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Momodou
Denmark
11745 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Jun 2010 : 16:56:54
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Dailynews Edfitorial: Drugs Occupy Centre Stage in President Jammeh’s Social Crusade
Are We Anywhere Close to a Breakthrough?
The year 2010 could be conveniently described as the year of drug scandals in our beloved country. While the nation remained perplexed with the mushrooming of drug related cases in our courtrooms, the biggest drug discovery in the history of the country was unearthed earlier this month. All these cases are being heard in our courts triggering a number of speculations and rumourmongering.
The drug menace being an international problem calls for concerted efforts if we are to make any headway in this struggle. No nation on earth, The Gambia included, can take up this challenge all by itself. It is getting clearer by the day that these so-called drug dealers operate within a complicated network of agents all over the world from Asia, Europe, the Americas and sadly West Africa.The might of these drug cartels interms of finance and their links with the political elite cannot be overemphasized. These drug barons could become so powerful that they more often than not operate in countries by resisting arrest because their armed groups could sometimes challenge national security forces.
Experience has shown that this phenomenon should not be allowed to take root in any civilized nation. The developed world has been waging war against the proliferation of the use of and the illicit trade in drugs for almost half a century. There has been put in place over the period a United Nation’s specialized agency to fight against drugs. Even though it is a crime to deal in drugs in any civilized nation of the world, success in the fight seems to be eluding the international community. The government of the United States of America in 1988 arrested and extradited to the United States a sitting head of state in the person of General Manuel Noriega of Panama to face drug related charges. This was an interesting development because Noriega was not only a head of state but an Army General. Equally fascinating is the fact that Panama is a Latin American country a region which is still the centre of attraction in the drug trade. If it had not been for the timely intervention of the US government what would that Latin American country looks like if the Generals were still in power? The General has since served his sentence in the US but he still faces the prospect of facing another extradition to France to face yet another drug related indictment.
The story of Pablo Escobar of Colombia is still fresh in our minds. At what cost, both monetary and human, did it take the Colombian government to contain this celebrated drug baron? Ofcourse Rome was not built in a day. The Gambia government’s resolve to stamp out the drug menace is indeed laudable. All hands must be on deck to fight against this evil as the time for rhetoric is over. The drug problem seems to be permeating every fiber of our society. The pronouncements of the President make alarming revelations as he referred to a colonel and a major being in the dock for drug related charges. Indeed the top bras of the country’s drug enforcement agency and the former Inspector General of police are also in the dock facing similar charges.
It is common knowledge that the war in Afghanistan is being fueled by the poppy (cocaine) trade. This country has been in crisis for more than three decades. The number of lives lost and the financial implications of the conflict for the sake of drugs is indeed a human tragedy. It is becoming equally worrying the sympathy these so-called drug dealers enjoy from the ordinary man. What we saw in Jamaica when the government attempted to arrest a local drug dealer, Christopher Dudus Coke for subsequent extradition to the US to face drug related charges was indeed an eye opener. He won the support of his country men purportedly because he was doing more for them than the government, courtesy of drug money. The crusade is therefore multi-faceted and so calls for concerted efforts to fight it. Though the procurement of a fleet of vehicles may be a move in the right direction, what is most urgent at this stage is to mount a vigorous public awareness campaign in a country where poverty is in the increase. Drug dealers can pay for anything including human life to sustain their business
Source: Dailynews
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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