Gambia:Where Is Chief Ebrima Manneh? Would the Gambia Honour Its Pledge to Investigate?

Ebrima Chief Manneh

By Lamin Njie

It's is coming to five solid years that family members, friends, colleagues and concern parties don't exactly know the whereabouts of journalist Ebrima Chief Manneh who mysteriously went missing since July 7, 2006 in this very small Gambia of ours. As there are reports of Gambia Government's agreement to investigate the murder of Deyda Hydara and the disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh, we would continue to remind the state of their duty to ensure the security of all Gambians and those residing in the country.

July 7, 2011 will be exactly five years of Chief Ebrima Manneh's disappearance.
Sad!  Sometimes I sit and wonder whether this young man is even alive. What is going on that should warrant the continuous disappearance of Chief Manneh?
We have seen right here, where people accused of wrong doings are charged and brought before a competent court of law for the law to take its cause.
If Chief Manneh is alive, what is stopping the government to do the same in his case or otherwise release him unconditionally?
Here is a young man who was working for the pro- government newspaper called The Daily Observer for many years and since his disappearance, nobody have claimed to have knowledge of his whereabouts, even his colleagues.
He used to run a column called Crime Watch and was a State House correspondent for The Daily Observer.  Today, all this is history.
The father of the disappeared journalist Manneh always reiterate: "It is so painful to miss a child under such circumstances but there is nothing I can do again."
Whoever is having Chief Manneh in his custody is committing a crime against humanity and should release him immediately.
It's crude and wicked for someone to take a son and a bread winner and child of aging parents and keep him from them for five years now without any judicial order.
We are not leaving in a Dark Age, when might was right.  The Gambia is not an island. It is part and parcel of the international community   and should respect the rules and regulations of the community.
When the ECOWAS court in Abuja, Nigeria delivered its verdict on Chief Manneh against The Gambia government, the latter was ordered to release the young journalist and compensate him $100,000 but up to now, the government did not comply with the recommendation of the sub-regional court.
Instead, the state is continuously denying having Chief Manneh. Now who is holding Chief Manneh and why? This is the questions we need an answer for.
 Even if the government is not having him in their custody as they claimed, then what is stopping the Ministry of Interior responsible for security matters in the country setting up a panel comprising of different security institutions in the country and thoroughly investigate this serious matter.
Stop arresting and detaining people without the due process of the laws of the land. We don't know when the government would start investigating the unsolved disappearance of our missing Chief.
Since July 7, 2006 to now, the whereabouts of Chief Manneh remains a mystery? But not to those who arrested him and took him away on the orders of their superior/s.
Time will! One day, the whereabouts of Chief Manneh will be known and those responsible for his ordeal will be named and shamed and face the music. Period.
I was born and brought up in The Gambia but the issue of rampant arrest of people, detaining and disappearance is a new phenomenon as it has never been a common place as is the case now.  This is crazy!
We are looking forward to the government of The Gambia to set up a commission that would look into all these disappearances and make public their findings.
Like journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh's family, many unknown families are also going through similar situations.  One would wonder whether this is the same Gambia we all knew! Disappeared for five years! What a sad story!

Daily News:Gambia: Gambia Gov't Ready To Investigate Deyda’s Murder, Manneh’s Disappearance

The world is expecting to see the culprits being brought to book.The Jammeh administration should do justice to the citizens of this country particularly in the cases of Mr. Hydara and Ebrima Manneh.It is the respectability of the President of the Republic to ensure that there security, and we do not claims of security lapse.

