_{^{ICC's new Chief Prosecutor under fire for collaborating with one of Africa's most brutal dictators}}

By Mathew K Jallow

The so-called Diaspora summit idea, first heralded as groundbreaking, soon descended into an abyss of paralyzing doubt and lethal skepticism; foiled primarily by an extremely hostile and antagonistic dissident movement. The meeting which began with high expectations, ended instead with a thud; overshadowed by rumors about Yahya Jammeh’s seeming disappearance from the face of the earth. Originally psyched up as a reconciliation initiative by the regime, the summit did not meet muster owing to a political back-drop that is both gravely pugilistic and extremely intolerant. Against this background, the recalcitrance and skepticism of the majority Gambian Diaspora was well-founded; grounded in a psychologically debilitating political reality where fear, intimidation, arrests, detentions, incarcerations and political murders are integrated into the regime’s governance system as necessary evils in the state’s spurious argument for the maintenance of superficial public order. In so many ways, the so-called summit was a flop, for having failed to draw the favor and goodwill of an angry Diaspora majority disillusioned with the last sixteen years of unprecedented corruption, economic ruin, political destabilization and tribal politics, the disingenuousness of the regime easily came through when only a few Diaspora Gambians who demonstrate an absolute lack of misgivings with the regime’s divisive politics, were handpicked to participate.

Today, after only two days, the so-called summit has receded into distant memory, but not before an arrogantly presumptuous moment which caught the uneasy attention of the public, causing understandable outrage and furious indignation. At issue was the newly elected ICC head, Mrs. Fatou Bon Bensouda’s mendacious assumption that she spoke for the general Gambian Diaspora. Nothing is farther from the truth. Mrs. Bensouda ought to have qualified her objectionable and arrogant statement by limiting her sweeping generalization to those Diaspora Gambians invited to participate. Secondly, to hear Mrs. Bensouda, who now sits at the apex international power, address Yahya Jammeh by the full breath of his bogus, laughable and meaningless titles, was the epitome of mindless subservience to a predator whose human rights record puts many dictators to shame. But those were not the only Bensouda moments that caused Gambians to cringe with disgust and utter disbelief. Perhaps the most telling moment came when Mrs. Bensouda extended her gratitude to Yahya Jammeh for his deployment of the full force of The Gambia’s diplomatic and financial resources to help get her elected to the highly coveted ICC position; this despite the fact other candidates are by far more qualified than her, but because she enjoyed the numbers advantage offered by the corrupt, voting block of African leaders and bureaucrats at the United Nations, her competitors stood little or no chance, whatsoever.

But, today, after the fact, Mrs. Bensouda might be surprised to learn the Gambian media by its deliberate muteness throughout the ICC selection process, played a significant role in getting her elected. By not divulging her less than stellar, if not, lousy record as both a prosecutor and Justice Minister in Gambia, the media gave her a fighting chance in her efforts to secure the ICC position. Now, barely a month after her election, Gambians are puzzled that for someone who now holds such a highly distinguished position in international affairs, can be browbeaten to stoop down so low by succumbing to Yahya Jammeh’s illusions of messianic grandiosity. If Mrs. Bensouda’s unspectacular attitude is a portrayal of things to come, then its points to a character flaw that may not portend well for the august international body she will soon lead. At issue, or rather, what is yet not clear, is her policy position with regards to Gambia’s recent history of repressiveness; a history crowned with extra-judicial executions, murders and the whole length of egregious rights abuses that clearly qualify Yahya Jammeh’s as a historical footnote deserving of the United Nations scrutiny and ICC indictment. Whether Mrs. Bensouda knows it or not, Gambians are determined at some point, to file ICC cases against her criminal benefactor, Yahya Jammeh, and his obedient and greedy maid, the cruel and selfish Isatou Njie-Saidy, among others. With her participation in the so-called Banjul summit, knowing as she does, Yahya Jammeh’s criminal record, Mrs. Bensouda compromised her impartiality and objective neutrality and as a consequence, has lost her standing and the trust of most Gambians, even before she could assume her ICC position.

