Dear Editor,
If you keep listening to Madi Jobarteh, Halifa Sallah and the lawyers from Sierra Leone, The Gambia will never become a functioning democracy. If you keep listening to Madi Jobarteh and the haphazard democratic experts, The Gambia will never have a new constitution nor ever become a functioning democracy. The Gambian people cannot draft a constitution for the government. It’s the government that drafts a new constitution for a country reflecting the political will of the majority and the political reform needs of the country.
When the Constitutional Review Commission went on its wasteful spending exercise in the name of soliciting the political views of the Gambian people drafting the rejected constitution, anyone who understands how democracies are governed in practice ought to have known that it was a futile exercise.
The Constitutional Review Commission put the cart before the horse in its public consultations before a draft constitution was produced. The proper democratic process should have been to draft a new constitution, open it up for public consultations and amendments and then the promulgation process.
The process taken up by the Constitutional Review Commission was flawed – just like the crazy idea called the TRRC. I don’t know how in a democracy could parliament promulgate a draft constitution that was not yet ratified by the Gambian people? And if Gambians keep listening to Madi Jobarteh and the semi-literates posing as experts in democracy, it will take a long time before The Gambia gets a new constitution.
It’s the government in a democracy that has the first call to initiate the policy initiatives upon which the government earmarked to govern the country by subjecting them to public scrutiny and approval. It’s not the other way round. But Madi Jobarteh, Halifa Sallah and the lawyers from Sierra Leone naïvely think that there’s such thing called a technocrat government. I called it a government on auto pilot. There’s no such thing as a technocrat government.
Madi Jobarteh and the talking heads cannot impose a draft constitution version and type on the government for adoption and promulgation. And no one can. A democracy is governed by the government putting forward policy proposals to govern the country. And when the policy proposals of the government did not bear out majority political and legal support in parliament and the country, the government is kicked out and a new government takes over the mantle to govern the country. But in The Gambia, they say that the president is elected to serve for a fixed term in office. And naïvely, they think that they can boss around the government. In their wildest dreams! The democratic crisis in The Gambia is caused by people who do not seem to understand how democracies are governed hijacking the political discourse in the country.
They rely on the wrong pretext, the wrong arguments and the wrong legal guidelines to justify their erroneous concepts. How could Madi and the talking heads impose on the Barrow Government to adopt and approve the rejected draft constitution? If you don’t understand what I’m saying, was it not the government that drafted the constitution and masterminded its rejection? And The Gambia will not have a new constitution without the support and backing of the sitting government. Was it not for the Ecowas Secretariat leaning on President Barrow to give The Gambia a new constitution, we’ll be stuck with the 1997 constitution for a very long time.
Or, you can go run street brawls with the security services and see how far you’ll get. Democratic governance is meant to be peaceful and orderly observed under the rule of law, democratic principles, practices, values and conventions. But to invent one’s own far-fetched notions of how democracies are governed quoting stupid laws from a stupid constitution, no wonder our political governance system is unworkable, unaccountable and abusive.
And until we learn how to govern The Gambia as a functioning democracy, the mess will keep piling up. I’m not supporting President Barrow but simply stating why the Gambian democracy is dysfunctional, very corrupt and incompetent. Sadly, the opposition has no policy ideas for reforms and good governance. A democracy works on tried and tested procedures and processes to be fundamental, accountable and transparent under the rule of law.
They chant: “We want our constitution!”, meaning the draft by the CRC. Well, only when you can pull off a revolution!
Yusupha ‘Major’ Bojang
Scotland
No point in deploying riot police
Dear Editor,
There is no point in deploying riot police at the University of The Gambia campus at the first instance. A university is not an ordinary premises that is easily invaded by security forces. That’s a longstanding tradition that the territorial integrity of universities is sacrosanct which even in horrible dictatorships are upheld.
There must be indeed a very serious life-threatening violence within a university premises to justify armed police or military to enter a university premises. This action by the IGP is condemnable and must stop.
A protest is a normal activity in a democracy which is lawful and peaceful. The Gambia Police Force needed to be only present to ensure security without having to appear menacing as if the students are armed and dangerous. This is unnecessary provocation which must stop. The IGP should not turn mere protests into war and chaos. Students protest everywhere around the globe, and it does not require armed police intervention.
Students have a right to respond to issues of their university which do not require the IGP to interfere. I call on the IGP to pull his armed forces out of the UTG premises immediately and allow the students to protest in peace and calm. The students have a right to hold the university authorities accountable through protests and other lawful and peaceful means.
Madi Jobarteh
Kembujeh
