Let Halifa Go

by PK Jarju

Mr President, its well past mid-night here in the West Midlands and I should have been fast asleep in my bed. But my conscience cannot allow me to enjoy the comfort of my bed without condemning the arrest and prosecution of Halifa Sallah and demanding for his immediate release.


Mr Sallah is currently remanded at the Mile Two Prisons after he was unable to meet the stiff bail conditions imposed on him by the Brikama Magistrate Court. The harsh bail conditions were imposed by your state control judiciary in order to keep Mr Sallah away from his loved ones as long as you wish.

The charges against Mr Sallah are a mockery to our judicial system. They are a well calculated move by your despotic regime to jail Mr Sallah like you have always done, there by silencing him in your quest to become king of our land.

Mr President, you told us last month that you will always interfere with the judicial process of the country and Mr Sallah's arrest and prosecution exposes you and your government's lack of respect to the democratic values of our country and its people.

Mr President, Halifa Sallah was arrested on Sunday following his return from Makumbaya Village were he spoke to people who were recently harassed and mistreated by your witch hunters. He had intended to bring to your attention the mistreatment meted out to these poor villagers by the witch hunters thereby bringing an immediate end to such barbaric practices.

Mr Sallah, who is the secretary general of the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), coordinator of the National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) and a member of the Foroyaa Newspaper editorial board has every right to visit any Gambian village as well as to hold conversation with any Gambian he wish.

Mr Sallah never forced those villagers to speak him neither did he forcefully entered their homes. The villagers spoke their hearts out about the sufferings they went through and if you are not happy with that then so be it.

Mr President, having Mr Sallah arrested and charged for speaking to villagers whose rights and dignity as sons and daughters of the land were trampled underfoot in their own backyards by foreign witch hunters, tantamount to an admission that you and your regime are condoning the criminal activities of these witch hunters and never want the Gambian people to know the true extend of their brutality.

I am not surprised by the step you have taken because I have since 1994 witnessed a breath-taking rise of your evil regime that lives and rule by the gun and shows no mercy in crushing its political opponents and critics.

Mr President, let me remind you that as man who likes to show anyone who cares what a devout Muslim you are, you have sworn by the Qur'an, the holy book of Allah, to govern the people according to the dictates of the Gambian constitution. But instead, you are abusing the Constitution and treating Gambians like a piece of dirt.

You have transformed yourself into a god that all Gambians must worship or die and have confused yourself with the believe that you love the country more than every Gambian.

Mr President, you have to know that you may have all the powers you want, but people will always see you as the son of Asombi Bojang. People like Halifa love the Gambia a million times more than you. Their love for the country is not driven by selfishness and greed. That is why they refused all the ministerial offers you made to them.

Halifa is a true servant of the Gambian people and if you think having him remanded in stinking Mile Two Prisons will kill his desire to free the Gambian people from the clutches of your dictatorial regime, think again. Like all true freedom fighters, Halifa knew that fighting against dictatorship is never easy and that he has to past through pain and sufferings like Nelson Mandela in order to free the Gambian people. The more you persecute him, the stronger and more resolute he becomes.

That is why he told the Gambian people who gathered in Brikama on Wednesday that he is willing to become a sacrificial lamb to ensure the liberty and dignity of the people and that he is ready to suffer for others not to suffer, but what is going on [activities of the witch hunters] must come to a stop.

Mr President remember that it is easier to move mountains than the heart of men. And despite being the commander-in-chief of the Gambian armed forces you can only do three things to people like Halifa- arrest and detain him, kill him or set him free.

Wise men earn the respect of people not because they are wise, but because they do the right thing. So let Halifa go!
Have a nice weekend your Excellency.