Conflicts of interests in Gambia’s TRRC: Is anyone listening?
10 August 2018
By Dr. Omar Janneh
The TRRC of The Gambia is turning out to be what I once called a conflicted TRRC. Some of the readers may be aware of the pieces:
· Conflict of Interest in The Gambia’s TRRC: Is Anyone Listening?
· Any Commission that Fails to Take Conflict of Interest and Impartiality Seriously is Likely to Fail
We are now witnessing the composition of a TRRC that may earn it the most conflicted Truth Commission. The Executive seems totally determined to continue to display total disregard to the problematic TRRC Act, 2017. Here is how the journey of the (seemingly conflicted) TRRC started:
· The problematic TRRC Act, 2017 which gave excessive powers to the President was passed on December 13, 2017 and gained presidential assent on January 18, 2018;
· Using one of the powers the problematic TRRC Act, 2017 bestowed on him, the (seemingly conflicted) President appointed, in consultation with the Minister and Public Service Commission, the Executive Secretary to the TRRC who they should have known is conflicted and the Executive Secretary himself should have known that he is conflicted;
· Under the powers of the TRRC Act, 2017; 24(1-3), the (conflicted) Executive Secretary, acted either alone or in consultation with a seemingly inexperienced interview panel appointed the Director of Research and Investigations who we know took up arms against an elected government in The Gambia which makes him conflicted;
· Acting either alone or in consultation with a seemingly inexperienced interview panel, the (conflicted) Executive Secretary, appointed the Deputy Executive Secretary and Director of Communications, Outreach and Media of the TRRC (TRRC Act, 2017; 24(1-3).
It remains my view that none of the above position holders have the demonstrable skills, track record and or experience that make them suitable to the position they occupy. Worryingly the (conflicted) Executive Secretary seems to continue to have total disregard for the issue of conflict of interest. He has seemingly, inadvertently or deliberately – by his actions- claimed ownership of the TRRC. It is unclear why almost 8 months down the road, the TRRC does not have a website to carry its news and updates. Instead, TRRC updates continue to be personalised on the Executive Secretary’s Facebook wall. How does the rest of the world know what is going on with The Gambia’s TRRC if they are not Facebook users or are not the Executive Secretary’s friend? If the TRRC can afford to purchase vehicle(s) for its staff, would it break its bank to build a website for the Commission? What does this say to the rest of the world about our image and our priorities?
On August 20, 2018, we received the announcement of the 11 names intended to be appointed by the President as Commissioners of the TRRC. Please find below the names of the 11 Commissioners the President intends to appoint:
1. Mr. Abdoulie (Mori Kebba) Janneh: Chairperson – Former Under Secretary General of the United Nations at the Economic Commission for Africa and current Head of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation (MIF).
2. Ms. Adelaide Sosseh Gaye: Deputy Chairperson – Former Principal Saint Joseph’s High School, Gender Consultant and Retired Educationist.
3. Ms. Anna Ngalu Jones- member – National Coordinator, West African Network for Peace-building, The Gambia (WANEP). Peace and conflict resolution expert.
4. Mr. Mustapha Kah: Member of the National Youth Council. A graduate in Political Science and Law and currently working at the Ministry of Basic & Secondary Education (MOBSE).
5. Mr. Abdourahman Sey: Member representing the Central River Region. He is an Imam
6. Ms. Ma Nyima Bojang: Member representing the West Coast Region. She is a teacher.
7. Ms. Amie Samba: Member representing Lower River Region. She is a retired civil servant
8. Mr. Lang Kinteh: Member North Bank Region. Retired civil servant.
9. Mr. Jammeh Ceesay: Member representing Upper River Region. He is a farmer and the Agric Sub Head of the Village Development Committee (VDC).
10. Bishop James Yaw Allen Odico: Member – Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of The Gambia.
11. Imam Ousainou Jallow: Member – Imam, Pipeline Mosque.
The Executive invited the public to submit objections to the names, but gave the public only 10 days to send the objections by surface mail to the Justice Ministry, Marina Parade, Banjul. Given this very tight deadline, one would have thought that the Executive would have facilitated the process for the public to submit their objections. Unfortunately, there has been no public sensitisation on the issue and we have not been informed of any alternative methods that citizens in the rural Gambia and the diaspora can use to send in their objections to the Commissioners intended to be appointed by the President. Besides, they have not told us what they intend to do with the objections they receive and how many (valid) objections it would take to trigger a rethink of any appointment. Indeed, I do not know how many of us have seen, read and understood the TRRC Act, 2017 to allow us to object to any of the nominated Commissioners, should we need to. To ensure that we all have access to the (problematic) TRRC Act, 2017, please click here.
