The Constitutional law of The Gambia – A book Review. by Lamin J. Darbo

Book Title: The Constitutional Law of The Gambia, 1965-2010                                 AuthorHouse Publishing Bloomington Indiana, USA.                                                  377 pages

Author:      Ousman A S Jammeh

Review by Lamin J Darbo

To a request from a potential buyer for a concise summation of The Constitutional Law of The Gambia, I responded that the book combines a historical and current account of our republican constitutional law and jurisprudence interspersed with a passionate articulation for executive restraint within the rule of law if we are to stand any chance of maintaining sustained ‘peace’ and uplifting The Gambia’s political economy.

In this seminal work, Ousman A S Jammeh – ‘Master’ as popularly known in legal circles – provides the first systematic general survey of the constitutional landscape of The Gambia with particular focus on the republican period from 1970. Granted an argument may be advanced that discussing the 1970 Constitution is of no practical significance considering its suspension in 1994 and wholesale abrogation in 1997.

It is nevertheless incontestable that the 1970 Constitution provides useful comparative material with the second republican constitution that came into effect in January 1997. In light of the underlying justifications for forceful governmental change in 1994, the jurisprudential backdrop of rights enshrined in the 1970 and 1994 cardinal documents of Gambian governance is significant if only to better inform ourselves of comparative judicial vibrancy under the two dispensations. Although Master provides the principal raw material for reaching a judgement on the issue in Chapter 4, First Republican Constitution 1970-1994, and Chapter 5, The Second Republican Constitution -1997, the question and its discussion is diffused throughout this excellent work.

A corollary determination and readers are invited, albeit without explicit statement, to reach their own judgements on the significant question of whether a constitution can effectively function outside the contours of a prevailing dominant political culture. Stated differently, can a constitution’s beauty alone suffice in ensuring a beautiful, i.e., democratic and accountable political dispensation. Answering this question necessarily entail a comparative analysis of the cultural perspectives of the apex leadership in Gambia’s first and second republican dispensations vis-a-vis the thorny issue of subjugating transient executive power to the majestic glory of transparent and accountable law.

The Constitutional Law of The Gambia is not a mere regurgitation of provisions enshrined in the governing instruments of 1970, and 1997, but a compelling and authoritative discussion of generally accepted legal principles and how they are implemented, not only in The Gambia, but in other parts of the common law world. The architecture of these broad principles, discussed in Chapter 2, Foundational Principles of Constitutionalism, clearly demonstrates Master’s enviable appreciation of such finer principles of constitutionalism as the separation of powers, the role of the judiciary, and the supremacy of the philosophical tenet that promotes the  subjecting of power to the control of law.

Indeed, it is in this chapter that Master demonstrates his nuanced understanding of constitutional law and jurisprudence not only in pre-eminent domestic rule of law jurisdictions like the United States and the United Kingdom, but also in culturally nearer “emerging” countries like South Africa, Mauritius, Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia (p. 15). Master effortlessly discusses cases decided by American jurists in the mould of Justice Marshall, the first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court – and some of their sublime legal principles that stood the test of centuries of rigorous ventilation – as he is at home discussing some of Gambia’s critical constitutional cases over the decades spanning its first and second republics. But there must exist an enabling political environment!

In analysing a Marshall pronouncement, Master contends, at page 15:

When reduced to its barest proposition, a constitution is like a deed of trust, between each citizen, with public power entrusted in the trustees charged with exercising it on behalf of, and in the general interest of the citizenry. As such, this trust is either lawfully  and justly discharged, or abused in breach of trust. Between the two options, there  is no middle ground. The experience in Africa tends to obscure this proposition through declarations of adherence to the rule by law, instead of the rule of law, whereby weak institutions shield formal constitutional authority, through legal formalism, but which in reality is at variance with every acceptable norm and fundamentals of constitutional trusteeship.

In Chapters 6, 7, and 8, Master discusses the respective constitutional roles allocated to the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial arms of The Gambia government. Although material herein may be accessed by consulting the actual text of the 1997 Constitution, an astute professional’s explanatory and user-friendly analysis comes in quite handy. Master fulfills that role spectacularly, particularly in the case of constitutional stipulations dealing with the Legislature, and Judiciary. Indeed, he exhaustively treats the legislative process from conception in the policy councils of a pertinent ministry, through the office of the parliamentary counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers, to eventual enactment by the National Assembly with the required assent of the President (pp. 153-161).

