Some of the Chief Justices appointed and Fired by President Jammeh
The embattled and erratic President of Gambia Yahya Jammeh has fired his acting Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle amid political unrest in the country. The firing of the Nigerian born Chief Justice Fagbenle who has served the dictatorship in various capacities; President of the Appeals Court and Director of Public Prosecution came as a result of a presiding judge quitting a politically motivated case against the country’s leading opposition leader and members of his party.
Justice Ottaba who is a Cameroonian suddenly quits the highly charged trial of opposition protesters where one is alleged to have been tortured to dead and several women beaten and allegedly raped by Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency staffers notoriously known as the NIA. Mr. Ottaba was caught on a prank call by Gambian exiled radio journalist Fatou Camara. He was overheard saying that the case was “an embarrassment” to the state and the nation. He promised to do something about the case the following Monday. Upon returning to court on Monday Justice Ottaba who repeatedly denied the accused bail quit the case base on lack of merits and political interference from the executive. As a results, the Chief Justice got fired for allegedly failing to preside over Justice Ottaba to continue to persecute the case.
The firing of the Chief Justice did not come as a surprise to many Gambians who closely monitor the political situation in the Gambia. Since the arrest of the opposition leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and his party supporters, Gambians have hit the streets in large numbers and have demonstrated against the continue detention and trial of opposition supporters. The Gambian dictator and his justice ministry are known to personally interfere with court cases and put pressure on judges to rule in favor of the State. The heavy handed dictator known across the world as “one of the worst dictatorship” in the world uses mercenary judges mainly from Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana to carry out his dirty political persecution.
Readers may recalled that several Chief Justices have been appointed by Jammeh only to be fired with average tenure of less than one year. The last chief Justice to be fired was a well known Pakistani born justice Ali Nawaz Chawhan who allegedly quit due to judicial interference from the executive. Other Chief Justices fired by Jammeh were Joseph Wowo and Justice Mabel Agyemang among others. It appears that anybody appointed to this post has to accept the free interference of the executive into the judiciary or get their marching orders. Although the Gambian judiciary are severely handicapped, President Jammeh cannot keep his justice department separate from his political manipulation of the country. This time the firing of Chief Justice Flagbenle came at a very critical time. There appears to be panic gripping the justices as they will either agree to serve Jammeh’s agenda or face the brunt of the law. It will not be surprising to see another former justice get recycled right back into these positions.. The world is watching closely as Jammeh continue to face pressure to release the political detainees and respect the constitutional rights of citizens. How the minister of Justice Mama Fatima Sighateh survives this debacle is yet to be seen.