FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
Suwaibou Touray
1 March 2008
column
DID THE GHOST OF EDITOR MANNEH CONTINUE TO HAUNT JAWARA'S GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE 1990s?
We have been focusing on politics in this column with the objective to rewrite the history of significant political events and divulge possible motives behind the happenings so that our young readers in particular and the public in general would remember the past with a view to avoid them so as to help shape the future.
Let us continue from where we stopped.
By 18th June, 1990, the case of Sanna Manneh was still heating up. The pronouncement of the High court judge that the case of Sanna Manneh be transferred to the magistrate court for re-trial went beyond the prayer of the Attorney General for a re-trial to be made so that an order for the court of trial to convict and sentence Mr. Manneh on count 1 and 3 and to sentence him on count 2, could be done.
The radio Gambia announcers misinterpreted that to mean that Mr. Manneh was sentenced on those counts which created quite a confusion among the people..
Mr. Sam George, counsel for Sanna Manneh reminded the new magistrate, Mrs. Ngum that Mr. Manneh was formally convicted by this court. He brought it to the notice of the court that the accused person has filed an appeal in the Gambia court of Appeal and in accordance with the rules of the Gambia court of Appeal in particular, Rule 54, sub-rule (4) that no further action shall be taken by any court in respect of the action. He asserted that all action in the law courts should be suspended pending the determination of the appeal.
Mr. George opined that since they had filed an appeal in the Gambia Court of Appeal, the matter was pending before the court so that the matter before the magistrate court could not proceed until after the determination of that appeal.
Mr. George was of the opinion that if the appeal was dismissed, then the appeal court could send the accused back to the magistrates court, for possible sentence.
Mrs. Bensonda who represented the inspector General of police reviewed the rule cited by Mr. George and also concurred that since Mr. Manneh was tried summarily, she would take it that the application Mr. George has made could be done.
Mrs. Ngum who was now presiding over the case also requested for the law books, reviewed it and ruled that no further action could be taken by the court; that all proceedings be suspended until after the determination of the appeal in the Gambia court of Appeal, that Mr. Manneh would continue with his court bail.
This had effectively sealed all the rumour generated by the misinterpretation of Radio Gambia implying that the editor has been sentenced.
Interestingly enough, Sir Dawda who had earlier on insisted that he would not take any action until his interpretation of what he called the 'legal process' to take full cycle, now appeared to have changed his mind for whatever reasons and terminated the services of Dr. Lamin Nafa Saho as the Minister of Information and Tourism, thus creating confusion within their ranks on Thursday, 3rd May, 1990.
The president however did not state the reason for Saho's removal. He simply stated section 46(a) of the constitution of the Republic of the Gambia for the removal and section 45(1) of the constitution for replacing him with Mr. Alkali James Gaye, M. P.
Two questions however exercised the minds of the people i.e. What was the cause of Saho's termination and the other was, the replacement of Mr. Pesseh Njie with Elizabeth Renner as parliamentary secretary, Ministry of Health, the Environment, Labour and Social Welfare.Pesseh Njie's termination was not made public at the time.
The cause of Saho's Dismissal
Foroyaa made strenuous effort to find out the reason why Dr. Saho was removed. The paper sent a reporter who witnessed a meeting convened by Dr. Saho at his Sukuta residence few days after his removal.
According to Foroyaa, the first person to address the meeting was one Alhagi Sambou Samateh of Baddibu Central PPP committee. He praised president Jawara and pointed out that this was nothing new, that people like M.C. Cham and Lamin Mboge had all been removed from ministerial posts before; that Saho should not allow anybody to incite him. He also cautioned everyone to give short speeches which was noted..
According to the report, Dr. Saho also praised president Jawara and acknowledged that he has been removed from his ministerial post, but added that he did nothing wrong.
He said it was God who decreed that he would be removed and that his removal should not bring calamity. He then prayed for president Jawara to rule this country forever.
The sacked Dr. Saho said president Jawara is a good person and that was why he has formulated a policy that if a minister was removed from his post, he or she should be paid as a minister for six months, including his M.P. Salary. He promised more projects for his constituency and asked people to turn to him.
Dr. Saho's pronouncement that he was going to receive his salary for another six months generated another debate in the country. Was it true or not, became the question.
Foroyaa made a finding and clarified that if the conditions of Dr. Saho's removal were anything to go by, then he was not going to receive the benefits that go along with retirement or resignation from a ministerial post; that Dr. Saho's services were terminated and that meant that he would only be receiving his constituency allowance of D2500 per month.
According to Foroyaa, the information circulating in Town was that his termination was as a result of the developments at the hearing of the appeal of the Attorney General against the judgment of the magistrate in the case against Mr. Sanna Manneh; that others claim that he had a contradiction with his permanent secretary and wanted to get rid off him but the permanent secretary also presented facts against him in self defence which appeared convincing to the president to terminate his appointment.
Foroyaa also cited other allegations that Dr. Saho had been issuing land around the Tourist Development Area without seeking the inputs of relevant government institutions and had been more interested in doing business transactions during official trips abroad.
According to Foroyaa, facts revealed that Dr. Saho before his termination went around with the president to visit the Kairaba Beach Hotel complex and the new V.I.P lounge at the Banjul International Airport which were being constructed for the ECOWAS conference.
What is logical, Foroyaa opined was that if the president decided to terminate Dr. Saho's appointment instead of asking him to resign so that he would enjoy the benefits of retirement, then it was logical to say that he was not satisfied with Dr. Saho's performance.
Foroyaa maintained that it was true that a report on Mr. Manneh's answer to the Attorney General's submission on the count dealing with Dr. Saho was in circulation sometime before the termination of Dr. Saho. They also seemed to confirm that, that report had reached the president, but maintained that only the president could say why he has terminated the services of Dr. Saho.
Foroyaa asserted that what was however clear was that the president has concluded that Dr. Saho was unsuitable to be the minister of information and tourism. The paper also added that since Dr. Saho was not crying foul; since he was even praying for the president, then it must be assumed that he has agreed with the judgment of the president on his termination.
On The Lessons
The PDOIS commented that the doctrine of the Executive presidency is a monarchical legacy which enables a president to do many things without having to give any explanation. The paper cited the 1970 constitution and analysed that under that constitution, the ministers only had an advisory capacity in policy making, that the president alone had the decision making powers; that he or she can appoint and sack ministers as he/she wishes without having to give reasons to anyone. Foroyaa then asserted that a government cannot be a government of the people unless it is accountable to the people and as it opined, there must be legal guarantees to such accountability instead of leaving it to the deliberate judgment of one person.
The PDOIS therefore proposed a constitutional framework where ministers would be elected by all the representatives selected by the people and could be removed through impeachment or removal proceedings that would be broadcast live to the public unless they preferred to resign.
See next Edition as we interpret motives behind the events in the 1990s
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