His Excellency President Adama Barrow
President
of the Republic of The Gambia
No 1
Anne Marie Javouhey Ave
State
House
Banjul
2/02/ 2020
Open
Letter to President Adama Barrow: The time has come for national introspection
through genuine and inclusive dialogue
Your Excellency, Mr. President:
We, the undersigned organizations, extend warm
greetings to you and your cabinet. We
write to you, with regards to a series of occurrences in The Gambia, which is
cause for grave concern for us, citizens, who have been engaged in the
promoting and strengthening the principles of democracy, good governance and
rule of law. We have, since the
inception of your presidency, supported the processes of national
reconciliation, social cohesion, demand for public accountability, access to
justice, and the right to freedoms of assembly, association and
expression. We have, as you may recall,
written to you as far back as 10 April, 2018, (the 18th anniversary
of the killing of protesting students), urging you to show political will and
leadership in confronting acts of illegality and corruption in your government
and prioritizing civil and security sector reforms, by ensuring that impunity
is rooted out of the system of government you inherited. We never received a response from you, or
your office.
You instead demonstrated the exact opposite
actions, to what we had expected from an incumbency, which enjoyed enormous
goodwill, both internally and externally.
You did nothing. Impunity reigned
supreme in your government, and lessons and warnings went unheeded. We are utterly dismayed by the signs of an
uncaring, unresponsive and defensive administration, which you lead, uncanny
traits, which are being routinely displayed.
We have, over time, also sent out several more missives to members of
your cabinet. On 28 September, 2019, (International
Day for Universal Access to Information), we released a letter to Ministers
Tambadou and Ebrima Sillah, requesting them to make the Janneh Commission
report accessible to the public. In that
letter, we demanded access to the Janneh Commission report, because it was
financed by the public purse, through tax payers’ money. This was something that no citizen should
have to request for, especially after the lofty promises were made towards
deepening and promoting a culture of a transparent government. Sadly, no response has been forthcoming from
either Minsters, and to date, the Janneh Commission report remains inaccessible
to the public. The refusal of your
Ministers to respect the demands of their citizens, and do the right and lawful
thing, has now become a pattern, and some may argue, given the evidence, that it
is now a firmly embedded policy under your watch. But nevertheless, we shall continue to forge
ahead and engage you and the administration you lead. Our correspondences, were done in the spirit
of partnership and in accordance with exercising our civic duty. And our concerns and proposals are being
recorded for posterity, and in the not so distant future, history shall be the
arbiter.
Mr. President, we are utterly dismayed by your
government’s response to the 26 January, 2020 demonstration. We are saddened to
learn that what was to be a peaceful march turned violent, leading to the
government's unprecedented, and illegal decision, by way of a statement issued
by your spokesperson, Mr. Sankareh, banning the Three Years Jot Na movement and
closing down Home Digital FM and King FM radio stations. We consider the
government's actions unlawful, provocative, and destabilizing. We, therefore,
call on the government to rescind these actions with immediate effect, for they
have no legal basis. We are to this day,
a week on, unsure whether this extraordinary decision was reached through the
legal and policy processes prescribed by both the 1997 constitution, and
regular cabinet and administrative channels.
The mishandling of this and other events
lately, starting with the vacillation over the issuance of routine meeting
permits by the police, bore all the hallmarks of an inept, paranoid and
incompetent administration. It further highlights the fact that your
administration has thus far failed to make any meaningful reform of the
security sector, or to take serious measures to safeguard the rights of Gambian
citizens. Despite the fact that lessons should have been learned from the
fallout and consequences of two decades of intolerance, intimidation, and
outright abuse meted out to Gambians by the former Jammeh regime; which has now
been placed under the spotlight by the ongoing TRRC. Furthermore, the Faraba Banta Commission of
Inquiry report submitted to you, which investigated the tragic events of 18
June 2018, leading to the deaths of three civilians, injuries and large-scale
destruction of property, provided concrete recommendations in order to avoid
future recurrence of such events. It is
again clear that the most important aspects of the conclusions and further
recommendations of this commission, to urgently embark on security sector
reforms, were ignored. Hence increasing
the likelihood of the chances of mishandling of civilian protests in the
future, as was witnessed last week. We once again, strongly urge your
government to accelerate the pace of reforms of the security sector by hiring
the right personnel capable of maintaining and enforcing the rule of law
without bias.
Mr.
President, the continuous disregard to promote the right to peacefully protest
as a fundamental pillar of any democracy to which the Gambian people are
entitled, after two decades of dictatorship, cannot go on. Freedom of assembly
is an additional outlet, besides the ballot box, for citizens to voice their
concerns and hold their elected leaders to account and make their desires
known. We believe that the best governments are the ones that treat protests as
an indispensable part of the national conversation, rather than an excuse to
crack down on dissenting views and unacceptable accts of imprisonment of citizens
as if they are enemies of the state. And
the recent decision to ‘go to war’ with people that hold a different political
view point to you, and the administration you lead, is a dangerous tipping
point for the stability of the country.