Now, so soon after her elections, Mrs. Bensouda can kiss her honeymoon with the Gambian media goodbye. By doubling down as “promoter in chief” of Yahya Jammeh’s corrupt policies, she has created a high level of discomfort about her among Gambians at home and abroad who sense her reckless proximity to Yahya Jammeh’s barbaric regime with contemptuous disfavor. Mrs. Bensouda has only to face some families of murdered or disappeared Gambians, many of whose husbands, wives, uncles, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews left behind vulnerable families to fend for themselves and small children whose fathers, mothers and uncles will never come home, in order to convince herself that Yahya Jammeh is the perfect candidate for an ICC prosecution. Although Mrs. Bensouda has deliberately been afforded reprieve from trial by media during the ICC selection process, now that her grace period has elapsed, the media will not remain lulled by a misplaced sense of compatriotism to stay mute while she tries to introduce a corrupt and patronizing leadership styles typical among Africans in positions of authority. When that happens, the media will underscore its firm commitment to the dispensation of justice without favor, in which case the blowback will be fast, furious and unforgiving. But, equally serious, it will be disastrous if Mrs. Bensouda becomes hamstrung in the execution of her responsibilities by a sense of familiarity and compatriotism with Yahya Jammeh. The subtext of such an inexcusable act of betrayal will not augur well for future Africans aspiring to similar positions, as it will provide an excuse to stereotype and discriminate them as incapable and undeserving of such high consideration..

But this litany of concerns aside, the so-called summit began on a completely wrong footing, and measured up as an exercise in futility for failing first to identify and discriminate Gambia’s priority needs. The Gambia cannot hope to achieve real growth and economic development without recognizing the inevitability of far-reaching institutional reforms. A market economy cannot self-sustain without democracy and political freedom to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit and the creative genius of our people. This means among other things, providing incentives for business to thrive and succeed by creating the necessary regulatory framework to serve as the engine of growth and innovative. The Constitution and the laws of our land must be designed to accommodate the demands of a market economy, and the National Assembly, responsible for making and enacting laws, must first be educated about what Bills are and the importance of passing sensible Bill that are meaningful to our social, cultural and economic development. This means that moving forward; only Gambians with a minimum of an undergraduate degree should be selected or elected to the National Assembly. This move, apart from elevating the level of parliamentary discourse, will make understanding the complex workings and interrelatedness between Bills passed as laws by the National Assembly and the economy much easier, and by extension much better for the economy.

In addition, today, there are far too many banks to serve such a small economy, and the sense is that many of these are involved in laundering illegal drug money, consequently, the banking system needs complete overhauling as does zoning, decentralization, the taxation laws, customs and excise and an administrative legal framework to arbitrate business disputes promptly and without bias. Business and the economy need these safety nets among many others to succeed. A recent World Bank study also found that starting business in Gambia, like most African countries, to be extremely strenuous, costly and time consuming; usually taking weeks and months, because along the food chain every bureaucrat expects or rather, demands to be bribed to expedite the process. Moreover, recent experiences of Gambian business entrepreneurs do not exude confidence in system. The cases of Hassan Touray, Banta Kaira and Alhagi Fye, whose Hummer Yahya Jammeh stole, is a case in point why many Gambians desirous of coming home to invest in the economy are reluctant. As of now, the legal system is not equipped to fairly, and without favor, provide remedy to Mr. Touray whose services the regime is yet to pay, or Banta Kaira, whose property Yahya Jammeh confiscated without good reason. One of the greatest impediments to Gambia’s economic development is Yahya Jammeh’s illegal business activities with tentacles in all sectors of the Gambian economy. Until these and other measures to improve the business environment can be implemented, Yahya Jammeh’s Vision 2020 will remain a bumper sticker as elusive and meaningless as before the “so-called” Diaspora Summit.