Yahya Jammeh Gambian Leader

New African

August 2010 - September 2010

Sixteen years off Yahya Jammeh

BYLINE: Sowe, Bubaccar

SECTION: FEATURE: GAMBIA; Pg. 36 No. 498 ISSN: 0142-9345

LENGTH: 2173 words

ABSTRACT

The Gambian president, Yahya Jammeh, has been in power for 16 years now. He came to power through a bloodless coup d'?tat on 22 July 1994 and was elected as president two years later in September 1996. He has since been re-elected twice. Only 29 and a lieutenant at the time of the 1994 coup, Jammeh is now the only remaining member of the original coupists who brought ex-President Sir Dawda Jawara's 32year rule to an end. Bubaccar Sowe looks back on Yahya Jammeh's 16-year reign, and counts the pluses and minuses of a man who appears not yet ready to give up power. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

FULL TEXT

The Gambian president, Yahya Jammeh, has been in power for 16 years now. He came to power through a bloodless coup d'?tat on 22 July 1994 and was elected as president two years later in September 1996. He has since been re-elected twice. Only 29 and a lieutenant at the time of the 1994 coup, Jammeh is now the only remaining member of the original coupists who brought ex-President Sir Dawda Jawara's 32year rule to an end. Bubaccar Sowe looks back on Yahya Jammeh's 16-year reign, and counts the pluses and minuses of a man who appears not yet ready to give up power.

On 22 July 1994, a fresh-faced Lieutenant Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Diliu Jammeh led a group of young soldiers to overthrow the government of President Sir Dawda Jawara, who had been in power for 32 years, first as prime minister from 1962-1970, and then as president from 1970-1994.

Jammeh and his young colleagues, now grouped in what they called the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC), denounced Jawara's government, alleging mass corruption, nepotism and mismanagement of public resources. The coup was popular among most Gambians who, truth be told, had had enough of Jawara's then inept government.

As chairman of the AFPRC, Jammeh and his government ruled by decree. They suspended the national constitution, banned all political parties, and promised to return the country to civilian rule after four years. But following a controversial consultation process, which led to the drafting of a new constitution, Gambians were given the choice to accept or reject the draft constitution in a referendum which recorded a turnout of 87%. As widely expected, a good 70% of the people voted for the adoption of the new constitution.

That brought an end to Jammeh's military rule as he retired from the army, and together with his junta colleagues, formed a political party, the Alliance For Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).

With Jammeh as its presidential candidate, the APRC went on to win the presidential election of September 1996, garnering 57% of the votes. Jammeh has since then won two more elections and is likely to stand again for a fourth term next year.

Jammeh's achievements

With a population of 1.3 million, The Gambia has since Jammeh's emergence seen a revolution in its national development. Jammeh's government established the country's first university (even though it still has no campus and students attend lectures in other tertiary institutions).

Jammeh's government has also built not only secondary schools, both junior and senior, but most primary schools have also been upgraded to a system called the basic cycle school to cater tor junior secondarylevel education.

The health sector has also been improved compared to Jawara's days. Hos pitaLs and major health centres have been built, and though basic medical supplies remain in short supply, it is a far cry from the pre-1994 days.

But Jammeh's government has built a swanky new airport outside Banjul which has earned the president immense esteem among the people. There has also been a major road network construction project, which has vastly improved transportation and communication in the country as compared to Jawara's days.

Immense work has also been done on the electricity supply, and currently many rural areas are being linked to the national grid. Ih is project has made it possible for a number of roads in urban areas to have streetlights. In January this year, finance minister Momodou Foon told the National Assembly that The Gambia's total debt stood at 16.84 billion dalasis ($675m). On the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Foon said the country was on track but would, however, miss some of the targets.

Another of Jammeh's major plus points has been his decision to allow former President Jawara to return home from exile in Britain and enjoy his retirement at the nation's expense. In the wake of the 1994 coup, Jawara moved to Britain and for a while, there was a tense and antagonistic relationship between him and Jammeh's government. But with Jawara getting on in years (he is now 86), Jammeh forgave all and allowed him to return home in 2002 to live at national expense as an elder statesman.

Jammeh's shortcomings

On the minus side, the poverty situation in the country has worsened under Jammeh's government. And not only that, there has been rampant corruption, the persecution of journalists and human rights violations.

Despite the many good things the government has done in the past 16 years, its hard stance on press freedom has been a major blot on its record. One journalist, Ebrima Manneh, has been in detention for the past four years without charge.

Manneh, the State House correspondent and columnist of the governmentcontrolled Daily Observer newspaper, was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) at the newspaper's offices, and since then he has remained in detention. Affectionately called Chief, Manneh has never been charged with any offence and the government has denied keeping him in custody.

Manneh was said to have downloaded an article from the BBC website for publication in the newspaper. The article was about The Gambia's hosting of the 2006 African Union summit in Banjul, in which the author was critical of African leaders.

Sources said Manneh was reported by a colleague to the manager of his newspaper, who described his action as a "sabotage" of the government and called the NIA to arrest him.

Since the arrest, Yaya Dampha, a Gambian journalist, has seen Manneh twice; first at the Fatoto police station in eastern Gambia. "He looked pale and seemed unhappy," Dampha told New African.

Again in April 2007, Dampha saw Manneh under the escort of prison warders at Banjul's Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital. "I was unable to talk to Chief but when they left the hospital, I consulted a doctor at the hospital who confirmed that Chief was there and that they had treated him for high blood pressure," Dampha said.

