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Momodou
Denmark
11645 Posts |
 Posted - 09 May 2007 : 09:47:26
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FOCUS ON POLITICS:
THE WRITING ON THE WALLS!!
WAS IT NOTICED?
With Suwaibou Touray
Continued from: http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3603
We have been focusing on politics in The Gambia. We have analyzed the political history from pre-independence to post independence. We have stopped where we analyzed Gambia’s economic situation in 1978/79. Let us continue from where we had stopped.
The peace that Gambians always boast about appeared to become quite fragile in 1980. Under the 1971 Illegal Society’s Act, the Government had banned The Gambia Socialist Revolutionary Party of Gibril George (alias Pengu George), The Gambia Workers Union and MOJA-G for a period of 10 years
The reasons for this action were not very clear, but going by the records and newspaper reports, one could easily deduce the motivation behind the action.
The writing was indeed on the walls, in the form of graffiti in Banjul and Serrekunda, as well as, provincial towns, like Basse, etc. But it appeared that either the bureaucrats refused to read them or that by their nature of their personal circumstances, as they were always traveling in cars, they could not read them. The Newspapers could not publish such slogans written on walls because they feared to be charged with libel.
However, The Gambia Outlook newspaper tried to inform the authorities intelligently of the danger facing the country at the time. It said “there is no smoke without fire” this simply means that with all the burning and thievery and other clandestine activities, something of a very serious political undertaking must be in the offing.
The outlook infact went to hit the nail on the head. It continued to report that; “when the youths of this country say that they are determined to ruin Jawara’s Government economically, it should not be treated lightly.” The editor warned; “that it has come to the time when the press which is more or less the articulate opposition in bringing to the notice of Government what it should know, should do so without bias or fear”. The editor did not stop there, he went on, “the sum total of the conversations in the country today is that, since the appropriate actions that should be taken against the men in authority, in so far as dereliction of duty is concerned financially, then the underling would do their utmost in diverting to their own use public funds, not mindful of its bitter and hazardous consequences” the editor concluded.
One would have thought that the authorities would take heed of this wise warning but since African governments, in general, do not have regard for journalists, especially independent or critical journalism, they simply discard such information as rubbish and throw it into the trash can.
Interestingly enough, in an adjournment debate in the House of Representatives, the Honourable Minister of Finance and Trade, Mr. M. C. Cham dubbed the editor of The Gambia Outlook, Mr. M.B Jones, as irresponsible. According to the paper itself, their editor and the local press were castigated and classified as not worthy of the sheets of paper on which their editions were made.
According to the Outlook, The Gambia Press Union sent two delegates to meet the Minister of Finance for him to elucidate his point of contention with the Press. In that meeting, it was reported that Cham said he was specifically referring to The Gambia Outlook. Many suspected then that the minister might have been concerned about the recent report on the “writing on the wall” but he instead mentioned or cited the 1978 report on the Government messengers’ petition letter to the president asking him to increase their salaries as recommended by the Waller’s Report. The messengers told the president that everything has been increased whilst the highest paid messenger received D100 only. They then wrote, “we are begging our great leaders to look upon the pitiful case of the least paid workers of the civil service and do something to help your poor humble servants.”
The ten year ban on these organisations must have commenced from 1980 to 1990, meaning that they would not be operating as legal organisations for this period.
According to my finding, the MOJA-G and others, but most especially the MOJA, saw this action as a violation of their human and people’s rights. At the time, the African Heads of State had just ratified covenants on civil, political, economic and cultural rights, but that implementing these rights was not an easy task. The MOJA-G argued that The Gambia government at the time was propagating the idea that the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights was Headquartered in Banjul because Gambia was the champion of Human and people’s rights. They asked why The Gambia was depriving them of what they called their legitimate right to assemble freely and, to express and even to act in defence of their human rights as can be said of all other peoples. They also asserted that the OAU Charter on Human and People’s rights and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and covenants on civil political and other rights have guaranteed them enough to operate their organisations without interference as long as they operate according to law. Has this ban forced these organisations to also operate underground was the question many had to ask.
According to the Outlook the “writing on the walls” was no longer “Boys game.” He linked the practice to that of the Irish insurgents who embarrassed the British authorities by writing embarrassing slogans on walls. The first thing that happened which showed that the writing was indeed that of adults was when the news started to circulate that the president’s yacht “Mansa Kilaaba” was burned to ashes. The questions that many asked were; was it done because the expensive boat was named after the president’s village “Barajally?” Why was it burned? Who was behind it? What is all these about? And so on. As I wrote, the Government under such situations could either over-react or under-react. Any of the two had their implications. At the time The Gambia Government decided to under-react. They did not make it an official news. And so when the police could not have any lead, the announcement had to be made over Radio Gambia giving an award of D5000,a lot of money at the time as a handsome reward to anyone who would furnish it with information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of anyone connected with the burning of the state yacht, Barajally; which the announcement said, the police had identified as arson. This was the first time it was acknowledged that certain people have been resorting to under hand and clandestine methods to provoke Government.
The police were desperate to find the culprits and so they searched many premises. According to Newspaper reports, a controversial warrant issued by one A. B. A Gaye and Mr. Mboge was used to search Mr. Adboulie M’boge’s house and this premise lived a senior magistrate whose house was also searched. All on the strength of that purported warrant. But the Bar Association later called a press conference and protested that the warrant was not a genuine one and called on the authorities to stop it.
See next issue for more happenings in the 80s.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 52/2007, 7 – 8 May 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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