Dear editor,
The Attorney General, Ba Tambadou, is making a grave error in judgement by preparing to release confessed murderers on the streets.
It is my firm belief that it is a result of his faulty interpretation of the term “truth and reconciliation” (TR).
The TRRC exercise doesn’t preclude accountability, which is what Ba Tambadou plans to do.
It is really presumptuous for Ba Tambadou to unilaterally make such a weighty decision that affects Gambians, from one end of the country to the other.
The TRRC is both a legal and political exercise in unequal measure.
Political considerations of TRRC must never supersede the rule of law, consequently, absolving the Junglers of any crime, profoundly undermines the rule of law.
The Attorney General will be hard pressed to send anyone to prison for any crime, if confessed murderers are let loose on the streets.
If Ba Tambadou can make such political decisions to release confessed murderers on the streets, there will be no justification to incarcerate someone accused of minor theft.
In fact, I hold the belief that only a national consensus should permit political decisions to override the rule of law. In other words, in my view, releasing the Junglers from custody needs the consent of the majority of citizens. Attorney General Ba Tambadou would assume authority that he doesn’t really have.
The TRRC is an exercise of a national dimension, and it’s not your run-of-the-mill criminal case.
In the South African case, which has become the standard for future cases, it must be understood that there was a war like civil strife situation, which is significantly different from the Gambia where completely innocent people were herded off to the slaughter house.
It was deliberate.
It was calculated. And it needs some kind of penalty; not total and complete exoneration.
Mathew K Jallow
USA
Tracking Pres. Barrow’s promises
Dear editor,
One year ago this week Pres.
Barrow was on a countrywide tour and he made lot of promises to the people.
Here are some of those promises obtained from media reports at the time.
Has he fulfilled these promises or not? That is the question.
1. To embark on a massive roads, drainage and sewage construction exercise in Banjul and Kanifing.
2. Announced that Ministry of Works, through Gamworks, has already contracted projects for roads construction in Banjul.
3. To construct the Basse-Koina road.
4. To bridge the Basse-Wuli crossing point.
5. To construct the Fatoto bridge.
6. To construct the Chamoi bridge.
7. To provide an agricultural project focusing on irrigation farming and rice cultivation for the people of Upper River Region through the help of the French who would arrive in a week’s time after his announcement.
8. To provide Wellingara with adequate water and electricity supply.
9. Announced that NAWEC has signed a 22-million-dalasi project to end water scarcity in the country.
10. To provide women horticulturists modern irrigation systems for year-round vegetable production.
11. To build fish processing factories and storage facilities in Tanji and Brufut that would create more than 20, 000 jobs. Work to begin 2019.
12. To construct a feeder road to connect all coastal communities from Brufut all through to Sanyang.
13. To construct the road from Brufut Gamtel to Ghana Town soon.
14. To construct a standard bridge between Banjul and Barra starting in 2019. Work will last for 4 years and the bridge has a guarantee period of 100 years.
15. To make Jarra and Kiang the first to benefit from national electricity roadmap.
16. A $200 million power transmission and distribution funding is secured to provide countrywide electrification programme.
17. Tourism Minister Hamat Bah announced the building of a hotel in Basse.
18. Minister of Health Dr. Isatou Touray promised the Sinchu Baliya a minor health facility with an ambulance.
19. Minster of Education Claudiana Cole promised Kombo North a new and accessible senior secondary school for the district if the people can provide land.
20. Free public Wi-Fi and 7000 smart streetlights for Brikama.
21. Wi-Fi navigation systems with weather forecast capabilities for all fishing boats in Kombo South.
22. SMS (text message) confirmation after paying tax to GRA or Area Councils.
23. A central digital platform for registration of all compounds in the country.
24. A 24-hour emergency hotline system.
25. Twenty boreholes that would provide water to 85,000 people across the country.
26. A digital register that would register all pregnant women in the country to enable health workers to monitor, respond and send alerts to them.
27. Fertilizer subsidy to farmers.
Until we hold elected and appointed public officials accountable by monitoring what they say and check if they practise what they preach then we will neither have good governance nor sustainable development! Mark my words!
Madi Jobarteh
Boraba Village
