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Momodou
Denmark
11835 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Apr 2007 : 15:07:59
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Where is Fatou Jaw Manneh?
At the NIA Headquarters?
Foroyaa received information that relatives and friends of Fatou Jaw Manneh, a journalist who has been resident in the US for many years, went to the airport on Wednesday 28 March 2007 to welcome her home.
Unfortunately, they missed to see her when she arrived. Foroyaa reported this in the last issue. On Friday Foroyaa started the search by contacting, the Police, The Immigration and the NIA. Before the end of the day it was clear that Fatou was neither arrested by the Police nor by the Immigration. Foroyaa has reliably learnt that she is at the NIA Headquarters. We have contacted family members to confirm this finding and they have confirmed that they visit her daily.
Section 191(1) of the Constitution states"There shall be a National Intelligence Agency which shall be under the command of the President."
The NIA is therefore directly under the Command of the President. Foroyaa wishes to advise the President to establish a unit at the president's office to receive complaints regarding arrests made by the NIA so that he can be kept informed of all developments.
In our view, the NIA should only be involved in complex cases of national security or serious, organised crimes which involve criminal syndicates that need to be exposed and broken.
A state should not be involved in issues that amount to a storm in a tea cup. We hope the Director General of NIA will keep to his promise to build the institution into a professional intelligence organisation that will be concerned with major security issues and leave the police to deal with crimes of day to day law enforcement.
72 hours is the constitutional dead line to keep a person without court appearance or release him/her on bail. In the case of Fatou Jaw Manneh Monday is a day limit set by the constitution.
The President should either cause an amendment to the Constitution to be proposed or accept responsibility for every development at the NIA as implied by Section 191 (1). We will follow Fatou's case on Monday and we anticipate that the journalist fraternity and sorority in the Gambia will be equally concerned.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 38/2007, 2-3 April 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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