The Gambia government is reported to have informally agreed to calls for independent investigations into the killing of a veteran Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara and disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh, The Daily News has reliably gathered.
Co-founder of The Point, a leading Gambian independent newspaper, Deyda Hydara was assassinated in 2004. His killers are not known and yet the government remained reluctant to allow independent investigations in his murder.
Chief Ebrima Manneh, a senior reporter at pro-government Daily Observer newspaper has been allegedly arrested by state security agents since 2007.
"We are pleased that the Gambia government acquiesced to our repeated calls and they have now committed to request international support to facilitate investigations into the disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh and murder of Deyda Hydara.
"We wait a formal request from the Gambian side, and once received, we will facilitate contact for international support for investigations into both cases through the United Nations and Commonwealth", the UK Foreign Office told Glasgow based Campaign for Human Rights in Gambia UK (CHRG)
The Foreign Office made this revelation recently while addressing concerns made by Arthur West Chairman Campaign for Human Rights in The Gambia UK on the critical human rights situation in The Gambia.
The Scottish based Gambian rights group has since inception  been working closely with the Foreign Office,  senior politicians, pro-democracy group and human rights organisations to address right violations in The Gambia.
 In July 2010 CHRG-UK through its Campaign Officer Alieu Badara Ceesay secured British and Scottish Parliaments' opposition to the abuse of human rights in The Gambia through a parliamentary motion in both houses with cross party support.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said at the meeting on April 12 attended by six Gambian ministers, the EU delegation also reiterated calls for the Gambia government to consider repealing certain provisions in the Criminal Code.
The letter stated that for now the FCO will continue to press The Gambia government to act on the agreed commitments they have made during the Article 8 discussions.
EU budget support to The Gambia has been suspended since April 2010 and will be reviewed at the end of 2011, The Daily News sources at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.
Despite calls from The Gambia government to resume this budget support, if progress on the overall political and accountability environment is not evident the EU will not lift this suspension, our sources said.
Commenting on the development, Mr Alieu Badara Ceesay, an exile Gambian journalist, who is the campaign officer applauded the Foreign Office for standing up for fundamental human rights in The Gambia and working hand in glove  with CHRG in addressing the human rights situation in The Gambia.

Author: dailynews

Gambia News:Darboe Describes Ongoing Voter Registration As Worst Ever

Source:Daily News Newspaper

Lawyer Darboe's UDP party support base is declining if previous records are anything to go by.

The leader of the main-opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) has taken a snipe at the ongoing general voter registration exercise, describing it as the worst ever.
Gambia's electoral body had assured a lesser fraudulent process of registration of voters with the digitalised system, but UDP's Lawyer Ousainou Darboe believes that the integrity of process has been already compromised with a week away to wrap up.
 "Efforts of the regime to register a few hundred people at Tallinding in Serrekunda East had been aborted," he told The Daily News in an exclusive interview.
Darboe lamented over the transportation of over 250 so-called Mauritania based Gambians, who came in five large buses to obtain voter's card. Some are lodge at National Service Scheme (NYSS) in Bakau where they are being registered.

One registers where one is born or resides

"NYSS being a government institution, and an institution that does not belong to any political party should not be used as a resident for APRC party supporters," Darboe observed.      
He added: "I believe when the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said it lacks fund to register Gambians in the Diaspora, it meant that they do not have the funds and the capacity to go abroad and register Gambians.
"I would not interpret their statement to mean that they do not have the capacity or funds to register Gambians who are living in any particular country and come en mass to register in The Gambia."
The lawyer cum politician pointed out that it is wrong for the Gambian ambassador in Mauritania to make such arrangements. This, he added, shows the ruling APRC's disregard for the separation between a State and Party.
 "One cannot be registered in any constituency just as the APRC agents in Mauritania are trying to get people from Mauritania and register them in KMC when they are not residents of KMC," he said.
"And it is obvious that you cannot register any person in any constituency where he or she does not reside or born in that constituency."

Military men without citizenship papers

What the UDP leader considers most disturbing was the registering of military personnel who failed to produce any of the required citizenship papers, but were certified.
"I do not think the CDS will accept the enlistment of any person into the Gambian National Army without that person producing a national document to show that he or she is a Gambian," Darboe said.
"How can someone in an army uniform not be in possession of any of the national documents?"
He stated: "It is unfortunate that people have assigned themselves the role of professional attesters, ignoring the consequences of false attestation because it has serious legal implications when one signs something false."

