You don’t know anything about the rule of law- Lawyer Janneh

A doyen of the Gambian bar, Surahata Janneh on Monday put it to the Sherriff of the High Court “You don’t know anything about the rule of law” during cross- examination in the trial of Moses Richards.
Joseph Agbor Effim, the Sheriff at the High Court in Banjul, who  is the state’s no 1 witness in the sedition case of Moses Richards however told the court that he is not an expert in the rule of law but knows something about the rule of law before Magistrate Alagba of the Banjul Magistrate Court.
Richards, a former High Court Judge – now private lawyer -is facing two criminal charges – giving false information and sedition – at the Banjul Magistrates’ Court.
He is alleged to have lied to the Sheriff of The Gambia that president of the republic ordered a stay of execution of a writ of possession in a civil suit; thus gave false information to a public servant and brought contempt into the person of the president of the republic
Richards however denied any wrong-doing
Mr Janneh also put it to the witness that nobody is above the law and the accused was not referring to president but the Office of the President in executing his client’s instructions but the witness however maintained that was how he comprehended it.
Janneh challenged that the accused person has never given any false information to anybody and that he was only doing what was expected of him as a legal practitioner by implementing his client’s instructions.
The witness said he copied the document to the Chief Justice as the Sherriff of the High court and a head of the judiciary system and not under the supervision of the Chief Justice.
He further said that the former Chief Justice stopped the bailiff from executing the judgment when the defense asked him what stopped them from executing the judgment since 2007.
The witness further accused Lawyer Ousainou Darboe by saying: “When I was summoned by the Chief Justice in his office, I found lawyer Ousainou Darboe claiming that I refused to execute his client’s judgment because they are an opposition party.”
Trial continues March 7

Justice Wowo Orders Treason Appellant to Respond on Point of Law

Chair of the three member panel of judges has told the defense for the seven death row inmates to reply on point of law, after receipt of the state respondent’s brief in the appeal of Lang Tombong Tamba and six others.
Justice Wowo also urged both parties to provide the court with authorities cited by them in their respective briefs.
Lang Tombong Tamba and Co have appealed  against the death sentence slapped on them by High Court Judge, Emmanuel Amadi in July 2010, after being found guilty of attempting to overthrow the government of the Gambia in 2009.
The appeal could not however advance when the case resumed on Monday as the defense solicited  an adjournment to enable him reply on point of law before the March 7.
The respondent, Daniel .O Kolu did not object to this, but informed the court that the state has already filed their briefs since 7 and 21 February 2010.
The case is expected to resume March 8th for adoption of briefs.
The rest of the appellants are Ex-Deputy of Chief of Defense Staff Omar Bun Mbaye, Ex-NIA Boss, Lamin BO Badjie, Ex-top military officer Lt Col. Kawsu Camara, Ex-deputy Police Chief, Modou Gaye, a business tycoon, Abdoulie Joof and a former Gambian diplomat, Gibril Ngorr Secka.

Women and Society

For the reason that men and women have different physiques, personalities, and lifestyle, also play different roles in society. These form the basis of relationships between men and women in the community, and between husband and wife in the family. The natural result of building relationships, upon Islamic or Christian justice is that these roles are complimentary; each with its own rights and responsibility.

Areas of activity for both men and women are defined reflecting their complementary natures and roles. These are not arbitrary divisions, and do not overload either men or women, but are what reason and commonsense dictates. It is, therefore, unjust to make women assume men’s roles without some personal or communal reason; doing so is a violation of women’s rights and an affront to their dignity and femininity.

 The two religions forbid favoritism against women if it undermines their rights, or wounds their dignity. Its tactic is impartial; the only bias towards men is in the minds of those who have been seduced by secularism.

The societies that have digressed in the first direction treat women according to the customs and traditions inherited. These traditions usually deprive women of many rights granted to them by Islam or any other religion. Besides, women are treated according to standards far different from those applied to men.

This discrimination pervades the life of any female. She is under continuous surveillance in order not to behave immodestly. She has very little say in family affairs or community interests; she might not have full control over her property and her marriage gift and finally as a mother she herself would prefer to produce boys so that she can attain higher status in her community.