We
are further troubled by the unreasonable, and heavy-handedness shown towards
the media. The arbitrary decision to
close media houses and the arrests and detention of journalists is also a major
cause for concern. While recognizing that the government must
maintain law and order and safeguard the stability of the nation, any use of
force by the police against unlawful acts by elements within a larger context
of peaceful demonstrations must at all times be proportionate, transparent,
targeting those responsible and in accordance with due process of law.
Mr.
President, the 2016 elections were monumental because the Gambia did not only
decide on a ‘new’ President. Instead, our vote was also fundamentally a
repudiation of a system of governance that removed sovereignty from the people,
had no respect for the rule of law, and had no place for divergent views
besides those of an individual, who happened to the be the head of state at the
time. So fast forward 36 months, to 26 January, 2020, with Gambians witnessing
the muzzling of dissent, which sent a chilling effect on our emergent political
discourse. The incident undermined all
the promises made to us about a new Gambia, thus bruising your credibility and tarnishing
your image, because you refuse to be accountable to the public, and showed your
utter disdain for free speech and dissent.
The actions of your security forces only served to buttress the opinions
of the protesters against your administration and your leadership. The 26 January 2020 incident was eerily
reminiscent of the events of 14-16 April 2016, when Solo Sandeng and his colleagues
were arrested, beaten and tortured; Solo Sandeng later succumbed to his
injuries and died. This was followed by
further protests by the UDP 31, members of your former party, and senior
partner to the coalition that brought you to power. They too were arrested, detained and charged.
Ironically,
a judgement from the ECOWAS court was issued against the government you now
lead, barely days before the clamp down on peaceful protesters occurred last
week. One of the salient instructions
handed down by the community court was that you must now open an inquiry into
the events of that fateful day, 14 April 2016, and bring the perpetrators to
book. We await a pronouncement on this
order, and we trust that your administration, led by the Attorney General and
Minister of Justice, will give this pronouncement the same earnestness,
enthusiasm and urgency he gave the Rohingya matter.
Mr.
President, we have always maintained that what we have in common as Gambians, is
more than what divides us. And as
diverse as we are: politically; socially; ethnically and economically; such
diversity is our strength and salvation. And we all must start from a place of
goodwill and open-mindedness. The beauty of multiparty democracy is that we
disagree while never losing sight of the fact that those disagreements are for
the betterment of our beloved country, which we must, at all times, put first. We
therefore, call for a national dialogue among all stakeholders, especially the
politicians, as an avenue to reduce the unhealthy contestation and rhetoric,
which has grown toxic, and lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition to a
new constitutional order. We hope that
this clarion call will be supported by your good self and the administration
that you lead, for the sake of peace, progress and the transition from the dark
days of a 22-year dictatorship, to a new dawn of hope, good neighborliness,
tolerance, and real and meaningful change for all and sundry. A listening and
caring government will always gain the respect and garner the support of the
citizens it leads.
Sincerely:
Right
to Know Gambia (R2K)
The
Democratic Union of Gambian Activists (DUGA)
The
Gambia Press Union (GPU)
Gambia
Participates
Team
Gom Sa Borpa
The
Victims’ Centre
____________________________________________________________
Right 2 Know- (R2K) Gambia, started its work in October 2016, focusing
on elections integrity around the then, now famed, 2016 Presidential elections,
when Jammeh was ousted from power. Our
membership/following has since grown to 4,800 people. The founders are a grouping of individuals
with professional backgrounds ranging from geology, demographics, economics,
international relations and law, communications, and academia. All members are human rights activists. We are located in The Gambia, US, UK, West
and Southern Africa. We are a non-partisan entity that focuses on rule of law
and democracy, good governance, human rights and the principles of access to
information and freedom of expression.
The Gambia Press Union (GPU) is a trade union for journalists in the
Gambia. It was established in 1978 by a group of journalists, led by the
veteran Gambian journalist and publisher William Dixon Colley (1913-2001).Other
co-founders included Deyda Hydara (1946-2004), Melvin B. Jones and Pap
Saine. Around 200 journalists in the
field of print and electronic media are registered members of the GPU.
The Democratic Union of Gambian Activists
(DUGA)- is an umbrella movement to unite
Gambians in North America (US and Canada), Europe and Africa, mobilizing
citizens to achieving the goal a sustainable democracy in The Gambia.
Gambia Participates- promotes accountability policies and
institutions that will prevent the occurrence of corruption. The organization
also work on budget transparency, elections and participatory democracy by
engaging community and policy makers.
Team Gom Sa Borpa-is a youth movement dedicated to raising
awareness and participation among young people through Art and supporting their
interest in the development of The Gambia.
The Victims’ Centre- provides support to victims and families
that underwent untold suffering of torture, kidnapping, forced evictions,
illegal seizure of property, and murder under the Jammeh regime.
Institutions and Diplomatic Missions to which
this Open letter is copied:
African
Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights- Commissioner Jasmina Essie King
African
Union Commission- H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat
British
High Commissioner to The Gambia- H.E. Sharon Wardle
ECOWAS
Commission- H.E. Jean-Claude Brou
EU
Delegation to The Gambia- H.E. Attila Lajos
UNOWA-
H.E. Mohamed Ibn Chambas
IMF
Resident Representative for The Gambia-
H.E. Ruby E. M. Randall
US
Ambassador the United States of America to the Republic of The Gambia- H.E.
Richard Paschal
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