The Gambia continues downward slide on governance ladder

By D. A. Jawo

It is indeed hard for any right thinking Gambian to imagine why President Yahya Jammeh, who is already under intense local and international scrutiny over his unwise decision to execute nine death row prisoners under very cloudy circumstances, would yet still go ahead to arbitrarily close down media houses simply for not singing his praises. Any reasonable person would have thought that under the circumstances that he presently finds himself in, he would have done everything possible to deflect rather than attract more negative attention on his regime.The arbitrary decision to send NIA operatives to both The Daily News and The Standard on Friday afternoon and verbally ask them to immediately cease publication, without any court order or yet still without any document to that effect, tantamount to the worst form of arbitrariness ever seen in a country that claims to be practicing modern  democracy. That was exactly what they did to the Gambia’s most popular radio station, Teranga FM, about three weeks ago.

This action by the Gambian authorities and the crude manner it was done shows how far down the governance ladder this country has degenerated and the almost total lack of adherence to the most basic tenets of the rule of law being practiced by those in authority.  It is hard to understand how in this 21st century, any government can just send people to legally registered media outlets and verbally ask them to cease operations without any legal document to that effect. This is indeed the height of arbitrariness ever witnessed in our sub-region, and a clear manifestation of the almost total lack of regard for the welfare of ordinary Gambians.

It is now quite evident that such arbitrariness and lack of regard for the rule of law has become a daily occurrence in The Gambia, often done in complete disregard of the provisions of the law and natural justice. Just a few days prior to the arbitrary closure of The Daily News and The Standard, for instance, we had seen how two journalists were detained for more than the legal limit of 72 hours for merely applying for a police permit to demonstrate, which is quite a normal occurrence in any civilized society.
As if that was not enough violation of the law, we were also told that rather than going through the legal channels of arresting and detaining them, the two journalists were tricked into reporting to the police station when they were told that their application for permit had been approved and that they were required to report to the police for it, only to be detained when they went to report.  It is hard to imagine that a responsible government would be engaged in such amateurish behavior.

We are also told that the police had to search the homes of those two journalists, no doubt without any search warrants, and that they even had to break open the door to the room of a brother of one of the journalists, which is not only illegal but tantamount to burglary, which would have been a big scandal in any civilized society.

While the arbitrary closure of Teranga FM, The Daily News and The Standard seems to have robbed the masses of ordinary Gambians their most reliable sources of news and information, it has also rendered several people out of employment.  It is quite hard to justify the decision by this regime, which makes so much noise about its concern for the welfare of Gambians, to use their arbitrary powers to close down media houses which action has suddenly rendered so many Gambians unemployed without any justifiable reasons.
The question on everyone’s lips is whether President Jammeh indeed has any advisers or whether he listens to any advice. He does not seem to know that by using arbitrary powers to close down genuinely registered media houses, he is forcing more and more Gambians to turn to the online publications for news and information about The Gambia. There is no way that he can force Gambians to consume lock, stock and barrel the propaganda and deception being churned on a daily basis by the GRTS and his other propaganda outlets when they can easily get the correct information from other sources.
Therefore, by using arbitrary powers to deny them access to the correct information through the local media outlets, Gambians will now resort to the online media and other sources to get the information they need and there is nothing the government can do about it. We have certainly passed that stage in our country’s development when the regime can determine for the people what information they should consume as if the regime is dealing with robots.

We have all heard the defensive posture adopted by members of the regime in the aftermath of the prisoner executions, with the Attorney General even saying that he would resign if anyone showed him any errors in the way and manner the executions were carried out. However, it is hard to see how anyone can prove to him the illegality of the executions when his regime has clearly shown that they have no tolerance for divergent views and opinion. We are however now waiting to see how he and all those who were making such noises would react to this arbitrariness and lack of adherence to the basic rule of law to close down these media houses. As the legal adviser to the government, this arbitrary and illegal action is enough reason for him to resign if it is not reversed; otherwise, his own credibility as a legal luminary is at stake.

It is therefore quite an embarrassment to most Gambians to see our once peaceful dear country rapidly slide down to a bastion of mal-governance with little regard for the rule of law, and gradually transformed into the laughing stock of the sub-region.
Another big embarrassment to most Gambians is the submissive behavior of our traditional and religious leaders, who are always in a haste to rally round the regime’s actions without regard to the wishes and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of the people, apparently in return for the crumbs and other generous gifts that President Jammeh often lavishes on them on such occasions like Ramadan and similar events. Therefore, until our religious leaders, in particular, muster the courage to tell President Jammeh the truth, in accordance with their religious mandate, this country’s governance profile will continue its downward slide.

