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Stop The Killings Mr President
Wednesday, 14 September 2011 15:29
A weeping nation takes president Jammeh to task(Opinion) - Getting killed in Gambia has become a norm. What makes it more worrying is how the country’s president Yahya Jammeh is named in lot of the killings. With all the killings, life seems normal, politics as usual. Life is so precious to perish in such reckless and seemingly wilful manner as witnessed in recent times. This is a direct alarm bell to president of the republic Yaya Jammeh for him to take his national duties seriously and break the chain of rampant killings in Gambia especially when his own name is closely associated with some of the gruesome deaths by common knowledge.
How president Jammeh associates with many killings
As leader of the nation, president Jammeh has no excuse and therefore could not claim alibi for rampant killings Gambia has been witnessing all these years.
Excessive powers and privileges that give a sitting national leader access to and command of state resources go with responsibility. It is no simple matter like having to enjoy everything and not obliged to account for anything. In real fact of matters, when Mr Jammeh as military chairman and Head of State promised Transparency, Accountability, and Probity it was a pledge and commitment to upkeep those fine ideals of good governance. Transparency means the government will share state secrets with the citizenry and other partners in development. In practice transparency in good governance entails letting everyone know everything of common interest. When a person seeks public office, it is the interest of everyone in society that the public office holder (including position of president, ministers, heads of institutions, other public servants) is obliged to keep open about dealings in that office. Being the chief custodian for instruments of governance, the leader of a nation is not only subject to public scrutiny but is also answerable to explain what goes in other public office positions. By call of transparency, other public office holders are bound by rules to share information with the next higher rank in position of responsibility. This is trickled up the ladder till the highest public office holder level. In the case of Gambia and other democracies, the highest public office holder is president of the republic.
Assuming that public position holders fail to share information with relevant ranks, it is still the wholesome responsibility of the highest office holder to respond to concerns raised by affected members of the citizenry public. For example, where in Gambia so many people are getting killed rampantly, the president is responsible for all such killings until the office of president is able to produce credible information about the particular individuals culpable for the crimes under scrutiny. Failure on the part of the highest office holder (president) in producing the culprits of rampant killings leads to a situation of negligence, incompetence, and /or both. Office of Gambian president has so much resource to tap on. It is impossible to explain how so many killings happened over the last 17 years without any credible report about even one of them.
Most known killings since the current regime under President Yaya Jammeh came to power include; the November 1994 army barracks shootings where many soldiers have been killed without trace. Other killings include the murder and burning of Ousman Koro Ceesay whose charred remains were found in the official car allocated to him as Finance Minister a year after military seized power. In year 2000 on April 10 and 11 more than one dozen young students of school going age were gunned down by government armed forces at close range. There is no credible and satisfactory outcome. December 2004, precisely on the 16th, a prominent journalist Deyda Hydara was gunned down near a police station. Six years since then, all hopes of a credible enquiry dashes with fleet of time.
For all these and many other deaths including enforced disappearance without trace, there are bound to be people with full knowledge of every detail and yet the highest office of the land keeps the families of affected persons and the general public in complete darkness. We must also remember that the Gambia operates one of the most feared and busy body secret police service National Intelligence Agency NIA. They report direct to the president who doubles as Head of the secret police agency. Considering all the ups and downs and how the NIA could track coup plotters round the clock, it is very much likely somewhere in the dark chambers of secrecy, the NIA holds vast stock of helpful information leading to every occasion of killings over the last 17 years. No doubt, the Head of secret police agents who happens to be Yaya Jammeh president of the republic has stock pile of information locked in his jaws. Somebody somewhere badly needs the information under lock and key of the Commander-In-Chief. It is already too long a wait.
Security not just for the person of president Jammeh
With so much finance and human resources committed to the security apparatus of a nation like Gambia it is incredibly disproportionate to see how vast majority of the citizenry live under perpetual state of total insecurity. Every responsible adult keeps worrying about the next fall of danger that could lead to death or some critical harmful encounter.
In the name of security for President Jammeh, the convoy he speeds with along Gambia’s unprotected roads can be seen regularly at neck breaking speed. Often such speed has resulted to killing young children and adults going about their normal life chores. The recent fatal crash at Busumbala claiming many lives is just one example.
Bad enough as it always happens, when president Jammeh’s convoy kills innocent people, there is no investigation or no results for public knowledge. It is just taken as an emergency. Will president Jammeh tell the nation what the reason (s) for this maddening speed by his convoy could mean. We know about speed when time-bound situations arise. For instance, in accident situations we expect ambulances or traffic police to speed up in response to the emergency at hand. But in the case of president Jammeh’s over speeding convoy there is no time-bound situation. Much more, the president is on annual vacation and not under any pressure to rush by duty commitments.
All the money and other resources spent on security in Gambia go just to secure the person of Yaya Jammeh. In the look of things, Jammeh’s life is taken far more important than the life of Gambian president. This running around in over speeding convoys has to be arrested. It is dangerous and causes terrible scare to the unprotected public. The whole population of Gambia is petrified by excesses of president Jammeh’s reckless lifestyle and terror. How could a president induce so much terror to people you claim to represent? Why is everyone keeping quiet? Are you waiting for a close friend or family member to be crushed by president Jammeh’s convoy?
Worst of all, president Jammeh throwing biscuits to people on both sides of the road knowing the speed of his convoy, he is readily setting a death trap.
So much has been written about death by enforced disappearance, food poisoning, prisoner torture and other forms of harmful treatment by secret police NIA and the security forces, it only has to be mentioned here as reminder.
Until president Jammeh comes out clear about the information he holds on all the killings under his watch, he is answerable. There is no excuse to have people killed in the name security for the president. Stop the killings Mr President. How will you feel if by mistake one of your guards shoots your son or daughter? The people that have been killed in your name have families too. It is so sad that in Gambia the only time some people react is when they are directly affected. As a nation, any person killed in the manner we have been seeing is a concern for all. Stop the killings Mr president. You have been sworn to protect life and property of everyone in Gambia. The protection of your sole life should not put other people at such adverse scale of risk. Speak up Mr President. Tell the nation the truth. Stop the killings Mr President. Stop protecting killers.
Written by Sarjo Bayang
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