By Mai Ahmad Fatty
While we congratulate eighteen young Gambians who were recently enrolled as Legal Practitioners of the Supreme Court of The Gambia, it is imperative to remind them that their Oath to protect and defend the Constitution and other laws of the Land is worthless to the regime of Yaya Jammeh. Be prepared for the worst. While the Vice President ‘lectured’ the newly admitted lawyers on the verve of judicial processes, her government consolidates serially denying innocent Gambians the benefit of that same system she espoused. Her fraudulent defense of government’s respect for legality was being contradicted by the recent illegal detention of two journalists, Sainey Marena and Musa Sheriff of the ‘VOICE’ newspaper, as she disgracefully spew gargantuan falsehood before the Nation. Here is a person who times galore proved her alacrity to do or say anything without connecting her actions or utterances to her conscience. She believes there are dangers in freedom of expression and repeatedly berates the private media as cancerous opposition outlets. President Truman once said that those “who want the government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination”. No leadership would strive for a prosperous society and yet deny the free flow and exchange of ideas and information represented by a free media governed by its own codes of conduct.
We condemn the unlawful arrest and illegal detention of the two journalists and demand their immediate release. We are reaching out to help facilitate their release, in solidarity with the GPU, while consulting with our usual partners around the world for coordinated international response. The impugned report in question allegedly concerned information about the reported defection of some members of APRC as a political Party to an opposition political Party. To prove the alleged defection wrong, the APRC officials had already issued a rejoinder denying that information. In any serious democracy that should have ended the matter unless the other Party wishes to provide additional proof. The acts of arresting and detaining the Reporters amount to censorship to suppress the dissemination of relevant information unfavourable to the APRC and the regime. The defection of APRC supporters to other opposition Parties is now becoming regular phenomena due to the colossal failures of the Party, which is being seen by most of its members as a rapidly sinking political vessel.
If instability is to be prevented in our country, law enforcement agencies must be united in their resolve to defend the rule of law. You cannot keep the peace by ignoring excesses of the Executive in grave abuses of the law against defenseless and innocent citizens. Nothing is more essential to peace in The Gambia than the cooperation of all law enforcement agencies in mustering the courage necessary to defend citizens against the wanton caprice of those in authority. The responsibility to serve and to protect will always remain your most important duty to y/our country and people. It is honourable, patriotic and legal to refuse to obey unlawful orders. It is time for you to resist the persecution of your fellow citizens and turn your wrath against those who instruct you to carry out unlawful orders. You do have a choice.