A bit of search on the intended Chairperson, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh revealed what they told us about him. In regards to his current assignment, here is what can be found on the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s website, you can click here or read the text below:
“Abdoulie Janneh is Executive Director, Liaison with Governments and Institutions in Africa for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; the former UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), prior to which he was UNDP Regional Director for Africa. Mr Janneh is a strong advocate for aligning development efforts to Africa’s priorities.
Mr Janneh remains engaged in supporting the African Union vision, NEPAD, the African Peer Review Mechanism and the climate change agenda.
He is chair of the African Governance Institute and serves on the Boards the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), Pax Africana and Africa Forum amongst others.”
Clearly Mr Janneh seems to be a very, very busy man. If he would not give up his post the MIF, would he have the time to devote to the TRRC? If not, would he be good value for money? Indeed how much persuasion or otherwise, by the Executive, did it take for Mr. Janneh to finally accept to work on the TRRC? Interestingly, it could be reasonably argued that it is the very principles that the Mo Ibrahim Foundation promotes, the principles of “Putting Governance at the Centre of Africa’s Development”, that Jammeh worked to almost successfully systematically destroy. Briefly, Jammeh poisoned our minds; turned us against each other; arrested our achievements in education, healthcare, and other sectors as well as the country’s profile in the community of nations; caused the exodus of Gambian talents, which could have provided sound governance underpinned by good leadership to help The Gambia become better aligned to the aspirations of the MIF for national development. Consider this: some of the talent that left because of Jammeh’s 22 years of brutality have become so rooted overseas that the reverse trip, to what is essentially a very broken system, does not appear that appealing. Thus it is doubtful if Jammeh would ever have won the Mo Ibrahim prize. So could Mr Janneh be somewhat conflicted?
In regards to Ms. Adelaide Sosseh Gaye, Mr. Janneh’s intended Deputy, many would know that she has been a vocal critic of Dictator Jammeh. Similarly, her daughter, Ms. Ndey Tapha Sosseh was a solid critic of Jammeh, especially after the brutal killing of our veteran journalist Mr. Deyda Hydara, of blessed memory on December 16, 2004. Furthermore, some of us would know that Ms. Ndey Tapa Sosseh has been living in exile for some time. We can also say with certainty that Ms. Adelaide Sosseh Gaye is a UDP supporter which makes her unsuitable for appointment as a member and as a Commissioner of the TRRC (TRRC Act, 2017; 5(3)(a). Thus Ms. Adelaide Sosseh Gaye seems sufficiently conflicted and therefore unsuitable for appointment as Deputy Chairperson of the TRRC.
In my view, the post of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Commission must go to individuals with no discernible conflict of interest [TRRC Act, 2017; section 17(1-4)] as well as individuals who fulfil the criteria in section 5(3) of the TRRC Act, 2017. At the very least, the criteria the Commissioners and members of the TRRC must fulfil are essentially the 2 sections of the TRRC Act, 2017 which are as follows:
· TRRC Act, 2017; section 5. Appointment of members
(3) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Commissioner if he or she –
(a) is known to be actively involved in a political party;
(b) an un-discharged bankrupt, or;
(c) has been convicted of a felony.
· TRRC Act, 2017; section 17. Disclosure of interest
(1) A member of the Commission who has an interest in any complaint made to the Commission, shall-
(a) disclose to the Commission the fact of such interest and the nature of it; and
(b) not take part in any hearing or decision of the Commission relating to the Complaint.
(2) For the purpose of this section, “interest” means any matter that has potential to undermine or compromise the independence of or judgement of a Commissioner.
(3) A disclosure of interest by a member shall be recorded in the minutes of the Commission.
(4) A member who contravenes sub-section (1) may be removed from the Commission.
The search continues on the remaining 9 intended members and Commissioners. At the very basic level, using the above sections from the TRRC Act, 2017 and what we know about the intended Commissioners, we may be able to gain some insight into whether any of them could be appointed as a member and Commissioner of the TRRC. Going forward, we may wish to learn, not only, about the wealth of experience brought by the Commissioners to Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, but also the controversies that surrounded the appointment of conflicted individuals such as Bethuel Kiplagat by President Mwai Kipaki to the Commission and the potential impact of other failings in the lack of success of the country’s Commission. In brief, any commission that fails to take conflict of interest seriously, with the commission staff displaying tendencies for partiality, and or incompetent practices that Commission is likely to fail.