Women and Education

For women to understand and appreciate their central role in society they need to be educated. There are two aspects; one is what is compulsory for individuals and the other is to meet needs of society. The first is concerned with knowing the obligations and the duties. The second is concerned with all the practicalities of worldly life, such as agriculture, medicine, and technology. This applies to both men and women.

Obtaining education is an obligation for all, female and male, but the nature and form it takes depends on individual roles and responsibilities. Any learning to meet the needs of society, for personal pleasure or gain, or even to increase knowledge, must not be at the expense of individual obligations.

This ideology creates gender stereotypes, which are institutionalized through structural mechanisms in place in society.  This could be through educational and religious institutions, customary beliefs and practices, the legal and power structures. 

The formation of these attitudes is a result of the ways in which we are taught to conceptualize matters of the societies through the socialization process, including the family.

Women and Marriage

The shari’ah has guarantees woman’s right to marriage, her rights and expectations within the marriage, her rights as a mother, and her rights to a home of her own, to be queen of her own domain, a place where she has the right to fulfill her likely duties.

Being married is highly valued as it taught that the woman requires the man to take her to heaven. In such circumstances, the woman feels obligated to remain in a relationship even if her rights are being violated.

Most societies view women as being subordinate to men, which makes women feel morally bound to remain in relationships regardless of the dangers.

Many men and women believe that there is a just cause for violence. Actually, in some societies, women believe that being beaten by a man is a sign of love not knowing that family violence will always have a devastating effect on the lives of children, since it is an experience of brutal isolation for them.

Any roles or practice of society that determines a woman’s chance of marriage, violates her rights and is is unjust.

Limits apply to both men and women, but within these limits, a woman has a right to choose her own husband.

It also gives women the right to leave or divorce her husband if the marriage does not work out.

Many people appear not to know this, but it is confirmed in many authentic (hadith) tradition of Prophet Muhammed, and as this example shows us, when misunderstandings or conflicts arise, we should seek a solution in the original source (those who played in the tying of the knot of marriage).

Equality and Justice

Islam acknowledges equality between men and women as human beings. This equality covers everything connected with humanity and personal dignity and extends to all general issues and legislation related to life and religion. The destiny of the country rests on both the males and females of that particular society.

Islam only makes a distinction between the rights and responsibilities of men and women to reflect intrinsic differences in their natures, doing so helps each perform their chosen roles and achieve their aspirations. Equality between men and women as human beings and in all general issues is natural and makes perfect sense. It treats women and men according to their natures and treats them completely equal.

The Pinch of Escalating Commodity Prices on Women

A follow-up to “Women Lament Daily Commodities Price Hike” in our local markets, the latest survey conducted by Musoolula Bantabaa reveals that the increase in the prices of daily commodities is affecting the women.  

Musoolula Bantabaa (women’s forum) who owes to decrying women, the most affected in situation of price hike of daily commodities, went round to talk to some women as well as men at this worrying moment to make their voices heard.

The current situation in our local markets is really hampering food security and poses a big threat in our pursuit to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) goal 1, which is to reduce hunger by half by 2015.

Binta Nyang, a fish vendor at Latrikuinda market expressed her desperation over the slow pace of business. She said most of the time her fish got spoiled, because customers cannot afford to buy.  

“I am incurring huge losses as a result of the high cost of fish,” she decried. “Men at the sea tend to make it so difficult for us. They also said fuel is expensive and as they too are bread winners of their families need to survive from their work.”

As one of the most nutritious food, fish has become very pricey. Bonga which is less classy in our local markets is what many underprivileged families cook on daily basis. Ladyfish for instance, the smallest one is not less than D75. There are others that cost D150 for one.

Less privileged women, like Mariama Ceesay whom I found arguing with a fish vendor at the market, are likely to suffer the consequence more than any other.

She said only few women can afford to buy big white fish like barracuda and cat fish. Majority of them buy bonga.

“If one bonga fish is costing D5 what else can I buy from the fish money which is only D50,” she complained. “I am living with my husband and 5 children. If I buy four fish the change left will not suffice to buy other ingredients that should go with the soup or stew.”

 According to her, every individual should eat a balance diet at the end of the day, but due to prices of basic commodities in the markets they eat whatever they can afford.

Sohna Jambang who uses the little income she gets from her business to pay her children’s school fees said her customers are avoiding her. She stressed that they are not the cause of the increase in the prices of commodities

“Our customers often blame us, thinking that we intentionally increase prices. We, too feel the pain as a woman, but the amount we spend to purchase goods is very expensive.”

