Mr. Ed Rogers, Chairman Coalition of Gambian Civil Society Organizations BGR Group C/O DUGA
The Homer Building PO Box 4507, NE
Eleventh Floor South Washington, DC 20017
601 Thirteenth Street, NW
Washington DC, 20005
Dear Mr. Rogers,
GAMBIAN CSOs PROTEST BGR GROUP LOBBYING DEAL WITH PRESIDENT JAMMEH
We, the undersigned Gambian civil society groups write to protest against your consideration to accept to serve as lobby group for President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia.
As Gambian groups with the sole objective of defending and promoting the rights of our people, we are appalled to learn that your client, President Jammeh will be paying a retainer fee of a staggering US$45,000 per month (D1.4 million Dalasis) while poverty and hunger ravage our beloved Gambia.
We the undersigned want to bring to your attention that in The Gambia, which has a population of 1.8million people, 59.3% of them live on less than $1 a day, and 40% subsist on remittance from family members in the Diaspora.
It is disheartening that while the majority of Gambians wallow in abject poverty, ill health and disease, the BGR group accepts to represent the person and institution responsible for these conditions. History will judge lobbyists who aid and abet tyrants and dictators who oppress their citizens and enrich themselves with aid, grants and the resources that belong to their people.
Earlier this year, Jefferson Waterman International (JWI) on K Street, signed a lobbying deal with President Jammeh at a staggering fee of US$800,000 per annum (D25.6 million Dalasis) and we expressed our outrage at this naked robbery. As patriotic sons and daughters of The Gambia, we want to assure you that whilst Jammeh reaches out to you and other lobbyists, paying for your services at the expense of the poor Gambian, we will stage a global front to ensure that little results will be yielded.
We the undersigned bring to your attention that as recently as July 3, 2013, the UK House of Parliament tabled an Early Day Motion (348) calling for, among other things, a travel ban and assets freeze on Gambian officials involved in gross human rights violations in The Gambia; an end to impunity in The Gambia; and a UK Government led international effort to secure a UN resolution against our repressive regime.
We will never rest from exposing the blood thirsty, corrupt and oppressive nature of our regime and will always speak out against any attempt to use our meager resources to pay for services that will not benefit our people.
Our action is not an appeal to “scruples” but an expression of our utmost disappointment with your willingness to lobby for President Jammeh despite your knowledge of all the atrocities of his regime against the Gambian people.
We do hope that armed with the materials we are attaching to this letter, the BGR will realize that the end of President Jammeh’s tyranny is fast approaching and the Gambian people do deserve better.
Signed:
Democratic Union of Gambian Activists (DUGA)
Coalition for Change The Gambia (CCG)
Civil Society Associations Gambia (CSAG)
Save The Gambia Democracy Project (STGDP)
Sene-Gambia Human Rights Defence League (UK)
Gambia Democratic Action Group (GDAG)
The Gambia Association for Democracy and Human Rights (SENEGAL)
The Stockholm Diaspora Dialogue Group (SWEDEN)
The Gambians for Democracy and Development (GDD) (Norway)
CC:
Media
US Department of State
US Department of Justice
Office of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon