Two hundred and twenty seven men and women were released and discharged from prison on account of being pardoned by the President of the Republic on July 24. It must be clear to all that the constitution under Section 82 empowers the president to pardon prisoners under the prerogative of mercy. The constitution demands that a committee be set up for that purpose to provide advice and guidance to the president in reaching such decisions. One may not know the internal workings of this pardon, but it is essential that it is seen to follow the constitutional requirements so as to give it the necessary legal backing. This is necessary for records purposes as well as to guarantee the freedom of the pardoned.
My take actually focuses on the profile of the pardoned vis-a-vis our polity. Official records show that 26 of the pardoned were convicted for crimes against the State or treason, while drug related convicts number 171 (i.e. convicts for hard drugs, possession and trafficking of drugs combined). This means almost 87% of the pardoned were involved in cases that surround the legal and political foundations of the State. This is a matter that must exercise the minds of our political leaders in terms of the stability of the State, as well as policy and law makers in terms of objectives and function of the justice delivery system. Furthermore, having 14 cases of murder and 6 cases of armed robbery all point to the fundamental anomaly in a society that is largely considered to be religious with high prevalence of good cultural norms and values.
Are We a Fragile State?
Twenty six high profile State functionaries to be charged with treason within a space of 10 years is a matter of concern as it reflects at best either the fragility of the State itself or at worst popular dissatisfaction. Consequently, one must view this phenomenon from the perspective of the quality of our political space and the nature of the society so as to seek a direction that would ensure a more durable and lasting nation-state. A high incidence of treason in any society clearly manifests fundamental shortcomings with the structure, function and conduct of the State. These shortcomings can be social where the vast majority of the people are poor, unemployed and cost of living is high and where access to public services is not only difficult but that these services are also expensive and erratic. The shortcomings could also be coming from a weak legal, policy and institutional environment where the efficiency, effectiveness and responsive of public institutions and officials are low, leading to high levels of corruption, poor service delivery and limited or no transparency and accountability in those institutions. Thirdly, shortcomings in the nature of the State can be political where policy and decision making is not inclusive, usually with one sector of society or a group of individuals visibly dominating public policy beyond and above their legal and political mandate, and adherence to values and standards of good governance are disregarded. Thus when a State suffers from such fundamental shortcomings it is said to be therefore fragile. According to the Crisis States Research Centre (CSRC) of the London School of Economics, a fragile state is a state significantly susceptible to crisis in one or more of its sub-systems.
Secondly, one must bear in mind that there have been other treasonable acts since 1994. The country has so far registered more than 10 attempted coups, while it also witnessed armed attacks on its barracks in Farafeni in November 1996 and Kartong in 1997 and most recently on State House on 30 December 2014. In understanding the nature of the Gambian State and the way forward given this pardon, one must therefore bear these incidents and trends in mind so that we conduct a national analysis intended to awaken the country to the realities of its life.
In fact one gets amazed to realize that the 26 treason convicts among themselves already constitute a government by any standards. A group comprising heads of defense, intelligence and law enforcement accompanied by heads of legal and policy structures of the State tells a huge story about that society. Thus beyond and above the euphoria, I am of the view that this pardon calls for more attention and action than mere praises and relief. It should be an opportunity to heal the nation.
Legal and Justice Delivery System
When it comes to drug cases, the question is what are the purposes and standards of our justice delivery system such that there is so many Gambians put behind bars for drugs possession and trafficking. For example, have we classified drugs in such a way that we are able to determine which ones are really dangerous, and what amounts of drugs should one possess to be deemed criminal. In other words, if our justice delivery system merely sends a young man for trafficking an illicit drug like cannabis or possessing an ounce of the drug to five years or more, are we not rather denying the society its cream while at the same time putting more burden on the State to maintain prisons and feed prisoners in the midst of scarce resources. I think, like many other societies, the Gambia must also review its drug laws to bring much more sanity and reason in the fight against drugs. Smoking, possession and trafficking of cannabis need to be reviewed as many societies have done lest we overburden the police in the fight against cannabis, while we continue sending our young to prison and along the way generate a more corrupt environment as traffickers and pushers devise ways and means to circumvent the law. Thus it appears to me that our insistence on making the possession, use and trafficking of cannabis as a highly criminal activity has had little effect in curbing the use of cannabis in the country. The use of this herb is highly widespread at all levels of our society, yet we harm ourselves more if we seek to send every young man and woman caught with even a joint!
