated that no good thinking Gambian will
ever believe the statement made against Mr. Dibba.

It could be recalled that the ruling APRC party and opposition NCP formed an
alliance shortly before the 2002 National Assembly elections which led to
Mr. Dibba's appointment as the Speaker of the National Assembly.



*HALIFA ON THE 10 THOUSAND MAN (WOMAN) MARCH*

*Foroyaa:  *SOS Yankuba Touray indicated that you should be asked by
journalists why NADD did not attend the Ten thousand man (woman) March? Can
you give an explanation?

*Halifa:  *I will not blame SOS Touray but hopefully he will be guided by
our opinion if they are indeed committed to the letter and spirit of the
Memorandum of Understanding signed by the different Political Parties.  First
and foremost, the concept of unity in diversity should be based on the
principle of partnership without nullifying differences in core principles
or policies.

For example, I have criticized the Parliamentary Majority for tabling a
motion to condemn the coup which they drafted without consultation with the
Parliamentary Minority and going on to defend the motion by praising their
executive and showing why it should remain in power.  Obviously the
objective of the parliamentary opposition is to oppose unconstitutional
means of charging a government without effacing the grounds why the
government should be removed constitutionally.

Hence if the parliamentary majority wanted unity in diversity without
introducing any controversy they would have consulted with the parliamentary
minority at the drafting stage.  In this way, the motion would be couched in
a language that could be supported and defended by both sides of parliament.
Needless to say, in the defence of the motion no side will involved in
promoting partisan interest.  In the same vein, a proposal for a nation wide
manifestation to oppose coups in general and support democracy could have
been discussed at the interparty committee talks for a joint approach to the
activity.  In this regard, a program would have been organized where all
leaders will have equal time to address the Nation on the issue.  This is
how to promote unity in diversity.

*Foroyaa:  *Is that why NADD did not attend?

*Halifa:*  You know Malick Jones did ask me in an interview whether I was
going to attend I indicated that I was still studying the nature of the
event.  I did precisely that, I followed their television and radio
broadcast.  It was as clear as noon day that the objective of the programme
was to rally people behind their own political agenda instead of a national
agenda.  This became abundantly clear when the President claimed that coups
should not be criticized in general, that coups are justifiable when they
are designed to save a Country from National catastrophe.

The situation got worse when he criticized one section of the opposition of
being tribalists, power hungry and greedy and the other in pretending to be
knowledgeable but not intelligent.  The Chief justice, Ambassadors, Imams
and many dignitaries were there to listen to this.   Who would argue that we
should have been present? He even went as far as to say that he will be in
office until he implements vision 2020 as if he is the one who decides who
is to stay in power.  Is this respect for democracy?

*Foroyaa:  *Are you angered by the President's remarks?

*Halifa:*  We have the Memorandum of Understanding and the interparty talks.
As leaders any group that has grievances should convey it to the moral
guarantor of the memorandum.

We do not have axe to grind with the President.  We have a country to
develop and a people to inspire.   We will not be found wanting in words of
wisdom to inspire our people to be among the most enlightened people on the
continent.  We will not exchange derogatory remark with him.  We are going
to show that as an alternative government we can show tolerance and battle
politics of insult with politics of enlightenment.

I, as flag bearer of NADD, will be issuing a statement on the event as
agreed by the Executive Committee which shall be circulated worldwide. This
is how matters stand with us.  Whatever he says he will justify before the
moral guarantor.

* *

*JAMMEH'S QUALIFIED SUPPORT FOR COUPS*

*By Fabakary B Ceesay***

The President of the Gambia indicated that he is in support of a coup d'etat
that would save a country from catastrophe.  He gave this indication while
delivering a speech at July 22 square where the "Ten Thousand Man (Woman)
March" terminated on Saturday, 15th April 2006.  He defended the coup that
he launched on July 22 1994, noting that had

that not been the case Gambia would have slided into chaos and confusion.

He went on further to say that he can be over thrown by force of arms where
he betrays the interest of the nation.  But he was quick to add that he
would never betray the interest of the nation.

In his speech, the President outlined two other types of coup apart from the
one he supports. The two other types of coups which he opposes are

(a)One based on tribal lines

(b)One based on greed and personnel interest.

The third one which the President support is one geared to saving the
country from catastrophe.

The statement of the President contradicts the slogan on the T-shirts and
the spirit of the march, i.e.,  "No coup, yes to democracy."  Even,
Honourable Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay who spoke before him was unequivocal.  She
opposed coups d'etat and supported Democracy, full stop.  She did not give
any conditional support to coups.

President Jammeh did say he was going to shock his audience by his answer to
the question whether or not he supports a coup.  Indeed from my observation,
when he gave a condition support for coups d'etat the audience was shocked.
At least there was no applause at this stage.

Thousands were in attendance, including APRC supporters, employees from
various government departments, parastatals, private companies, NGOs, youth
organisations and women organisations.  Their slogans opposed coups and
supported democracy.