Things are becoming worse by day. Everything is expensive, especially oil and onion, which are the main ingredients we use in our cooking.”

Sugar which 95% of our households use in preparing breakfast and evening meals has become unaffordable. A bag of sugar now costs D1,380, compared to D750 in 2009. A cup of sugar is D8.00.

Vegetable cooking oil and palm oil also continued to rise rapidly.

 “If drastic and strategic measures are not put in place”, said Mumut Kagbo, “the poor and the vulnerable like me will suffer the most”.

Mumut lamented that she is forced to groundnut paste soup because the price of oil is unacceptably increasing. “I cook soup four times a week as a cup of oil now cost D12.00 and palm oil D14.00,” she said.

Lamin Njie, a vendor selling oil, onions, Irish potato among others, said he gives women (jendenjaye) goods to sell in the market on credit. However, he said they stop coming because they complained that the profit they realise is very little, in some case, nothing at all.

“As a bred winner,  who provides daily meals, I understand how these women suffer in pleasing us (husband) by putting delicious food on the table”.

A woman who was sitting next to him said she used to do the same thing, but had to stop it. She said she is now selling vegetables that she harvested in her garden.

Fatou lamented that she used to buy 20litre of palm oil at the price of D1,400 and sells a cup for D13.00.

“I had to stop it because after selling it for almost a month, I got only D100 profit. It was hard to meet family needs with such an amount as a mother”, she told Women’s Bantabaa

20 litres of vegetable cooking oil has increased from D600 to D950. Onion pushed from D250 to D300. A bag of Irish potato which used to cost D300 has increased to D550. A bag of rice has also increased variably, depending on the quality. For example, Sadam rice is costing D1,250.

“I used to clash with my wife whenever she asked me to add some money to the fish money I gave her”, said Saloum Bangura. “But I now know what she has been enduring when she comes to the market. Men with the spending power should reconsider the money they give to their wives to reduce the burden on them”.

The meat vendors raised concern as business continues slow down. A kilogram of steak is costing D100, while steak with bone costs D80.

For Sheikh Njie, a Senegalese vendor, the price of meat has compelled his customers to stop buying meat from him. He said he used to sell all the meat before midday when the kilogram was at pegged D60.

“But nowadays, I spend the whole day waiting for customers,” he said. “Sometimes we keep calling on them to come and buy, but without much success.”

A breakfast seller at the same market, selling sandwich and steak told the Women’s Bantabaa that she has now adjusted bread and steak from D25 to D35 due to the increase in price of meat.

Neneh Njie added that she had stop selling steak. She is now selling bread and beans, scotch eggs and rice and beans.

According to her, most of her customers are persuading her to start selling steak but she is afraid it might ruin her business.

Fatou Mendy, a vegetable vendor said she has to struggle from Lamin village to Latrikunda market to sell bitter tomato, cassava leaves and big pepper to support her six children who she said are all young.

“I always buy the food stuff we need for launch for the family only after selling the goods I sell as the money my husband gives is not always enough,” she disclosed.

“I had to supplement it to be able to buy enough to eat. Sometimes if the business does not go well, I sell my goods at very cheap prices inorder to be able to provide food on the table for my family.”