In an interview with New African, a member of Manneh 's family said they were still in shock. "We are deeply worried about his health. All we want now is for him to be reunited with us," the family member said. The president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Ms Ndey Tapha Sosseh, told New African: "It is very difficult to accept that one of your colleagues cannot be freed. We don't even know where he is now. We don't know if he is alive or dead. As a leader of the Press Union, for me it is a very painful thing. It makes you feel helpless."

Ms Sosseh said the prevailing atmosphere of fear among Cambian journalists has a serious impact on the country's press freedom.

"We have self-censorship," she said. "There are major issues happening in the country that people cannot talk or write about, or if we write about it at all it is just two paragraphs - 'this person is arrested, detained and released'. There is no depth to the story. There is no opinion piece. There is no analysis, because people just try as much as they can to avoid getting into trouble. And this affects the quality of journalism and information flow in the country."

In 2007, the Ghana-based Media Foundation for West Africa complained about Manneh 's disappearance to the Ecowas community court in Abuja. The Cambian government refused to appear in court to defend the case. Subsequently, the court ruled in 2008 that the government should release Manneh and pay him $100,000 compensation. But the government ignored the court decision.

Other victims

Manneh is not the only Cambian citizen in government detention. Kanyiba Kanyi, an employee of the Christian Children Fund, was arrested in September 2006, and has never been charged with any crime since then.

Again, in 2006, Lamin Fatty, a reporter with the now defunct Independent newspaper, was convicted of false publication. He avoided imprisonment thanks to the option of .1 fine. His newspaper was however closed down by the government.

Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambia' journalist, was also arrested at the Banjul airport on arrival in the country. She was charged and tried for sedition, but paid a fine and escaped jail. Most recently, six journalists were convicted on flimsy sedition charges. They were Ebri ma Sawaneh, news editor of Tloe Point; Pap Saine, managing editor of the same newspaper; Sa rata Jabbi-Dibba, vice president of the GPU; Pa Modou Faal, treasurer of the GPU; Sam Sarr, managing editor of Foroyaa; and Emil Touray, the CPU's secretary general. They were all pardoned and released after spending some time in jail.

The last decade has seen the murder of newspaper editor Deyda Hydara and Omar Barrow, a reporter and Red Cross volunteer who was helping victims of an April 2000 student demonstration in Banjul, in which several students were killed by soldiers. The students were protesting against the death of a colleague at the hands of firefighters.

Hydara's still unsolved murder followed harsh new media laws enacted by the government. Hydara, who had been mildly critical of Jammeh's government, was brutally gunned down in December 2004. Initially, one of Jammeh's closest military aides was named in connection with the killing, but nobody has since been able to prove it. The government still insists that security agents were not involved in Hydara's killing.

But the tally has been long: news organisations have been closed down, including Citizen FM and its sister paper, the New Citizen. Tloe Independent newspaper was also closed down following its reporting of a coup plot in March 2006. The paper's editor, managing editor, and reporters were also arrested.

Arson attacks have also been another weapon for persecuting journalists. The house of Ebrima Sillah, the BBC stringer in Banjul, was burnt down; luckily he escaped unhurt. Tloe Independents printing press was set on fire, and Radio 1 FM was similarly attacked.

Going beyond the local media, the government arrested a British couple resident in Banjul for 12 years and convicted them of sedition for writing private emails critical of President Jammeh to friends back home in Britain. Again, since December last year, internet websites critical of Jammeh's government, such as that of the US-based Freedom newspaper, have been blocked.

Tli'is relentless persecution of the media has led to a mass departure of journalists into exile and journalism in the country has suffered as a result.

Anti-gay legislation

A staunch Muslim, President Jammeh is unrelenting in his views against homosexuality. On 15 May 2008, his government announced that it would introduce an anti-gay law that would be "stricter than those in Iran", and threatened to "cut off the bead" of any gay or lesbian person discovered in The Gambia.

One of the most controversial aspects of Jammeh's 16 years in power has been the president's claim in January 2007 that he could cure HIV-Aids and asthma with natural herbs. Some of his patients say they have improved through his treatment, but critics, mainly from outside The Gambia, accuse him of promoting "unscientific treatment" that could have dangerous results.

When the UNDP country representative in The Gambia, Fadzai Gwaradzimba, expressed doubts about the president's HIV-Aids treatment, it angered the president so much that Gwaradzimba was told to leave the country. Yet, undaunted by the criticisms, Jammeh went on to announce in August 2007 that he had developed a single dose herbal infusion that could treat high blood pressure.

If "a week is a long time in politics" as one British politician once claimed, 16 years must be a long, long time in politics in The Gambia. But don't tell President Jammeh or any of the African presidents who have been in power forever.

SIDEBAR

"Jammeh and his young colleagues in the AFPRC denounced Jawara's government, alleging mass corruption, nepotism and mismanagement public resourc The coup was popular among most Gambians because of Jawara's then inept government"

SIDEBAR

Above: President Yahya Jammeh in Taiwan, which has been a major donor to The Gambia during his incumbency. Right: Former President Sir Dawda Jawara, who has returned home from exile to live as an elder statesman at national expense.

SIDEBAR

"There are major issues happening in the country that people cannot talk or write about, or if we write about it at all it is just two paragraphs - 'this person is arrested, detained and released'. There is no analysis, because people try to avoid getting into trouble."

LOAD-DATE: August 19, 2010

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ACC-NO: 36181

GRAPHIC: Photographs

DOCUMENT-TYPE: Feature

PUBLICATION-TYPE: Magazine

JOURNAL-CODE: NEWA

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