A Liberian representative gave a moving speech in which be narrated their
experience and emphatically warned Gambians not to encourage coups.

The occasion was evidently an APRC affair as exemplified by the statements
of Hon. Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay, SOS Yankuba Touray and President Jammeh.
All of them made derogatory remarks against the opposition and called for
support for President Jammeh.

The President said the opposition are not good citizens of the country
because they never praise even the good things he does.  "We have no
opposition in the Gambia, what we have are dishonest politicians,
tribalists, parasites and so-called intellectuals who are not intelligent."
He added that the opposition will forever live in a dilemma because they can
never be Alkalos not to talk of being President.

The procession itself started at Bund Road and ended at July 22 Square.  It
was led by the APRC national mobilizer, SOS Touray, SOS Singhateh, SOS Bala
Jahumpa, majority leader Baldeh and many NAMs

* *

*"US$115 MILLION With-held"*

*By Bubacarr K. Sowe*

The National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) has said that the
Gambia has lost about US$115 million in assistance from 2002 onwards.

In an interview with this reporter, the presidential candidate for NADD and
Assembly Member for Serrekunda Central, Hon. Halifa Sallah, said that due to
poor performance in governance, the country's development partners "have
suspended support for our poverty alleviation programmes because of poor
management of our public finances."

Mr. Sallah added that NADD holds that the country needs a transition to
consolidate democracy and promote development.

"We are obliged to strive for the establishment of an alternative government
in order to put an end to self-perpetuating rule, establish proper
democratic and constitutional safeguards, implement sound and sustainable
economic policies and ensure that patronage, intimidation and inducement
shall not stifle the undiluted consent of the people," he concluded.



*At The National Assembly*

*SIDIA ON THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AMENDMENT BILL*

*By Abdoulie Dibba*

"Hon. Speaker, we must assume our roles adequately and our fundamental role
is to determine laws that are suitable for our people. That is why section
100 of the constitution stipulates very clearly that if there is a dispute
between the National Assembly and the Executive over any law, in the final
analysis, what we (NAMs) Say is what stands. When we talk of amending laws,
the fundamental objective is to move forward but not to go backwards. But
here, you are telling me that you have discussed in your caucus to change
that clause. But the fundamental objective of this amendment is to take
power from the people and give it to the Central Government. That is why
they made the chairman of the council to be answerable to the governor who
is a representative of the Executive and not to the people who elect him. We
must bear in mind that Local Governments are there for the people. It is
their money that is making them function. So they must have a say and
control over them and the only way they can do that is to elect people to
represent them in those councils. That is why they are there for four years,
then they go back to the people for them to determine whether or not they
are doing the job they want them to do! So we here (NAMs) cannot accept
anybody to take that power from the people and give it to somebody else who
is not even elected by them. We must not allow ourselves to be used in a way
to make a law and later bring it back to us and say that this is not what we
want. And that has happened here once, twice in the life of this current
Assembly. We made laws here and they came back and say no we do not want
this. Sometimes even the Executive saw the need to abrogate those laws,
after we have given them our consent. Are we really performing our duties?
For me, we must remain legislators and our roles must be to determine which
laws are suitable for our people. We must not make laws here that are going
to be oppressive or take power from our people and give it to an individual
to rule over them. Governor is an anachronism! So it is not anything
complying with international standards. Historically, governors exist in the
Franco-phone countries. Senegal has a governor in each region but once they
became independent in 1960, it became an anachronism. It does not exist
anywhere in Senegal anymore. And now you are trying to invent that! You are
inventing history negatively!

NAMs butted in: "Governor still exists."

Sidia: "Where?"

NAMs. "Nigeria, Senegal."

Sidia: "In Nigeria it is historically part of their system and they are
there still."

NAMs: "In Senegal too."

Sidia: "Well you have to convince me" (General laughter)

Sidia continued with his speech as follow: "Admittedly, considering that
they exist in Senegal, does that warrant us to import it? Because for me, it
is an anachronism. Gambia is very good in inventing words. If you look at
the change of names in our country, education for example: Primary now Lower
Basic, Junior Secondary Technical Schools now Upper Basic, what change has
the change of names brought materially? Now, we are calling the
commissioners governor but the function is basically the same fundamentally.
So why the need for governor? And then, how can somebody elected by the
people be answerable to somebody who is appointed? You fused the executive
and the local government! Putting them together!! This is what the
constitution has separated and we must move forward. This constitution has
started very well. What we need to change in the constitution, we are always
closing our eyes to. We are always opening our eyes to those fundamental
things which are positive, which are enhancing our democracy. We want to
stifle them! There are provisions in this constitution which stifle
democracy but changes have never affected them. This is what we should go
for and not provisions that are strengthening democracy in our country. This
country as I said in 1997, this country is going to be a model of democracy.
But, we cannot become a model of democracy by doing what this bill is asking
us to do. Democracy is still being invented. Those who think that the United
Stated and United Kingdom are democracies, are still to go back to learn
what democracy is. We are in the process of inventing democracy. I can say
this anywhere in the world and nobody can muffle my voice. America is to
build a democracy probably, they will come and learn about democracy from
the Gambia. Please Hon. friends and colleagues, Mr. Speaker, we have started
the creation of what we called democracy. We are on the right path. Let us
not allow anybody to take us off that path. That should be our fundamental
contribution to the development of humanity and the freedom that human
beings anywhere require to breathe and survive. Thank you!