Master highlights that it is not unknown for the National Assembly to act in excess of its legal powers but because of the “weak institutions” earlier mentioned, laws are still on the books, including in the Constitution, notwithstanding judicial decisions invalidating them. A good example is Kemeseng Jammeh, No 2, entailing “the amendment of an entrenched [constitutional] provision without a referendum” (see p. 162). Again, without an accountable political system, a constitution, no matter its exquisite crafting in letter and spirit, cannot protect the rights of the individual. All government needs to do is ignore judicial decisions adverse to its short term interests. An exemplification is Kemeseng Jammeh, No 2!

Chapters 9, 10 and 11 are of particular significance in that they deal with the various mechanisms for enforcing the 1997 Constitution. Here again, Master draws from a wide range of sources to articulate a reasoned case for enforcement of constitutional rights in the courts. Overall, there is no denying that the quality of the jurisprudence on difficult if straightforward constitutional disputes is varied, and the reader is again invited to comb through the decided cases for a view on where to root the likely causes of differential judicial attitudes to constitutional rights in the courts.

As the consummate scholar, and without emotion, Master provides a clue:

Whatever perspective or predisposition one may have about the ideals of Constitutionalism, and by extension the rule of law, it is important to realise that Constitutions are designed to endure with time if not to outlive generations yet unborn.

The legal basis for a Constitution is to establish a foundational law on which existing and future laws receive validity. One undeniable merit of an enduring constitution is one that ensures among other things, certainty, consistency, continuity and a degree of permanence. Invariably, these attributes have proven over time that the founding fathers of the United States including the indefatigable Federalists and the anti-Federalists, are indeed selfless and inspired visionaries. (pp 348-349)

The Constitutional Law of The Gambia is a book for all active participants in the ventilation of issues of public concern. Although of practical significance to practitioners and students of law, it is quite useful for politicians, journalism professionals, civil society, and other observers and commentators on the political economy

I wholeheartedly commend The Constitutional Law of The Gambia to all who are concerned in, and with, public affairs in our country. Master’s professionalism ensured a well-researched, well written, and well argued work.

The book is available online from the publishers AuthorHouse USA/UK; Amazon.com, and at Timbuktu Bookshop, at Garba Jahumpha Road, in The Gambia.

Lamin J Darbo

 

About Ousman A S Jammeh

 

Ousman Jammeh was born in Bakau, in the Kombo Saint Mary’s Municipality of The Gambia in 1963. He attended primary and secondary Schools in The Gambia, before joining the Gambian Judiciary, in 1984. He attended Universities in Guyana, Malaysia, and Barbados, West Indies. He is a member of The Gambia Bar and a foundation member of the National Council for Law Reporting. He also served as Secretary to The Gambia Law Foundation, and the Judicial Service Commission, as well as a part-time tutor in Para-legal studies at The Gambia Technical Training Institute, GTTI. He was a stipendiary Magistrate, Master and Registrar of the Supreme Court, and of the High Court of The Gambia, from 1994 to 2001. He practiced law in The Gambia, as Senior Partner, with Temple Legal Practitioners, TLP, from 2002 to 2005. He joined the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Tanzania, in 2005. He is married to Madame Fatou Marenah – Jammeh, and they have three children.

The Global Democracy Project Supports the ADPS project for crisis resolution in Mali

ALLIANCE DES DEMOCRATES PATRIOTES POUR LA SORTIE DE CRISE  (A.D.P.S)
LES PRINCIPES DIRECTEURS DU SCHEMA DE SORTIE DE CRISE

(Suite au coup d’Etat survenu au Mali le 22 mars 2012)

La crise que le Mali traverse touche au fondement même de notre jeune démocratie, et menace la cohésion nationale ainsi que l’intégrité territoriale. Elle interpelle toutes les forces démocratiques, progressistes et patriotiques.

Face à cette situation, un regroupement de partis politiques et de mouvements  a été  créé, dénommé Alliance des Démocrates Patriotes pour la Sortie de crise  (ADPS)  dont l’objectif principal est la recherche d’une stratégie efficace et durable de sortie de crise qui soit compatible avec la Constitution du 12 janvier 1992 et susceptible de remettre le Mali dans la trajectoire d’un rétablissement rapide et durable de la démocratie en harmonie avec l’ordre politique et constitutionnel issu de la Révolution du 26 mars 1991.