Gambia:Yahya Jammeh did not execute 9 but 18 people Says former Gambian Ambassador Essa Bokarr Sey

In a radio interview with U.S based Hello Gambia Radio, former Gambian ambassador to Washington, Essa Bokarr Sey  made some startling revelations about the Gambia's execution of death row prisoners. According to Mr. Sey, Yahya Jammeh executed 18 people and not the 9 we were made to believe. Mr. Sey also revealed that the President of the Republic of The Gambia has threatened to assassinate Alioune Tine, President of  RADDHO, a human rights organisation based in Dakar.

Gambia:Today our nation is shocked, saddened and outraged

By Assan Martin, Human Rights Lawyer

Mr. President:

Since honest and sincere advice are lacking in your administration, I felt that I should give short advice to you with all sincerity and honesty on the recent executions of death row inmates.

Today our nation is shocked, saddened and outraged as to the recent executions of some 9 inmates in mile 2 Prison. As a staunched believer of rights and liberties especially the rights of accused persons, I have constantly spoken against the death penalty since October 19^th 2010. Reference of which is on the point newspaper edition October 19^th, 2010. I was basically advocating for the commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment to avoid the innocent lost of lives that can never be recovered.

As counsel who represented and supervised several murder cases since the inception of the special court established to extradite cases and on gratis for my state brief cases. I here remind you Mr. President that our judicial system (courts) is full of flaws and mainly not competent as claimed. Especially some foreign judges trying to impressed you at the expense of the Gambian people. Be informed that there is a lot of miscarriages of justices in our criminal justice system especially with procedures and proceedings in cases of felons in our courts.

Mr. President the ill advices you received from the so called professionals you relied upon are damaging to our nation.”Tackling crimes can only come by tackling the root causesof crimes”   and for people to be educated for a decent society. Death penalty sentences are not a solution to tackling crimes.

However, your former Justice Minister Mr. Edu GomeZ and co tried to defend capital punishment with no justifiable reasons but to solidify their positions in government.

Sadly most of our foreign JUDGES are incompetent and don’t understand the Gambian society and culture. One cannot imagine a judge sentenced to death an accused person in provocative murder cases. Also in a sad case of woman “sentence to death by hanging “for dumping a baby caused by post-antenatal syndromes or stresses leading to concealment of birth in a remote village.

More so the treason trial involving General Lang Tombong Tamba and 8 others on 10^thMay 2010, is a clear case of travesty of justice. I believe in don’t defending the guilt but again let me remind you sir that there existed no justifiable evidence for conviction in this case.  Where conviction is warranted legal experts will not comment against it.

Once more Mr. President halts all executions and repeals all death penalty provisions. As from today our nation will never be the same because the current situation is beyond remedy.  These executions have tarnished the image of our democracy, our Justice system and respect for human rights.

Gambia says nine prisoners executed by firing squad

(AFP) BANJUL, Gambia — Gambia's interior ministry said Monday nine death row prisoners had been executed by firing squad, after President Yahya Jammeh vowed to carry out all death sentences by mid-September.

In a statement the ministry named nine people, including one woman, who were "executed by firing squad on Sunday 26th August 2012" after they were sentenced to death and all their appeals had been exhausted.

"The general public is hereby warned that the rule of law as regards the peace and stability and the protection of lives, property and liberty will not be compromised for whatever reason," read the statement.

Amnesty International reported the execution of the nine prisoners on Saturday, a day before the government said it took place and just days after an African Union envoy urged Jammeh to renounce his plans to execute all 47 death row prisoners.

In a televised address to mark this year's Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr on Sunday Jammeh said: "By the middle of next month, all the death sentences will have been carried out to the letter.

"There is no way my government will allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals."

One of the men executed, Dawda Bojang, had been convicted for murdering British tourist Ronald Stanley Ford in 2002.

Two of the prisoners were Senegalese, one of them a woman, Tabara Samba, convicted in 2007 of murdering her husband by pouring hot cooking oil over him after he took a second wife.

Three of the dead were soldiers who were convicted in 1998 of treason and murdering two fellow soldiers.

While the last official execution took place in 1985, AFP's correspondent in Banjul said that executions in Gambia, a sliver of land wedged into Senegal, have continued unofficially with the most recent taking place in 2007.

Jammeh, a former military officer who seized power in a 1994 coup, brooks no dissent in a country often blasted by rights bodies for abuses.

Many top officials have found themselves charged with treason, often related to coup plots which observers have said are a sign of paranoia by Jammeh, who won a fourth term in office in November 2011.

Last year eight military top brass, including the former army and intelligence chiefs and the ex-deputy head of the police force, were sentenced to death for treason.

The European Union on Monday condemned the executions and demanded they stop.

"I demand the immediate halt of executions," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

"I recall the (Gambian government's) international commitments, as well as the commitments concerning the respect of human rights contained in the Cotonou Agreement, which governs relations between the European Union and The Gambia."

She added: "In light of these executions, the European Union will urgently consider an appropriate response."

Gambia: It makes no sense, Jammeh at it again

By Abdoulaye Saine
Against a backdrop of mounting international ostracism and suspension of much needed financial assistance from the EU - the consequence of a poor human rights record, Jammeh’s threat to execute forty-seven inmates by September was designed to attract attention from Western media and human rights organizations. He has consistently courted media attention with outrageous comments and acts when things are not going well at home. This, to deflect attention from failed policies, which are too many to recount here. Did he not claim to have “discovered” the cure for HIV/AIDS, hypertension, infertility and diabetes, to name a few? Did Jammeh not orchestrate a so-called “witch-hunt” to supposedly purge the country of witches?

Yahya Jammeh’s threat to carry out death sentences of “death-row” inmates is simply outrageous! It makes no sense at all! But Jammeh’s rule and decisions have hardly made sense to most right-thinking individuals. Did he not defy religious and cultural sensibilities when he announced his threat to a group of religious elders on Islam’s most sacred Holiday- Eid-ul-Fitr? Who in their right mind would issue such a threat on a day of forgiveness and goodwill other than to attract attention?  This time, it is not a threat against gays but “criminals.” Perhaps, a more interesting question is, why the threat(s)?

Jammeh’s most recent threat may well be another attempt to cover his failings- both personal and national. This odious threat to hang “death-row” inmates is/ was intended to douse dissent in a population already fatigued by mounting economic hardship and subdued by extra-judicial killings. Whether Jammeh carries/ carried out his threat or not (I pray he did not) is now immaterial, as he has already achieved his intended goals- deflecting attention from a country and people gripped by famine and soaring food prices, and perhaps more importantly, attracting media coverage, including worldwide attention and condemnation. Each time Jammeh makes a threat, or announces a  medical “discovery,” Western media houses and rights organizations fall for it, which they should, as he has killed enough already. Yet in the same vein he manipulates them for self-serving purposes.

Jammeh’s so-called medical “discoveries,” “witch-hunts” and threat to execute forty-seven inmates are/ were simply outrageous and sure to get his name in the news. Yet Jammeh thrives on the outrageous, as he has accomplished little of distinction in his personal life, or eighteen-year rule. Did he not want to be crowned king or emperor of Gambia?  Does he not insist on being called professor, Dr., Sheikh- all unearned titles and awards?

While I am not a psychiatrist, I suspect Jammeh suffers from a mental disorder called “Histrionic personality disorder” (HPD), which according to the American Psychiatric Association “is defined as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriately seductive behavior, usually beginning in early adulthood. These individuals are lively, dramatic, vivacious, enthusiastic, and flirtatious http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder ,August, 24, 2012).

Jammeh must come to his senses and stop toying with the lives of so-called death-row inmates like Dr. Amadou Janneh, whose only “crime” is saying “No” to his madness- a disorder that must be taken seriously.

 Gambians the world-over join the AU, EU, the US and all right-thinking individuals and condemn Yahya Jammeh’s threat to execute of so-called “death-row” inmates. It would be wrong, unjust and cruel.

Abdoulaye Saine

Oxford, OH

Gambia:EU demands 'immediate halt' to executions in Gambia

The European Union called Sunday for an "immediate halt" to executions in Gambia after reports that President Yahya Jammeh had begun carrying out a threat to clear death row by mid-September.

"I strongly condemn the executions which have reportedly taken place ... and I demand the immediate halt of executions," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International said Friday it had "received credible reports that nine persons were executed last night in Gambia and that more persons are under threat of imminent executions today and in the coming days."

Jammeh said in an address to mark this year's Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr last Sunday: "By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter.

"There is no way my government will allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals," he said.

According to Amnesty those executed included a woman and two Senegalese citizens.

Death sentences in impoverished Gambia, a tiny west African state wedged into Senegal, are carried out by hanging.

Jammeh, a former military officer who seized power in a 1994 coup, brooks no dissent in a country often blasted by rights bodies for abuses.

Amnesty said the last official execution took place in 1985. However AFP's correspondent in Banjul reports that executions have continued unofficially with the most recent taking place in 2007.

According to a tally by AFP, 47 people have been sentenced to death since July 2010. Last year eight military top brass, including the former army and intelligence chiefs and the ex-deputy head of the police force, were sentenced to death for treason.

Many top officials have found themselves charged with treason, often related to coup plots which observers have said are a sign of paranoia by Jammeh, who won a fourth term in office in November 2011.

In her statement, Ashton said: "I recall the (Gambian government's) international commitments, as well as the commitments concerning the respect of human rights contained in the Cotonou Agreement, which governs relations between the European Union and The Gambia."

She added: "In light of these executions, the European Union will urgently consider an appropriate response."

© ANP/AFP

Gambia: Jammeh must disclose knowledge of Manneh's fate

Gambian Press Union

New York, July 6, 2011--Gambian President Yahya Jammeh must clarify his March 16 comments suggesting that detained journalist "Chief" Ebrima Manneh has died, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ's call comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of the July 7, 2006, arrest of Manneh, left, who disappeared after being taken into government custody.

Gambian National Police spokesman Yorro Mballow told CPJ today that police have no information about Manneh, whose arrest by plainclothes agents of the National Intelligence Agency in the newsroom of the pro-government Daily Observer was witnessed by several colleagues. Despite a handful of reported sightings of Manneh in government custody, and a rulingby the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States calling forManneh's release, the Jammeh administration has typically denied knowledge of the case.

On March 16, however, in public remarks during a meeting with representatives of the Gambian media, Jammeh suggested he had knowledge of Manneh's fate. "Let me make it very clear that the government has nothing to do with the death of Chief Manneh," he said. An unnamed police source quoted by Agence France-Presse in 2009 also suggested Manneh had died in prison.

 "The official silence on this case is cynically cruel," said Mohamed Keita, CPJ's Africa advocacy coordinator. "President Jammeh owes the Manneh family an explanation."

Source: cpj.org

Gambia : Jammeh’s Shortsighted Vision 2020

Original article by Sarjo Bayang
All inspiring leaders know how to create stirring dreams in the minds of their people. They know how to write speeches (or at least deliver them) and put together mission statements which, if made into reality, would revolutionise the lives of those whom they serve. Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia has a curious ability to do just that. The problem is, Dictator Jammeh seems to have forgotten to deliver on his promises and goals.
Here’s his own special brand of nonsense, quoted from the State House website:
Mission Statement and overall orientation of Vision 2020 reads:
“To transform The Gambia into a financial centre, a tourist paradise, a trading, export-oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, thriving on free market policies and a vibrant private sector, sustained by a well-educated, trained, skilled, healthy, self-reliant and enterprising population and guaranteeing a well-balanced eco- system and a decent standard of living for one and all under a system of government based on the consent of the citizenry.”
And here’s a brief look at what’s happening in reality:
Vision 2020 has absolutely no development plan to back it up. There are simply no measures put in place to implement these grand ideas.
Financial centre? The Gambia has, according to less in the state’s coffers than belongs to Yahya Jammeh himself. He is allowed complete freedom to claim development tenders and state financing. He owns many large business interests, and there is absolutely no good governance in place to hold him accountable for his wealth or business interests. Neither the Ministry of Trade nor the Ministry of Finance has any measures in place for accountability or the delivery of an improved economy- an economy which has been in steady decline.
Gambia is in decline- but Yahya Jammeh’s personal fortunes are increasing daily. His favourite publicity stunt is to “donate” resources back to the country he stole them from.
Tourist paradise? The World Tourism Council has released a report which is fairly damning: The Gambia is in the midst of a tourism decline. The industry, instead of becoming a mainstay for the country, is on the verge of collapse, and, with a depressed international market, is unlike to recover. Especially with absolutely no plans in place by Jammeh’s government to rescue this once key facet of the economy.
Trading? An Export-oriented economy? There has been no candidate remaining in the Department of Trade Industry, and Employment now renamed Ministry of Economic Planning and Industrial Development long enough to improve trade in any measurable way. Government interference has seen the cotton industry collapse, and Jammeh’s own personal farming interests have pretty much ruined agriculture- he’s still obsessed with stealing lands from Gambians in order to create “State farms”- farms worked on by his own soldiers and police force (for no pay), and farms from which he derives any profits. Even his mother runs farms. Essentially, his farms in every province represent Gambian agriculture- but that’s no national improvement.
Manufacturing nation? A short-lived development project at Kanifing Industrial Estate was, for the most part, a flop. So many people used their development grants to build residential units that fears of industrial pollution prevented any major industries from being established. Gambia imports pretty much everything, right down to basic commodities.
Free Market Policies and a vibrant private sector? Again, there are very few businesses which can cope with unfair competition in the country, and Jammeh’s personal interest in competing with almost every kind of business in the country has also left both sectors useless. Notably, however, the banking sector has grown- implying that there is plenty of money changing hands- just not through legal or formal business channels.
Well-educated, trained, skilled and enterprising population? Jammeh’s own children are educated by American tutors in a private classroom, and claims to be building schools- yet systematically targets intellectuals for arrest and torture.
Guaranteeing a well-balanced ecosystem? Gambia has extensively rich ecosystems, and, under previous regimes, there were measures in place to protect these. Jammeh is selling off land to Asian investors, and developing on land previously protected.
Decent standard of living for one and all? Poverty and hunger are rife in the Gambia. The entire country relies on the “generosity” of Jammeh for basics such as food.
Healthy nation? Jammeh claimed he could cure AIDS and other ailments. Despite his claims, there has been no medical proof, and civilians are left to hide their unhappiness at his failure to cure their relatives. There is no medical fraternity in the Gambia rejecting his claims. Jammeh himself uses foreign doctors for his family.
System of government based on the consent of the citizenry? There will be elections in November 2011- elections Jammeh expects to win. Of course, political opposition has been criminalized, so there is no viable opposition party. He insists that he must lead “for forty years”.
So it’s pretty obvious that according to his own standards, Dictator Jammeh has failed miserably to live up to his own vision. Of course, he has nine years left to do something about it, but by then he’ll have invented something else to parade as the next best thing.

Courtesy: africandictator.org

The Gambia UPDATE: Missing ex-minister found, treason charges preferred against him and three others

Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh, a detained former Minister of Information and Communication and three others have been charged with treason for allegedly distributing anti-Jammeh materials, demanding an end to the authoritarian rule of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia. 

Dr Janneh, an outspoken former minister went missing after his arrest on June 7, 2011. He was picked-up by plainclothes security agents who, without explanation, sealed off his offices, dismissed his staff.  Dr. Janneh was whisked towards Banjul, the capital to an unknown location.

 

On June 13, 2001, he was seen publicly for the first time after his arrest. This was when he appeared before the Banjul Magistrate’s court together with three others. All the four persons are being tried on charges relating to sedition and treasonable offences.

The three- two Gambians, Modou Keita and Ebrima Jallow and a Nigerian citizen Michael C. Ucheh Thomas, were also arrested and held  incommunicado at  an undisclosed location on the same day that Dr. Janneh was arrested. They have since been remanded in prison custody to reappear at a High Court, as the magistrate court does not have the jurisdiction to hear treason cases.

 

The charges stemmed from the four allegedly printing and distributing t-shirts of Gambian political pressure groups, Coalition for Change, which is calling for an ‘End to Dictatorship Now’ in The Gambia

 

This is not the time in 2011 (an election year) that the authorities have arrested Gambian citizens for exercising their political rights. On March 7, two family members of Mai Fatty, an exiled leader of the opposition Gambian Moral Congress (GMC) party, were detained by the Gambian police over the display of photographs of Fatty and other GMC campaign materials at their family home in the Upper River Administrative Division of the Gambia.

MFWA views this as a deliberate attempt to scuttle the election and entrench the authoritarian regime of President Jammeh in office. In 2006, they used similar method when they launched another phase of their systematic clampdown of journalists and political opponents to deny Gambians free and fair elections.

 

For more information Please contact:

Kwame Karikari (Prof)

Executive Director

MFWA

Accra

Tel: 233-30-22 4 24 70

Fax: 233-302-22 10 84

Email: mfwa@africaonline.com.gh, alerts@mediafound.org

Website: www.mediafound.org

Gambia News: What democracy denies its people the right to vote? (#Gambia)

(Daily News)As Gambians at home register for the 2011 presidential election; Gambians abroad remain disenfranchised, despite fifteen years of empty promises and artificial obstacles by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The official quotes below say it all:
 “The Commission has been mandated by the Elections Decree (Section 11) to provide a register of voters in foreign countries. Such a mandate is being looked into,” (IEC Website).
“Presently, Gambians living abroad have the option of returning to the Gambia during registration periods and register within their Constituencies of origin. This will mean that it is only in this type of registration that they can vote during National or Local Elections, until such a time that a register of voters in foreign countries become feasible,” (IEC Website).
At this snail-pace, Diaspora Gambians will never have the right to vote in Gambian national elections, because fifteen years after the 1996 presidential polls, the Commission is “still looking into it.”
This is not a case of bad faith on my part- far from it. It is the realization that the words of The Commission are official spin, empty rhetoric intended to satisfy donors, while denying Diaspora Gambians their rights in order to maintain the status-quo.
The Commission and the Jammeh regime have no intention, nor are they interested, in extending the franchise to Diaspora Gambians. This is so, despite readily available funds from the Commonwealth and other donor countries.
In this day of sophisticated computer software registering less than 300, 000 Gambians resident abroad should not be as daunting as it was even ten years ago. Many countries in Africa, and neighboring Senegal, in particular, have extended the vote to their citizens abroad, recognizing among other things, their collective contribution to national development through remittances and investments in land and businesses.
It is laughable to expect Gambians in their thousands to return home to cast a ballot in their “constituencies of origin.”
What an utter waste of valuable resources that could, otherwise, be spent to benefit Gambians at home. Why make it so difficult for Diaspora Gambians to exercise such a fundamental right?
The answer is simple—they need our monthly remittances, not our vote, out of fear that Jammeh would be flushed out; even though he now enjoys considerable support among pockets of Gambians abroad.
What democracy denies its people the right to vote?
The IEC and Jammeh are not entirely at fault. The Opposition political party aficionados are just as complicit. Their parties remain disorganized, splintered and bututless; and for the most part are themselves paralyzed by fear— never attempting to challenge the constitutionality of this illegal state of affairs.
Rather than compromise, which is the art of politics, they are consumed by distrust, as they wallow in trite recrimination against one another- all hoping against all odds that they too shall become president someday.
This is at best delusional grandstanding even though all it takes to win is to form a united front against Jammeh. This is not rocket science but a simple strategy. Get the rascals out and then duke it out amongst yourselves.
Thus, the 2011 presidential election results are a foregone conclusion! You do not have to be a political scientist or bantaba pundit to figure this one out.
It seems all Gambians know this except the party leaders that plan to run and be humiliated. Jammeh and his APRC party will trounce any and all who dare stand his way. He has the money, arms and threatens to use them, which he will, if cornered.
Did he not arrest and imprison Femi Peters with impunity, without a whimper? Does Jammeh not use state media, while denying Opposition political heads their right to do so? Does he not have the IEC in his pocket and hires and fires at will its members? Does the Constitution not favor him and his kind? Need I go on?
How can Gambians at home and those in the Diaspora salvage the 2011 presidential election? If you cannot vote; vote with your wallet, and threaten to withhold the monthly “fish-money.”  Demand that relatives vote and vote for the candidate that stands the best chance of winning.
That happens to be Ousainou Darboe. Demand that all Opposition parties and aficionados rally behind Darboe, this once and see what happens. Darboe must now take a bold move, take the bull by its horns and make deals with the other party leaders- promise them the moon and get them on his side. Once in office, establish a union government to run the country for a one five-year term, while putting the necessary instruments and environment in place for a free and fair presidential poll.
This may well be the antidote to the political impasse that currently grips the country. With this strategy, Jammeh can have all the money, media, IEC and arms on his side and still be flushed out of office. Will the PPP, NRP, PDOIS leadership rally behind Darboe or would they rather see Jammeh be handed a fourth five-year term? This is the question and the choice is clear to all.