Women in Africa own less than 5% of titled land

Studies reveal that 90 percent of food grown in Africa is grown by small scale farmers. And Africa�s scale farmers, studies reveal further, produce about half of world food�s supply. Majority of these small scale farmers, according to the same studies, are women. Yet our women in Africa own less than 5% of land. This is very disappointing.
And it is attributed to male dominated traditional institutions vested with the customary rights to manage communal lands. This perturbed women�s rights to access, use and control of agricultural land as a productive resource. 
Sustainable agriculture, rural development and food security cannot be achieved if our policies continue to ignore or exclude more than half of our population, the women. Thus, food security issues should be contextualized within a gender framework taking into account the differential burden borne by women in our socio-economic development. 
�Recognize, promote, facilitate, protect and enforces the rights, needs, roles, participation, accrual of benefits and decision-making of women,� Mr Buba Khan of Action Aid The Gambia has emphasized.  
The coordinator of Right to Food-Africa and a CAADP Focal Point, Mr. Buba Khan was presenting a topic on the role of women in small holder farmers on Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Plan (CAADP) process. CAADP is a regional document that aspires to exploit and expand upon recent growth in agriculture inorder to help African countries achieved food security. It requires member countries to allocate 10 percent of their annual national budget to agriculture. The Gambia, though a member, nonetheless, is yet to meet this requirement. 
Meanwhile, women�s relative unequal responsibility in household chores and caring for family members is done alongside their work as smallholder farmers. So, development policies and strategies will be equitable, when the different needs, constraints, opportunities and priorities of men and women are considered. 
According to Mr Khan, women in Africa contribute 70% of food production which  accounts for nearly half of all farm labour, and 80�90% of food processing, storage and transport, hoeing and weeding
In this regard, he was not equivocal in emphasizing that womens access and ownership of productive assets such as land, is directly tied to their independence as freedom, he noted, begins with economic independence. 
According to him, policy and legal frameworks should guarantee women's access and control of assets especially land and also the reduction of unequal burden of care on women. The voices of women, the level and quality of participation by women in the CAADP process have yet to reach a desired level,� he said
  
He maintained that there is a wide gap in implementing CAADP because neither governments nor donors are spending enough on agriculture especially food production adding that Agriculture budgets fail to focus on the people who do most of the work�smallholder women farmers. 
�The things that would help poor farmers and women the most  such as rural credit and agricultural research focused on smallholders are the most under-resourced, he said.
Khan stressed that African Ministries of Agriculture are ill-equipped to spend existing resources effectively and donors are using resources poorly by failing to uphold the aid effectiveness commitments of the Paris Declaration of 2005.
Women�s independent right to access and control land is central to the goal of poverty eradication, meeting of basic livelihood needs and empowerment.
Khan added that the use of adequate agricultural inputs for women is one of the practically available ways for most farmers to increase agricultural productivity and ensure food security 
He believed that effective, efficient and non-discriminatory extension advice and training should be available to women farmers. Access to available markets, reliable market information, and competitive prices are necessary ingredients for a vibrant production system, leading to women�s greater economic empowerment 

Justice is Sweetest when Freshest, Says VP Njie-Saidy

Justice is sweetest when freshest and that justice delayed is not only justice denial but a violation of the rule of law, The Gambia�s vice president and minister for Women�s Affairs has said. 
Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy made these remarks on Thursday while presiding over the launch of the Revised Laws of The Gambia 2009. Law revision was last done in The Gambia in 1990. 
She said the printing of the law is capital intensive and therefore urged all stakeholders to collaborate with government in order to ensure that laws are regularly updated and accessible.
�The Government of The Gambia is equally aware of the fact that access to justice does not end with construction of new court buildings�, she added. �Laws are not exclusively preserved for members of the legal profession but every individual. Laws permeate every stratum of the fabric of society and as part of society itself, it reflect the political, social, economic and cultural realities and aspiration of people�.
She expressed dissatisfactory with the amendments scattered in a plethora of gazette publication which were out of print. �It was indeed an unsatisfactory state of our printed laws which needed to be addressed for which I never lost sight of since the poor state of our printed laws was brought to my attention�, she said. 
The Gambia�s no. 2 expressed concerned over the Women�s Act 2010, which await incorporation into the 2009 Revised Edition. 
For the Attorney General and minister of Justice, Edward Gomez, law revision seeks to improve access to justice, democracy and the rule of law for positive changes in the legal system.
�Transparency and accountability can be obtained only when legislation is made promptly accessible to citizens in a way that matches best their different information need�, he said
 Emmanuel Agim, the Chief Justice of the Gambia, called on the relevant authorities to compile the unwritten laws. 
�The unwritten nature of customary law renders it fluid, inaccessible and difficult to ascertain,� he said, noting that the rule is soundly defeated by the lack of written records of decisions on existence of such rule.
Dr Henry Carrol, Chairman Law Reform Commission said law revision reflects the current status quo of an independent sovereign state. Society he said is dynamic, thus it is mandatory 
mandatory to revised law reflecting the noble ideals and aspirations in efficient justice delivery. 
�It is of no legal use to continue having old obsolete laws on our statue book�, he said
He however told the gathering that the copies will be available for D25, 000. This price will be increased to D31, 000 end February 2011. 
The President of Gambia Bar Association Sherriff Tambedou said the idea of law revised was supported by the all the legal practitioners which he said make their work easier. 
 Other dignitaries present at the launching include the former President, Sir Dawda, ministers, foreign diplomats, among others.

