Source: Foroyaa Newspaper
Mr. President,It is now 3am in the morning. Sleep has surrendered to high level mental alert. Morning has enveloped my mind before the break of dawn. This is of course not unusual for those on whose shoulders rest the welfare of others. Such people have too little sleep to dream. What comes as dreams and nightmares to others stand right before their eyes as the naked realities they have to ponder during the early hours of the morning. Just as in the case of the witchcraft fiasco, duty has compelled me to knit my brow to find solution to a National tragedy.
Mr. President, the incarceration of Sam Sarr is not my major pre-occupation. Sam Sarr in prison is Halifa Sallah behind prison walls. We have both accepted the view since we cemented our relationship in 1977 that to be imprisoned and killed for righteousness sake is not a tragedy but a manifestation of the triumph of the human will against the temptation of self preservation and obsession for comfort in the face of duty’s calls for sacrifices in order to address the vital concerns of a generation.
We understood from the very beginning that to serve a people who are yet to take full charge of their destiny is not an easy task. It must cost sweat. It must cost unrewarded discomfort. We therefore became resolved not to run away from difficulties and hardship in our quest to make the sovereign people to realize their sovereign power and thus know how to exercise it in order to become free, dignified and sovereign. Once they become sovereign and have the authority to decide their destiny without inducement or intimidation, the cause of true liberation would have been won. This is why in our youthful days we used to sing the following song to consolidate our perseverance.
If you cut my hand I will still hold on
If you cut my lips I will still speak out
If you cut my feet I will still march on
No turning back, No turning back.I am sure at this very moment Sam will be murmuring these words in his cell knowing fully well that it will not be long when the future generation will visit his cell as they are visiting Mandela’s cell at Robin Island to marvel at his undaunted fortitude and indented courage or valour to stand up for his principles, regardless of the peril or the cost.
I am not worried about Sam. I am writing to you about the state of the Nation, one that is now placed under your trust. I am writing from the vantage point of a person who has also sought to occupy the very position you are now occupying as a public trustee.
Hence I am in a better position to read your mind and contemplate what I would have done differently if I were in your position. This is what compelled me to address this letter to you.
Mr. President, every Nation has an internal and external personality. How it sees itself matters but how others see it also matters. It is the duty of every head of state to defend the internal and external reputation of a state.
Mr. President, I would like you to exploit your quiet moments to reflect on the genesis of the case of the six journalists. Rewind the tapes and play back the content of your statements about Deyda’s murder. If I were in your position the most I would have said is that I will leave no stone unturned in pursuing the culprits and bring them to justice. I would not have added a single word after the full stop. This would have been followed by diligent investigation of the case and constant call for public support to assist the investigators.
The drama at the court house, which witnessed the reading of your remarks and that of the President of the Gambia Press Union and coupled with the leading of evidence by Sam Sarr, on the substance of the statements, has brought the murder of Dyeda into sharp public focus. I must tell you without equivocation that the conclusion of the case is shocking to many people.
The media practitioners were convicted on all six counts. They are sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for each of the four counts which are to run concurrently. This means that they are sentenced to a mandatory imprisonment for a period of 2 years. They are to pay a fine of 250,000 dalasis for each of the other two counts which adds up to a total sum of 500,000 dalasis failing which they will serve jail terms of two years for each count.
In short, if they fail to pay the fine of D500,000 dalasis they will serve four years of imprisonment in addition to the two years they are currently serving. I can assure you that if the stiff sentences were in connection to Dyeda’s murderers, there would have been loud applause.
The legal outcome of the case of the journalists is known but what is important to you as a head of state is the impact it has on the internal and external personality of the nation you are heading. It is for you to ask those you trust to give you an impact assessment of the outcome of the case. It is for you to determine whether the association of Dyeda’s unresolved murder case with the diligent prosecution of journalists and stiff sentences meted out to them is enhancing or endangering the reputation of your government at home and abroad.
The Constitution has given you prerogatives to be able to provide redress to public concerns. It is my conviction that the best decision you could make with respect to the six journalists is not to wait for outside concerns to be registered with intense rapidity, on the contrary you should take the initiative to release them unconditionally.
Mr. President, it was mentioned during the proceedings that sedition shares a border line with treason. Mr. President, both Sam Sarr and my humble self were offered Ministerial posts after the 1994 coup but we declined the offer because of our conviction that we will only serve a government which derives its existence from the undiluted consent of a people freed from inducement or intimidation.
It is obvious that since 1987 Sam Sarr had never stood as a candidate for elections. He has devoted all his life to contribute to the empowerment of the people from an intellectual and civic point of view. In these two past years he has devoted his time to the production of learning materials for schools. He has produced two books on Mathematics for lower and upper basic schools and is now working on the third book for senior secondary schools.
He has also prepared manuscripts for producing a book on physics and journalism. Sam’s mind is not the devil’s play field which is fertile for mischief making. It is fertile for Knowledge production and ideas on how to serve humanity. He is a knowledge producer and a conscious sovereign person who deals with issues of governance from the standpoint of social conscience and social justice.
The way forward therefore is to put an end to this chapter by releasing the journalists and order diligent investigation into Deyda’s murder by relying on the available evidence.
On my part, I will pause for a while to gauge the National response. If there is delay in this response I will tour the sub-region to find out whether any head of state would accept to be an interlocutor by organising a round table to facilitate a resolution of the current problem. I will reach out farther a field if the response is slow.
Finally, if everything fails, I Halifa Sallah will not sleep in a comfortable home while Sam Sarr is incarcerated. I will demand that I join him and stay in prison until the Gambian people decide to support agenda 2011 and the Presidential candidate who will participate in the elections and accept to run a provisional government for a period of two years to five years in order to give a fresh start to the Gambian nation and sovereign people.
At first glance it would appear that our values are akin to the doctrine of turning the other cheek. In actual fact, no leader, including your very self has personal power. What you control is state power which belongs to the people. This power could either be derived from consent or seized.
We do not consider it moral to seize what we do not own. We do not want to be accused of being war lords like Foday Sankoh. We therefore are fully determined to inspire people through leadership by example. We will show the people that we are willing to suffer imprisonment and even death to promote the consolidation of a sovereign republic where leaders would be controlled by Constitutional instruments, Oversight institutions, civil society segments, wisdom of advisers and an enlightened populace fully conscious of their sovereign power to put and remove governments in office.
We are convinced that sooner or later the people will come to give full support to those who toil and moil day and night for them to enjoy liberty, dignity and prosperity and embrace them to guide the destiny of our dare mother land.
I however hope that your government which now controls the affairs of this country will spare us from martyrdom and rise up to its responsibility to create the environment where political parties can move in and out of office without any witch hunting, victimization, revenge or imposition of a reign of terror.
Yours in the service of the nation
Halifa Sallah
