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Momodou
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 Posted - 26 Jun 2007 : 19:22:59
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FOCUS ON POLITICS
1981 POLITICAL CRISIS
FAFA .E. MBAI - HIS APPOINTMENT MADE SOME BIG-WIGS TO TREMBLE
With Suwaibou Touray
We have been focusing on politics and this had motivated us to review Gambian political history from the pre-colonial to post - independence epoch. We have now analysed the independence era and had just completed the analysis of the 1982 General Elections.
In the last issue we have dealt with the trial and subsequent freedom of Hon. S. M. Dibba and co. from prison after they were acquitted and discharged on all the numerous charges, despite the fact that 50 witnesses of the state gave evidence at the said trial.
We have stopped where we asked, whether government would carry out the verdict to send all those sentenced to death to the gallows or the firing squad. Let us continue from where we have stopped.
Continued from: http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3900
It appeared that what occupied the president's mind when he was forming his cabinet after the 1982 elections was the criticism made by the media that, for some reasons, in Gambian politics, some people of low educational background found themselves voted into the house of parliament and as a result were, as well, given ministerial positions. The BBC dubbed them 'a group of bad lieutenants' and which makes it difficult to curb the activities of some unchecked persons..
This was similar to the criticism or advice of M. B. Jones when he said 'one thing which the president failed to curb was to eradicate the archaic and retrogressive criteria used for the selection of ministers with progressive, efficient, knowledgeable, dynamic and committed ones who are conversant with the ways of the civil service'. It is high time that, as he said 'we stopped appointing ministers of low academic standing thereby reducing them and the Gambia to a laughing stock during debates, meetings and conferences'.
Hon B. B. Darboe and Mr. Fafa E. Mbai were seen, at the time, as such a caliber of new blood who could serve to break that cycle.
Mr. Mbai was said to have 'obtained four degrees in five years'. According to the Gambia News Bulletin, Mr. Mbai was called to the bar on 25 November1975 as Barrister at law by the Middle Temple Inn of court in London.
Many people who were frequent at the courts were impressed with his style of advocacy. Mr. Jones described it as looking like a concert theatre when, as he observed, some barristers would be addressing the court with their minds to the audience rather than the judge and their hands in their pockets walking up and down.
Mr. Mbai also wrote a pamphlet 'The peoples' progressive party as an instrument of social change in the Gambia." This book's publication coincided with the seventeenth anniversary of independence in 1982.
The book also came out at a time when the P.P.P was hard pressed with criticisms of corruption, to a point where the president had to express his dissatisfaction with the press. So it was a time when the P.P.P required a morale booster of some sort.
This was why many concurred with the president when he appointed Mr. Mbai to the position of Attorney General and Minister of Justice at a time when he facilitated the setting up of a commission of inquiry into the assets of civil servants and ministers of state, which was also under his jurisdiction. So, many saw him as a man of business who would not only be satisfied that justice is done, but that justice is seen to be done and that only an incorruptible Attorney General could push such an inquiry and a crusade to a successful conclusion .
Mr. Bakary .B. Darboe was also seen by some in the same light, as a long serving civil servants without any corrupt record, and that he would be able to help direct the affairs of state in a judicious manner.
The president who was praised by praise-singers for braving all odds and dared to return to the country despite the fact that even his family was held hostage was now seen to be departing with tradition and proving that he was a born again leader. He went ahead and replaced the then secretary general with Mr. Jabez Ayo Langley. Mr. Langley (recently deceased) was also seen to be an intellectual and a man of substance, an erudite scholar, for that matter. Many thought he would be able to guide the civil service because of his education and wealth of experience.
But Gambians in those days were not complacent; they do not take things for granted. That was why many were saying 'let us see what happens' and that as the saying goes 'a spear no matter how sharp still needs to be sharpened'. So the sharpening of the spear, no doubt, made many of those who were to be probed to tremble.
The feared commission of inquiry started with the disbursement of foreign aid on the 23rd of August 1982. The first witness to appear before it was one Ebou Taal, the Commissioner of External Aid and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs. The proceedings were initially delayed because the Auditor General's report was not available.
Mr. Semega Janneh, a former minister, who fell prey to the president's new mood, also appeared in court and charged for being in possession of what they termed a negotiable instrument, cheque No.001565. The court restricted him from operating his accounts with all the three banks in the country.
Apart from the inquiry, the economic situation did not augur well for the ordinary people. It was this year 1982 that a prediction was made that the trend the prices of commodities were mounting; that if that trend continued it would never keep pace with individual earnings.
Not only were prices mounting but people began to experience shortage of essential commodities such as rice. According to the Outlook newspaper, despite the promises of government that there should not be any apprehension about the shortage of rice, sporadic groups of people could be seen roaming about the city of Banjul searching for the commodity.
With the economy not improving as expected, coupled with the rising cost of living, the regime of Sir Dawda must race against time if it must fulfill the election promises. The Senegambia confederation, which was used to drum up hope, has not done much beyond the declaration of intent. The only significant move made after the declaration was the establishment of a joint council of ministers who were charged with the responsibility to deal with common matters. One such common problem was the cross border smuggling that occurred from the Gambian side. The other plans were to amalgamate the respective security forces but as it was realised later the confederation was going to be a gradual process that would take several years to complete.
The other matter on the agenda was to establish a confederal parliament and a court of arbitration.
At this stage, over 15 accused persons have been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Letters kept pouring in to plead on their behalf for clemency. Meanwhile something out of the blue happened.
The person who was hailed as a hero during the rebellion, for holding on to Banjul, and also compensated for his bravery and promoted from Inspector General of police to the minister of the Interior, Mr. A. S. Mboob, had resigned unceremoniously on 17 August 1982 without any explanation. But Gambians always had their own explanation and if that is anything to go by, speculation had it that it was in connection to Mr. Kebba Nyama Leigh's revelation in court that he and the former Inspector General were informed of the coup, as it was at its planning stage.
So as you can see, cries of foul play by the then Attorney General that his removal has something to do with the PPP sizzling with tribalism was contrary to the realities at the time. For example, records indicated that the first and second Attorney Generals were all expatriates but that the first Gambian to man the post was Mr. M. L. Saho, who held it for fourteen (14) years.
So as far as records are concerned, Jawara was more interested in convincing the people that he was being pragmatic and that he has indeed changed colours than actually engaged in the old style ethnic balancing in politics.
1982 ended with one major concern for the ordinary person and that is, the curfew and the state of Emergency that were still imposed on the people. Many felt at the time that since Kukoi was exiled across the Sahara in the desert country of Libya thousands of miles away; since the confederation has been declared and Senegal was in total control of security and since the opposition leader had also been not only cleared of all offences but freed as well, there was no need to continue subduing Gambians under what many considered then as Martial law, arresting, confining and mal- treating people for nothing but to show authority and might.
See next issue as we explore issues that arose in 1983.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.73/2007, 25-26 June, 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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