The Pardon: An Opportunity for Healing the Nation
I wish to therefore submit that this pardon is an opportunity for the government, the opposition the civil society and indeed all Gambians to embark on the review of the health and strength of our statecraft. We do not have any guarantee that there will not be many more cases of treason which could manifest in various ways. The country has already experienced three direct cases of armed conflict at Farafeni, Kartong and Banjul. This must concern each and every Gambian, seriously! The State needs to pursue a path that should lead to democratic stability where public institutions and officials are transparent and accountable as means to ensure that they are efficient, effective and responsive. With this pardon, we must expand it to look at a lot of issues beleaguering the nation. For example, there a many Gambian men and women who have given more than 40 years of their lives to the development of this country. But as soon as they retired, they became poor due to the meager pension benefits and retrogressive social security system in place. Is it not wise that we review this system to ensure that our nation-state demonstrates more compassion for those who gave their lives for our development? Also, consider the number of our youth bracing the Sahara and the Mediterranean just because they see no hope at home. Someone told me nowadays that you hardly hear ‘Sachay’ simply because even the thieves have decided to abandon ship for greener pastures elsewhere. Consider the issue of corruption and juxtapose it with the issue of pension and social security. If one realizes that that he or she has limited security of tenure coupled with the fact that when one retires, there is almost no source of income to cater for one’s needs, don’t you think such a public official will engage in corruption just to secure his or her future? Some have perceived the pardon as a new dawn, while others called it a national reconciliation. While one may not dispel these notions, yet one has to also bear in mind that the pardon could have gone even further to really drop charges against many high level state functionaries, while at the same time seek to release many more in detention as well as open fresh and more robust investigations in many other cases of disappearances and murder among other crimes. This is why I think the country and its leadership needs advice to enable us to normalize our situation and address the many unanswered questions and offer solutions to the challenges we face knowing full well that it is only Gambians who can make or break the Gambia. We need a huge does of humility and sobriety to engage with each other to position the Gambia on a course that is very different from many others in Africa. We already have a unique resource as manifesting in the close affinity, cohabitation and familiarity between our people and ethnic groups that it should indeed be quite easy to provide necessary leadership and direction for a truly national reconciliation and normalization of our polity.
No one needs to remind anyone that the guarantor for peace and stability is not how armed and belligerent or powerful the State is. Rather, in our lifetime, we have witnessed that durable peace and stability lie in adherence to the principles and practices of good governance. At 50 years old already, we can and must advice ourselves that indeed we bear the unique responsibility to guide ourselves to realize that we the people together with our government must save the Gambia. This is non-negotiable. The government must bear in mind that this extraordinary and unprecedented pardon is yet to be qualified and meaningful until many more compassion and courage flows from it. I would advise the leadership that we must not stop at the release of prisoners. Let the goodwill and good sense that gave birth to this decision go further to serve as a true healer of the nation by opening up the space, including everyone and providing genuine apology and compensation and going back to institutionalize the tenets of our constitution and adhere to the good values and standards of our religion and culture. In this project, there is no space for self-righteousness, vindication or vilification from any quarter. All must provide support and participation to steer the ship to safer shores. As Mandela demonstrated in his presidency, true leadership is when leaders have the courage to face their people and admit wrongs and determined to not only repeat them but more importantly to correct them. The Gambia has already generated so much unenviable attention and name-calling at home and abroad. No individual Gambian, regardless of your station in life can survive a divided society in conflict. The examples all too near around us. Let this pardon unite our people and more importantly let the Government take advantage of its pardon to further generate and strengthen trust and confidence of the people in the State by pursuing purely national objectives that pull the people together in peace and respect.
For the Gambia, Our Homeland.
Madi Jorbateh