* *

*RSF WRITES TO AU CHAIRPERSON*

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the African Union to send a
mediator to Banjul to assess whether it would be appropriate to postpone the
AU summit due to take place there on 1 – 2 July in view of the fact that the
Gambian authorities have been illegally holding two newspaper executives for
the past two weeks.

Madi Ceesay, the General Manager of the bi-weekly The Independent, and Musa
Saidykhan, its editor, were arrested in the course of raids carried out in
the wake of an alleged coup on 21 March.

In a letter to Congo-Brazzaville President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the AU's
current chairperson, Reporter Without Borders said: "Gambia is one of the
African countries where it is hardest to practice journalism in a free and
untroubled manner. The contempt and hostility shown to the privately-owned
press for years by the Gambian government, especially President Yahya
Jammeh, have created a climate of apprehension and self-censorship."

The letter continued: "The tension was compounded in 2003 and 2004 by
several arbitrary arrests of journalists by the National Intelligence Agency
(NIA), by arson attacks that were never solved and by draconian new laws.
All this culminated in the still unpunished murder on 16 December 2004 of
Deyda Hydara, editor of The Point and Banjul correspondent of Agence
France-Presse (AFP) and Reporters Without Borders. Since then, journalists
have lived in fear."

Reporters Without Borders said it found it "anomalous that Banjul was chosen
as the headquarters of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
(ACHPR) without the Gambian authorities being obliged to comply with its
guiding principles," and pointed out that it had already voiced
"astonishment" when Gambia was chosen to host the AU Summit.

The letter concluded: "Our organisation stands ready to document the cases
of press freedom violations in Gambia for the AU, participate in an
evaluation of the current situation and help seek a solution to the crisis."

Ceesay and Saidykhan were arrested at the same time as many other members of
the newspaper's staff in a Criminal Investigation Department operation on 28
March. The other staff members were released the same day but The
Independent's offices have been closed ever since and the newspaper has not
reappeared. The Gambia Press Union (which is headed by Ceesay and is the
country's main journalists' union) has not been able to find out the reasons
for their detention.

* *

*TACKLING BIRD FLU*

*By Lamin Fatty*

Reports reaching FOROYAA has confirmed that dead poultry was being seen
thrown at Kairaba Avenue, just after the Guarantee Trust Bank on a narrrow
passage. This information was received by a woman who expressed concern
about the dead bird which, according to her, was there since Monday, 10th April
2006. She said upon seeing the dead poultry, she felt it necessary to get in
touch with the appropriate authorities so that they can do something about
it. She however pointed out that she made almost 17 different telephone
calls to various government departments but no progress had been made so
far. However our reporter went to the site for spot checking to see things
for himself. Upon seeing the dead poultry by himself, he made a call to the
Abuko Veterinary Camp to inform them about the information, but according to
him, he got somebody on the line who said to him that they are not allowed
to speak to any press and he was not also ready to identify himself.
However, the reporter made efforts to talk to the Secretary of State for
Health, Mr. Mbowe to get his view about the report. According to Mr. Mbowe,
he will get in touch with the Abuko Veterinary Camp, so that they can pick
the poultry and take it for investigation. He said that this is an alarming
issue that should be given urgent attention and pointed out that the health
and welfare of the people are government's priorities; that if one is not
healthy, one cannot do anything healthy. He therefore adviced the general
public to be on the alert and report any suspected case or cases to the
appropriate authorities for urgent help by calling this number: 4225510.

The Director of Livestock, Mr. Jebel Sowe also expressed similar sentiments
and said that they are going to remove the poultry from where it was, adding
that that is what is expected of them. He also adviced the general public to
report the matter to the authorities. He said stakeholders have been doing
very well since the outbreak of Avian Flu in Africa. He said it is due to
their nationwide sensitisation campaign that the people are becoming more
and more concerned about the pandemic. He urged the public to keep up the
momentum.

When I visited the site on Sunday the dead bird had gone out of sight.

* *

STOP PRESS

At the time of going to press the former Speaker of the National Assembly
and leader of the National Convention Party (NCP) Mr Sheriff Mustapha Dibba,
was released on the evening of Saturday 15th April 2006.

Reports have it that Mr Dibba appeared courageous and cheerful    when he
arrived home. The supporters were however in a sombre mood. It seemed they
were trying to digest the dynamics of the situation.**

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