His Excellency President Adama Barrow
President of the Republic of The Gambia
No 1 Anne Marie Javouhey Ave
State House
Banjul
10 April, 2018
Open Letter to President Adama Barrow: Show
political will and act on the OCCRP report
Your Excellency,
Mr President:
The Right 2 Know
Coalition-Gambia extends its greetings and compliments to you and your entire
government. We write in the true spirit of partnership, with the aim of
assisting your administration better deploy its mandate, promised to the
electorate, at this critical time, when the country is still emerging from a
post-tyrannical regime.
Mr President, we
wish to draw your attention to a recently released report detailing the
shocking and unacceptable conspiracies by ex-president Jammeh and his
accomplices, some of whom are still in your administration, to extort the
country and loot its meagre resources.
These acts of criminality, which spanned two decades, have resulted in
the country losing one billion dollars to the rampant, unbridled and attendant
corruption under ex-president Jammeh. The
report, which was released last week by the Organized Crime and Corruption
Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists,
presents irrefutable evidence of how the country was captured and eventually
stolen. It details how state owned
enterprises, public finances, pensioners’ monies, donor aid, were all
misappropriated to the tune of at least $975 million. Among the accomplices
biggest targets and scores were:
$363.9 million
from the state-run telecoms company GAMTEL;
$325.5 million
in illicit timber revenue from the Casamance, Southern Senegal;
more than $100
million in foreign aid and soft loans from Taiwan;
$71.2 million
from the Central Bank of The Gambia;
$60 million from
the Social Security and Housing Finance Corp., which manages disability,
housing, and pension payments; and
$55.2 million
from the state-run oil company- GNPC.
Your Excellency,
these figures are staggering for any country, especially for a small and
impoverished nation like The Gambia, which you now lead. The acts were so audacious, that to ignore
them would not only be seen to be irresponsible, morally reprehensible and
complicit, but possibly illegal. This is
precisely so because the least that your government should do is to react to
the report, especially as the facts show,
that it was your very administration that encouraged such an undertaking to
investigate corruption under ex-president Jammeh. Your administration has publicly called for
information on any acts of illegality and corruption to be ventilated, whether
through the process of the established Janneh Commission and or, in other fora
including the media and other public spaces.
This report has responded to those requests made by your administration
in the most deliberate and thorough manner.
We are however, saddened and extremely
alarmed at the loud silence from your good self and the government you lead, over
these startling revelations. We are
further disappointed that despite the evidence presented in this report, and by
extension the Janneh Commission itself, whereby individuals admitted to taking
part in looting of state coffers and enterprises; individuals who admitted to
committing crimes of theft and conspiring to commit acts of corruption, are not
only left to shamelessly gloat with impunity over their escapades, but are still
under the employs of your government; and some have been elevated to higher
public office. This does not inspire confidence.
Mr. President,
we urge you to show political will and act on the OCCRP report, by at the very
least, suspending those that were at the helm of these entities when the
corrupt practices took place and commence investigations as a matter of
urgency. Anything short of decisive
action will undermine your credibility, weaken your administration, and blemish
any legacy that follows you during and beyond your presidency.
Mr President, Gambians
that placed their trust in your leadership by voting for the 2016 coalition are
becoming disillusioned, so is the regional community that placed a major
premium in your ascendancy to the highest office, by affording you their
support and security in times of uncertainty; and the international community
that demonstrated their magnanimity and supporting our collective developmental
aspirations to want to be a better people, and a shining example of a country
reformed.
Sincerely,
R2K Coalition -
Gambia
### ##
Who: 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.
Organizations in solidarity with this Open Letter:
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:
AU Advisory
Board on Corruption - Hon. Begoto Miarom
African
Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights - Commissioner
Jasmina Essie King
British High
Commissioner to The Gambia - H.E. Sharon
Wardle
ECOWAS
Commission - H.E. Jean-Claude Brou
EU Delegation to
The Gambia- H.E. Stephane Meet
IMF Resident
Representative for The Gambia - H.E. Ruby E. M. Randall
US Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia - H.E. Richard Paschal
