Friends,
This is long, Sorry. Just to update those of you who are interested. Thanks
a lot for the petition-work. Great to see that this form of international
co-operation can give practical result.
Annika
To the co-ordinator/editor Modou Thomas
Sunday News Hour, Radio One FM
2000-07-28
My heartfelt compliments to you for your good and courageous program.
My name is Annika, I am a co-founder and volunteer of boka Loho
Organisation, both here and in Sweden and I am also the wife and companion
of Mr Modou (Dumo) Sarho – the ideological father of boka Loho.
Mr Sarho was arrested on the 24th of June and has now been held
incommunicado for more than one month. That means that neither our lawyers,
nor I or any of the family have seen or talked to him for 35 days. We don’t
even know where he is kept. After three weeks, on the 14th July, we could
hear over the radio that he, together with some others, had been brought to
Kanifing Magistrate, suspected of treason…
Dumo Sarho spent nine years in Sweden as a political refugee, from 1985 to
1994. Unlike so many other Gambians who find themselves outside their
homeland, Dumo always wanted to return to The Gambia. He did not struggle to
collect wealth or build a private fortune but was instead busy building
ideas and organisations to work towards the development of his home country.
That is how boka Loho came into being. Instead of collecting materials and
sell them for private profit, he collected materials to be used for the
benefit of the community, for schools and workshops, training and education.
My husband, who has never approved of coups d’etat, suspected to have spent
16 months (from March last year to June this year) planning to overtake the
government by force.
Many people here refuse to understand how Dumo - after so many years abroad
and with a ”toubab” wife - can still be seen walking on foot all around
Serrekunda with surroundings. Why does he not act like a ”boss”, giving
orders and taking decisions to be carried out by others? Why does he waste
all his time without getting a butut for it in his pocket? How come he has
not yet built a house for himself or at least fixed the house for his
mother? They don’t realise that Dumo has other priorities in life. That he
believes that everybody has equal right to decent housing and accessible
education and that it is a collective responsibility to ensure that.
Therefore he has always emphasised practical work and joined efforts in the
strive towards community development.
My husband, suspected of having used 16 months of his life attempting to
kill the president of this country, when he was instead busy strengthening
the boka Loho Organisation, its Multi Purpose Centre, the mechanic workshop
and boka Loho-groups in the rural communities. When he brought students and
volunteers to Foni, not to murder the president but to make mud-blocks and
rehabilitate the collapsed nursery school in the small village of Bunebore.
When he never for a moment seized to practically illustrate the motto of
Boka Loho – TOGETHER WE CAN!
I now have some questions I would like to air through your program:
To the Secretary of State for Justice:
Sir, Recently I had the pleasure of reading your speech from June 29th. In
that speech you elaborate on how international treaties of human rights are
reflected in Chapter four of the Constitution of The Gambia, especially
Sections 19 and 24. Allow me to quote: ”This chapter provides for the
protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms” and ”we are proud to say that
there is a judicial system already put in place to ensure that any person
alleged to have committed an offence and consequently arrested, is held for
a period not exceeding 24 hours and entitled to be brought before court
within 72 hours.”
In Daily Observer 7/7 I read about another of your speeches (from a dinner
hosted by the Nigeria High Commission) were you were said to have ”described
The Gambia’s judiciary system as a reference point in the world”.
 Then why is it, that my husband and his co-accused are still, after more t
han one month, held incommunicado?
 Why did the prosecutor, Ms Thomasi, not file the charges with the High
Court in Banjul on Monday the 17th July, as she promised in the Kanifing
Magistrate on the 14th ?
 Can it be because of lack of evidence?
 If so – why are my husband and his co-accused not released immediately?
 On the 14th of July, my husband was registered at present at the Kanifing
Magistrate. Since then he has not been seen. Where and why do you hide him?
Why are the lawyers not allowed to see him? Is he still alive?
To the Secretary of State for Education:
Madam, boka Loho is, among other things, working with vocational training
for youth.
 What are we going to teach our students about their responsibilities and
rights in the society?
 How shall we explain to them why the constitution of The Gambia does not
seem to be applicable in the case of Mr Sarho’s detention?
 How do we explain and defend that not everybody is equal, when it comes to
the practice of the law, even if the constitution says that they are?
To the Secretary of State for Local Government and Lands:
Sir, Skills training is an area of education that is given high priority by
the government. Since 1996, boka Loho has appealed to your department to
allocate us land to enable us to build our own premise. Skills Training
programs are expensive to run but we have always struggled to maintain
accessibility for society’s less privileged, i.e. low schoolfees. Now that
the project support from the Swedish government is ”phased out” our
financial constraints are enormous, especially the rent.
 How come that boka Loho, after four years of repeated appeals and
follow-ups, has still not got its own land?
To the Secretary of State for Tourism and Culture.
Madam, Many are the tourists, who have come to The Gambia and taken the
country and its people and problems to their hearts. They have gone back to
their homes, gathered their friends and started to work towards helping The
Gambian people in their struggle for sustainable development. Boka Loho – as
an example – annually receive a lot of guests, who have been active in
Sweden and other countries, using their spare time (evenings & weekends)
lobbying support for the organisation. The most active are single mothers,
full time working to support their families, busy running home from work,
picking up their kids, cooking dinner, helping with home-works, taking care
of the laundry, planning next days lectures etc. Still they have a place in
their heart for a faraway people and somehow manage to find time and energy
to contribute. Since 1991, tens of thousands of unpaid voluntary hours have
been put into the Boka Loho work in Sweden.
 They know Dumo Sarho, personally, as a devoted community worker and they
respect and admire his ideological integrity. What are we going to tell them
about Dumo’s detention?
 How can we explain to all this people that the judiciary system in this
country has failed to charge him in a fair trial within the stipulated time?
That he is still held incommunicado with not even lawyers to see him?
 How shall we convince them that The Gambia is a country still worth
support?
At last, I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all democratic
and law-abiding people and institutions, in The Gambia and outside, to
support the demand for a prompt, open and fair trial or immediate,
unconditional release of Modou Dumo Sarho and his co-accused.
Thank you for your time.
With best regards,
ANNIKA RENBERG

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