The law amended

The outspoken lawyer pointed out that the ruling APRC government has been amending the electoral law to satisfy its needs.
"Election decree had a provision, which empowered registration officers to investigate claimants and satisfy himself that the person is eligible or not, even if the claimant has citizenship papers.
"But the government amended the Election Decree and leaves the IEC completely helpless."

Challenges persists

Come November 24, Gambians will head to polls to elect into office a new president that would steer the affairs of the country for the next five years.
Although Darboe's support has taken a declining trend in the previous three presidential contests, he sounds as hopeful as before of victory.
However, he decried over the persistent challenges that have been negatively impacting on his one-and-a-half decade long struggle to replace the incumbent president Yahya Jammeh, who is seeking a fourth term in office.
"Obviously we do not have access to the national media and the private media particularly electronic media are discouraged by the State to disseminate divergent views even if it is going to be on fee bases, opposition parties are ready to pay," he said.

Author: Saikou Ceesay

Daily News:Editorial:The Outrageous Sexual Lives of Public Officials

Public officials who should be accountable for their words and deeds are seemingly the most carefree people in The Gambia when it comes to morality. They are capable of abusing their powers in many ways, both at work and out of workplace.

It is interesting to see a senior official dressed casually like an American rapper wearing brim hat, making it difficult to be recognized. People tend to be more concern about their political responsibility than what they do socially, especially their sex lives. They can go with any woman at anywhere, anytime and anyhow. There are also complaints that other top public officials do even take underage girls to hotels just to pursue their sexual desire.

Ignoring the sexual lives of public officials is not protecting women and girls in our society but heightening their ranks as economic and social victim. Some participants at the good governance training at the friendship hostel at the Independence Stadium have witnessed some top public officials bringing women and girls to some of the rooms late in the night. 
A senior security personnel, a high municipal official and a man manning a respectable position in the youth and Sports ministry came to the hostel with women and young girls respectively. Most of the participants who were aware of their activities raised brows about it, complaining that the hostel is being turned into a brothel by officials. What lessons are they teaching young participants who were resident at the hostel to be trained on good governance?
To answer this critical question, it is worth noting that as public officers, the women and girls they take to the hostel are on one hand, their own victims who might come from poor families and whose tax monies are not proportionately utilised for the general economic wellbeing of the nation, hence been easily cajoled by men of such ranks to satisfy their sexual desires.
On the other, they are victimised twice, after depriving them of their economic rights, again get sexual favour from them, probably for a short time token of benefit. Giving sexual favour to top officials would not alleviate their poverty, but earn them only indignity. Public officials should also know that they are duty bearers who are always being seen by right holders involving in all kinds of activities which do not tell well on them as officials.
Gambians are fond of turning blind eyes to the actions of their public officials. There have been many complaints from different quarters that hostels, motels and hotels are the evening hideouts of some Gambian public officials for sexual activities. It is not uncommon to go to a workshop that is residential without seeing a public official coiffeur -driven to a resort with a woman or girl who is not a marital partner.
Women and young girls should also know that the officials who cajole them because of their positions are paid from their tax and it is their right to benefit from the national cake and should not allow to be prostituted. It is unbecoming officials to use a hostel where young people were residing to be trained on good governance as a brothel. This issue of abusing women and girls should be vigilantly pursued by gender activists, journalists, youth activists and other advocates to promote the welfare of women and girls by launching aggressive campaign on their rights and talk to managers of hostels, motels and hotels to help curb this growing menace.
As the visible deeds are those of officials who go out looking for hideouts for such activities, but there exist others who are also in various offices who abuse their office by exploiting their female workers or even bringing other women and girls to their offices for sexual activities. We should be aware that both government officials and private sector officials are duty bearers and should be accountable for their deeds and even words.