By Mathew K. Jallow

To begin with, it was hard to believe that Jammeh’s government would follow through in its threat to drag Fatou Jaw Manneh into court for such flimsy and ridiculous charges. The mere appearance of Fatou Jaw-Manneh in Kanifing Court before Magistrate Buba Jawo on Wednesday for charges as stated is an attempt by the government to trample on the civil rights of a Gambian citizen. Free speech is protected by our Constitution, and every journalist who has ever faced or is even now facing charges that are clearly extra-judicial, has constitutionally protected free speech rights. No branch of the government has the right to deny any citizen these free speech rights, and any attempt to silence critics of the government because the authorities do not like the message, is a denial of individual civil rights and a deprivation of the citizenry of the right to know. The media is the fourth branch of government charged with the responsibility to act on behalf of the citizenry to hold the government accountable, in line and in check. If the media is intimidated to the extent that it abdicates the responsibility that it owes to all the citizens of our country, that would be a sad day for our country. Since 1994, we have witnessed an onslaught against the media, and the gradual erosion of the rights to assemble for the purpose of challenging the government. Under the previous government, assembly of the public was a presumed right that no one had to seek permission or negotiate for. Those days are long gone, thanks to this government.

 Before Yahya Jammeh came to the scene back in 1994, the media in The Gambia was robust, full of vitality and there was suddenly a burst readership that exploded all across our country. The hunger for information as to what was really going on in the halls of The Quadrangle was evident everywhere, and even people who clearly had no ability to read bought newspapers so someone else could read the papers for them. Back then no one cared about the online newspapers, because we in the media fulfilled our duty to our citizens by feeding them information they needed to know in order to help them make informed political decisions. The primary obligation of the media then as now is to educate our citizens so they can participate fully in the democratic process. Today, the people of our country get their news and information exclusively from online newspapers situated four thousand miles away in America and Europe. It is utter shame that The Gambia is the only country that has only one independent newspaper within its borders and this is also very troubling to say the least. If the media cannot fulfill its mandate to act as the watchdog for the people over our government, very bad things can happen as they are happening. The efforts to silence our local media is succeeding with the turning of The Daily Observer into a government mouthpiece and echo chamber. Additionally, the burning of the Independent Newspaper premises two years ago was the crowning glory of a government that cannot stand to be criticized for its own nefarious action. For nearly two years now, one of its staff is in custody, and no one has heard of him since last year.

The charges against Fatou Jaw Manneh make no sense, whatsoever. Since when did the criticism of the government of Yahya Jammeh for its poor and incompetent performance constitute ‘sedition?’ Sedition as defined is the act of inciting others to rebel against the state, and far from inciting insurrection; Fatou Jaw Manneh was reinforcing facts that everyone already knows. To prove seditious intention is a high threshold for government prosecutors to achieve. By simply reading the expanded particulars of the supposed offence, there is clearly nothing in the language as it is quoted from the “offending interviewed” that can ever be construed as seditious. The prosecutors cannot simply throw the word sedition out there and hope that it sticks on Fatou. That simply will not cut it when we are dealing with the liberty and the rights of an individual. The bar for sedition is very high, and the reference to any legitimate journalistic criticism as seditious is more an effort to silence dissident voices than it is a matter of real concern for sedition. Anyone can with the click of a mouse navigate the internet and find what reporters in Senegal, Guinea and Ghana as examples write about their governments. Compare that to what Fatou Jaw Manneh is quoted as writing and to equate that to sedition is even laughable. Diaspora Gambians by and large question whether the state prosecutors are ignorant or dumb or dumb and ignorant to bring such a frivolous lawsuit against a lady who is simply doing a job she is constitutionally empowered to do? This lawsuit is about scaring journalists from criticizing Jammeh and his government. It is about the complete power that Jammeh wants and is striving in anyway possible achieving it. Fatou Jaw Manneh’s trumped up charges are achieving what all of us have been unable to do; to galvanize Diaspora Gambians and Gambians at home around this case. Rather than making Fatou Jaw Manneh a victim, the government is actually making her a martyr and a symbol of resistance against the excesses of this government.