Remembering our fallen heros

Fellow Gambians, yet again we today commemorate the brutal massacre of over a dozen Gambian school children. These innocent school children were brutally murdered on April 10 and 11 2000 by Gambian security forces, who have sworn to protect them.

Our heart continues to bleed and our eyes continues to shed tears anytime we think of the brutal manner in which their souls departed this world. These young men were not criminals or rebels. They decent Gambians like you and me, who where only protesting against crimes committed against their colleagues; Ebrima Barry and a Brikamaba school girl.

The demands on the basis of which the students went out to demonstrate eight years ago, merely constituted a request for justice. April 10 and 11, 2000 were indeed days during which Gambian students took to the streets to protest against rape and murder, with a clear call for justice to be done. Rape and murder are not only repugnant in the eyes of all faiths, but laws in all civilised jurisdictions prescribe stringent punitive measures against them. Similarly, all our national cultures in the Gambia denounce them in the strongest possible terms. As a result, one should easily understand the reasoning which led to the decision to peacefully demonstrate against these heinous crimes against the two students.

Any mature political leadership would be ashamed of the manner in which the security officers reacted to the demonstration. It was an act of brutality that has no place in any civilise society. Murder was foreign to the Gambia, a country where people almost know each other.

Several security officers including Ousman Badjie, former secretary of state for the Interior were indicted for the gruesome murder of this youths and despite recommendation of the commission of inquiry that was set up to look into the disturbances, the government of Yahya Jammeh still refuses to prosecute them. The government instead indemnified all the murderers from any criminal prosecution for their role in the killing of these children. Some of those blamed for the murder have since been rewarded with high government positions.

In other words, the Jammeh regime is saying that all these children who never had the chance to say good bye to the parents deserved to die in that brutal manner. It is prudent, perhaps, to remind ourselves that the use of live ammunition and overwhelming force on children can never be justified nor simply swept under the carpet. By failing to prosecute those responsible, the government woefully failed to uphold the rights of the Gambian citizen.

As Gambians, it is time we continue to put pressure on the Jammeh regime to prosecute all those who were indicted by the commission of inquiry. Our land has been defiled with the blood of young innocent children and it is our responsibility to ensure these children and their families get the justice they deserve. It is still not too late. Never.

As we commemorate eight years since the following departed this world, we pray that Allah subhana watalah blessed their souls in heaven.
Rest in peace our heroes, you will always be in our hearts.
Calisco Preira
Burama Badjie
Karamo Barrow
Reginald Carrol
Omar Barrow
Wuyeh Massally
Momodou Chune
Lamin .A. Bojang
Ouman Sabally
Bamba Jobarteh
Abdoulie Sajaw
Bakary Njie
Unidentified victim
Sainey Nyabally
Ousman Sembene

Its lunacy

Again, President Yahya Jammeh has used his political bureau (National Assembly) to pass two obnoxious bills into law.

I have said it over and over again that the Gambian National Assembly is an unfit for purpose institution, which is only there to serve and strengthen the brutal regime of Dictator Yahya Jammeh. And the enactment earlier this week of the National Security Agencies Bill and the amendment of the Official Secrets Act exposes their immaturity and above all lack of respect to the Gambian people.

What these APRC National Assembly Members are doing is criminal. And I will even go further to call it a crime against humanity. While many countries in the sub-region are making significant improvement on democracy and good governance, we in the Gambia are taking ten steps in the opposite direction.

The Gambian people are being strip off their rights and freedoms by an institution like the National Assembly, which is expected to defend their rights and interest.

But again what do you expect from an institution that is dominated by a bunch of secondary four graduates, who cannot even distinguish between Jammeh's interest and national interest. They blindly pass into law any bill drafted by the executive without even reading its contents. For these half-witted politicians, whatever the executive or Jammeh does is good for the Gambia. Ndeysan that is total lunacy.

The amendment of the National Security Agencies Bill, establishing the National Security Agencies comprising the Military, Police, the Criminal Intelligence Agency, Military Intelligence Agency and Special Services Agency in addition to the National Intelligence Agency is very disheartening. This is another lunacy and I completely disagree with Vice President Njie-Saidy's justification that it is meant to strengthen the Gambia’s national security against military and other related threats.

The Gambia is not under any threat from any country or people.The enactment of this bill exposes how paranoid Jammeh is. Why should millions of tax payers' money be wasted into creating another intelligence agencies when their is no real threat? That money could be better spend in equipping our schools that are currently producing very, very poor examination results with education materials, buy ambulances for health centres, provide more mobility to the police, provide fertiliser to farmers among others.

I totally agree with Sidia Jatta when he said: "the real threat facing the country is poverty of the people. The money that should have gone into supplementing efforts into alleviating poverty in the country is going to be pumped into creating four new intelligence agencies in addition to the National Intelligence Agency."

This new intelligence agencies would instead of making the Gambia safer, be used to terrorised opponents and critics of the regime. This is exactly what Robert Mugabe did in Zimbabwe. Jammeh is trying to transform the country into a police state. He is trying to set up a Big Brother system to watch on the movement and activities of Gambians especially his critics and opponents.

Already in the Gambia, people's phone lines are being tapped without any court orders, people cannot talk freely in the street without looking around to see who is listening. People cannot even moan about the high prices of commodity goods simply because they are being watch by men in plainclothes. All this madness is being done in the name of national security.

NIA officers are at work places, newspapers (both government and private) and even schools. Why should our taxes be wasted in funding more intelligence officers and units when the lives and properties of Gambians are not safe from the men in black who operate in the cover of darkness? Ndeysan, its another lunacy of the regime.

Again, Sidia Jatta was right when he seems to question the competences of our intelligence officers. Since 1994, many Gambians and non-Gambians have mysterious disappeared from their homes and murdered and their perpetrators have never been arrested not to talk of apearing in court despite the existence of the mighty NIA, CID among others.

If Jammeh is indeed serious about making the Gambia safer, he should first start by making the lives of the Gambian people especially that of his critics and opponents safer. For they are not criminals but patriotic Gambians who are only interested in the development of the country.

With regard to the Official Secrets Act, how the heck could Members of the National Assembly justify the amendment of that colonial Act which was first enacted way back in 1922 to protect the interest of our colonial masters, who were not even elected into office by the Gambian people?

The increment of the penalty for the disclosure of official documents and information is only mend to keep Gambians in the dark about the malpractices of the Jammeh regime.

Remember that this a very corrupt regime that has a reputation of lying and burying things under the carpet. It has repeatedly done things and committed gross malpractices which the Gambian people would never have known if some patriotic civil servants have not leaked to the public.

In this 21st Century, the Gambian people were hoping that the Jammeh regime would borrow a leaf from other countries in the sub -region. And rather than tightening the tight lid on information, and threatening long prison sentences and fines on civil servants, the National Assembly should have pressurised the government to be accountable to the people.

Why should it be difficult to speak to a secretary of state or permanent secretary about issues pertaining to their ministries? Why is President Jammeh continuing to treat Gambians like mugs by refusing to hold monthly press conferences, which would keep the public abreast on the way their affairs are being conducted by their representatives?

The only time you see the president, secretaries of state and government officials speaking on TV or radio is when they have ear-pleasing thing to say. The public has to rely on the Radio Kangkang who normally give confusing stories when unpleasant things happens in a government department or State House. Why should that be the case.