At Jammeh's mercy

RPT


Whenever I take a serious look at the Gambia, the more worried I get concerning the political situation of the country. The country is fast sinking and nothing is being done to save it.

By PK Jarju

It is sinking not because the general population is unaware, but because they feel they cannot do anything to stop it.

The Gambia looks like a hijacked ship being flown to an unknown destination. For the past 14 years, a man who many Gambians don't want as their head of state is holding a gun to the captain's head and the passengers and the rest of the crew are all too terrified to say a word or stop him.


The principles that were supposed to make you and me safe in our own land of birth and protect us from such political madness have been badly tampered with to favour the head of state. He is given full control of our land of birth and is empowered to do whatever he wants, anytime, anyhow and to anyone.

He is applauded for anything he does or say whether good or bad. The head of state is said to love our country so much so that anything he does or says is seen as in our best interest. He is seen as a messiah, puritan and reformer hand picked by Almighty God Himself to make the Gambia a prosperous country and a giant of the sub-region.

As a country of true believers, we believe in anything we are told by our head of state even when he told us without any prove that he have discovered a cure for HIV/Aids. Despite him being the richest Gambian, we contributed millions of our hard earned taxes towards his HIV treatment programme.

Patriotism to our head of state, is defined by how much you love and support him. He comes first and the country second. You cannot claim to love the country without loving him. Be the most qualified Gambian but there is no job for you in any government department if you don't worship the head of state.

Our head of state is the heart of all government organs. They operate round him and him alone. The executive dance to his tune and the National Assembly smoothens his path. Every bill he drafted is quickly enacted into law. The judiciary feared him and follows every order he barks.

Anything which is against the head of state is seen as an enemy. And enemy that should be destroyed in the national interest. Criticisms are never welcome. Try telling the head of state how to govern the people and life will be made difficult for you. So difficult that you wish you were never born.

Journalists get bullets put through their heads, their houses and printing machines set on fire, arrested, tortured and media houses closed down on bogus charges. Political opponents are always hunted down, arrested, tortured, jailed or buried six feet deep.

Gambians don't trust each other any more. We cannot talk freely to each other without looking at our backs. Political discussions are out of the way. Talk about the head of state and you risk spending months in a secret detention centre, where you will be tortured and subjected to all sort of inhumane treatment.

Once you are arrested, forget about getting a lawyer. Many of the top lawyers will simply say no to your request as they don't want to upset the head of state. Our legal practitioners according to the London based International Bar Association are "operating under challenging conditions due to the existence of ongoing incidents of harassment and intimidation, which have created a climate of fear in the profession.

It added that government exhibits hostility and suspicion in its dealings with the legal profession which it perceives as an oppositional force, and there is currently an atmosphere of fear amongst lawyers, emanating from the attempted murder of a lawyer and several other incidents of harassment and intimidation of lawyers, that they may face serious adverse consequences as a result of their acceptance of certain causes on behalf of their clients.

The name of our head of state's is sacred. He is worshipped like Lord Voldermort in the Harry Potter series and disobedience is regarded as the worst crime.

In The Gambia today, an accused person is presumed guilty even before being tried in court. Get arrested by our security officers and you risk losing all your friends. You become stigmatised and people become even too scared to get close to you. Fall out with the head of state and no company will dream of even employing you as a cleaner. Ask former KMC mayor, Abdoulie Conteh, for Imam of Banjul International Airport to name just a few and they will tell you.

It may be easy to convince yourself that because you have good personal relations with senior people in the Gambian government you Will be protected in someway if things go wrong. Maybe if you are a close family member of the head of state. If you are an ordinary Gambian then you are on your own.

Your highly placed friends will deny ever knowing you for they have their own careers, their own lives to protect.

What a tragic demise of democracy in a country that shelters the headquarter of African Centre for Human Rights studies? God help us.

Gambian soldier reported missing

By Fabakary B. Ceesay

Information gathered by Foroyaa spoke of the arrest and detention of Private Alagie Saidykhan of the Gambia Armed Forces and a native of Jarra Kanikunda in the lower River Region. According to the information, the soldier went missing since early May, 2009, at Farafenni Military Barracks. Private Alagie Saidykhan is said to be stationed at Farafenni with the second Infantry Battalion and was said to have joined the army in intake 28.

Foroyaa contacted the relatives to find out the veracity of the claims. A cousin brother of private Saidykhan alleged that Saidykhan was arrested at Farafenni barracks and escorted by the military police (MP) to Banjul. He indicated that since that day they did not know his whereabouts. He said they tried to locate him at various security installations but to no avail.
Foroyaa has been contacting the Public Relations Officer of The Gambia Armed Forces, Lieutenant Omar Bojang but no information is forthcoming concerning the matter. He on many occasions asked for more time to look into the matter from the concerned authorities. Up to the time of going to press, we could not get any reaction from him on the matter.

FOROYAA

Report backs novel approach to improving forest governance

Researchers working with forest community groups and policy makers in ten countries in Africa and Asia have developed a novel way to improve the flow of social and environmental benefits from tropical forests, according to an independent evaluation of an International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) project published today.

"With forests set to take centre stage in a new global deal to tackle climate change, there is a desperate search underway for proven ways to improve governance to ensure that forest resources are managed for the public good,” says project leader and head of IIED’s Natural Resources Group, James Mayers .

“That search should look at what’s been achieved by the Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG). Its experience shows how to improve governance in ways that lead to tangible changes in policy with positive impacts on people who depend on forests.”



Through stimulating, for example, improved parliamentary debate, enhanced civil society action and more informed journalism, the project has achieved impacts such as:



· Forest-dependent households living around Mabira forest in Uganda have more secure livelihoods after action which successfully reversed a government decision to degazette the forest and convert it to sugar plantations

· Small scale forest enterprises in South Africa can now operate within a framework of simplified, rationalised and improved policies

· Indigenous community groups in Orissa state, India have increased access rights to collect and manage non-timber forest products in state forest land

· In Vietnam , improved governance frameworks have enabled practical actions for locally beneficial community forestry

· Several investments in logging deals that were over-exploitative of local forests and livelihoods have been questioned and prevented by high-level action in Mozambique



In each country, IIED and partners set up FGLG teams to bring together representatives of communities, governments, civil society organisations and businesses to explore the drivers of poor forest governance and to influence national and sub-national policymaking.



The groups enabled varied stakeholders to build trust and learn from each other whilst identifying positive policy changes suited to local circumstances and priorities.



To assess the work’s impact so far and what can be learned from it, IIED commissioned an independent evaluation by Tom Blomley of Acacia Consulting.



Blomley’s report, published today, concludes that the project’s specific object of improved governance of forest resources in ten countries in Africa and Asia “will largely be met in most of the ten countries”.



It adds: “Strong examples of this come from Ghana , South Africa and Indonesia where important policy changes have been effected as a direct result of the work of the learning groups in those countries.”



The report notes that the level of impact generated in terms of learning, as well as improved governance, is high despite the project’s modest cost.



“The decentralised manner in which FGLG has worked across the ten countries has provided an important testing ground for locally-driven and innovative approaches,” it states.



James Mayers adds, “Many forest problems are questions of social justice. Where FGLG country teams are working well they have shown how practical steps to greater social justice and sustainable local livelihoods can be taken even when very powerful players are up against them. This provides strong lessons for efforts to support forest governance as a climate change mitigation strategy – known as REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).”



The FGLG project has been funded by a grant from the European Commission and co-financing from the Dutch Government (DGIS). A new proposal to extend the activities of the initiative for an additional five years from January 2009 has been approved by the EC.