Ex-Police Chief Weeps in Court Again

 

“You are an officer, put yourself together,” the presiding judge yesterday found himself pleading with the embattled ex-police chief Ensa Badjie, who broke into tears again in court.

There was an air of compassion in the packed courtroom as the audience looked on their sacked hardliner police chief, who was declared ‘best’ Police IG by President Jammeh, raining tears. 

Some exclaimed: ‘ndeyesan!’, (wollof) an exclamation of sympathy while one old-man strolled behind him calming him with these words: “stop crying … everything will be over”.      

Sacked last year after allegedly implicating President Jammeh in illegal drugs business, Ensa Badjie is facing multiple charges of armed robbery, aiding prisoners to escape, drugs and related charges, alongside Ali Ceesay, a prison officer. 

Ensa Badjie was as well, alleged to be the leader of a robbery gang and masterminded series of armed robberies. But he denied any wrong-doing. 

Quite a lot of witnesses, including his alleged gang members and his former police friend made overwhelming revelations, linking him to the charges, but Ensa Badjie insisted that all allegations against him are untrue.  

Mr Badjie who could not put himself together even after the Judge asked him to be strong, has again accused Serrekunda Police boss, Landing Bojang, state no.10 witness of forcing Soriba Condeh, the leader of the robbery gang and Amadou Jallow to implicate him in the crime.

He said he found the two suspects in Landing Bojang’s office and protested that Landing should not bring suspects in his office without the notice of Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

“I then left for prayers and upon my return, Soriba Condeh and Amadou told me that Landing took them to his office because he wanted them to implicate me”, he explained.

He said Landing Bojang promised to release Soriba and Amadou if they testified against him.

The former police boss said he quickly telephoned the then IGP Ousman Sonko (now interior minister), Police Division Commissioner, Ousman Jibba, the Crime Management Coordinator Mamud Jobe and ex-deputy Inspector of Police Modou Gaye to come to Serrekunda police in order to hear from Soriba and Amadou themselves.

He said Omar Jibba was the first to come and Soriba repeated the same thing to him.

“Ousman Jibba made a phone call in the presence of Omar and told me to forget everything because if I forwarded this report out of police umbrella and the president happens to know about it, it will be very detrimental to Landing”, he revealed

Ensa added that Omar also appealed to him not to forward the matter to any other department.

“After the departure of Omar”, he said, “Mamud came to the office and asked the suspects if I was one of them but they replied in the negative. They instead told him that Landing just asked them to indict me and one senior officer whose name they never revealed”.

He said the statements were obtained from them as evidence. “I have photocopied all those statements and kept them for a day like this, because I know people and what they are capable of doing.”

Ensa told the court that none of the witnesses mentioned his name in their statements that he conspired with them to do their criminal conducts. He added that he never called pw11 when he arrested Soriba Condeh because he did not knew Soriba at that time as alleged pw11 in court.

He also denied telling Fatou Mendy (pw7) and Tony (pw8) to bail Soriba Condeh when he was arrested. “It’s just a malice against me”, he said

He said he requested the Director General of the state owned television to the come to the station where Soriba Condeh and the rest of suspects were recorded. “I did all this to put criminal acts to an end”

“Myself and the then IGP were invited again on GRTS in which I gave details about the breaking that was happening in Serrekunda”

He said pw1 led them to a supermarket that belongs to a Nigerian national who was a Magistrate in The Gambia and then worked with Trust Bank but he denied that there was breaking as claimed by some of the witnesses.

Ensa further disclosed that he ordered some officers to recover the taxi Soriba used after he confessed that he used a taxi to do his operations.  “I packed the taxi at the Serrekunda police station and up till now it is there,” he said

He said when he learnt that Soriba Condeh used another name at the Bakoteh police station when he was arrested, he ordered Abdoulie Sowe, (pw11) to bring the case file of Ebrima Camara and the motor bicycle Soriba had stolen.

He added that he also has the document of investigations in the case of Soriba Condeh.

The case is expected to resume March 3.