Cette Alliance est ouverte à d’autres formations politiques, aux organisations de la société civile et à l’ensemble des forces démocratiques et progressistes dans le but de faire triompher l’intérêt supérieur de la nation.

L’ADPS propose l’adoption du schéma politique et institutionnel ci-dessous qui s’inspire des principes démocratiques et des objectifs majeurs ci-après :

1.    Transmettre le pouvoir d’Etat à un organe acceptable pour toutes les parties prenantes sous réserve de validation par la Cour Constitutionnelle en vertu de l’article 85 de la Constitution ;

2.    Restaurer la confiance de la population dans l’Etat et renforcer la paix sociale ainsi que la concorde nationale ;

3.    Renforcer les mesures de sécurité des personnes et des biens, redémarrer et redéployer l’Administration, les activités économiques et commerciales et ré-ouvrir les frontières ;

4.    Assurer la liberté d’expression et de presse ainsi que l’égal accès à tous les média d’Etat ;

5.    Obtenir le cessez-le feu immédiat au Nord du Mali en vue de la libération totale du territoire national, du retour des réfugiés et de la quiétude des populations dans la partie septentrionale de notre pays ;

6.    Eviter l’isolement du Mali sur le plan régional et international et obtenir l’appui de la communauté internationale pour la mise en œuvre du programme de la Transition ;

7.    Lutter contre tous les trafics illicites, le terrorisme et toutes les formes d’insécurité sur le territoire national ;

8.    Reformer et remobiliser les Forces Armées et de Sécurité en les dotant de moyens adéquats pour la défense de l’intégrité territoriale et de l’unité nationale ;

9.    Préserver l’intégrité physique et morale de toutes les personnes arrêtées lors des récents événements, libérer celles contre lesquelles il n’existerait pas de charge, garantir le respect des droits humains ainsi qu’une justice équitable pour tous les maliens ;

10.  Organiser des élections démocratiques, libres, crédibles et transparentes dans un délai réaliste ;

11.  Restaurer l’autorité de l’Etat.

L’ADPS lance un vibrant appel à toutes les forces démocratiques, progressistes et patriotiques à se joindre à elle en vue de l’adoption rapide et de la mise du présent schéma politique et institutionnel de sortie de crise.

Bamako, le 26 Mars 2012

 

Le Directoire de l’ADPS

N°	Structures	Prénoms et Noms du représentant	Signatures
1	Convention Nationale pour une Afrique Solidaire (CNAS-Faso Hèrè)	Soumana TANGARA
2	Front Africain pour le Développement (FAD)	Nouhoun SARR
3	YELEMA	Moussa MARA
4	Parti pour l’Action Civique et Patriotique (PACP)	Abdoulaye KONE
5	AYÈLÈ	Aguibou kone
6	Convention pour la Renaissance            (CR FASO GNETAGA)	Moustapha COULIBALY
7	MALI DEN	Mohamed BAMBA
8	Parti Citoyen pour le Renouveau (PCR)	Kabiné DOUMBIA
9	Farafina Dembé Mali	Kassoum COULIBALY
10	Réseau Malien pour le Développement (RMD)	Django CISSE
11	Alliance des Mouvements pour la Conscientisation et la Formation des Jeunes (AMCFJ)	Lamine COULIBALY
12	Mouvement des Jeunes pour le développement du Mali (MJDM)	Ousmane DAO
13	Association jeunesse de l’avenir du Mali (AJDA-Mali)	Ibrahima TIMBO
14	Union Soudanaise RDA (US RDA)	Abdoul Salam TOURE
15	Assistance Express Association	Moussa KEITA

 

 

ANNEXE AU SCHEMA DE SORTIE DE CRISE

1. ORGANES DE LA TRANSITION

1.1. CONSEIL SUPERIEUR DE LA REPUBLIQUE  (CSR)

Missions : Autorité suprême de la période de Transition démocratique, le CSR prendra en charge les principales missions suivantes :

1. Préparer le retour au cadre constitutionnel de la III^ème République ;
2. Les questions sécuritaires, en particulier dans les régions du Nord ;

3. L’amélioration de la démocratie et des conditions d’organisation des élections : fichier électoral biométrique, dispositif d’organisation, acteurs impliqués, moyens financiers, etc. ;

4. La relégitimation de l’Etat : des actions majeures de lutte contre la corruption et l’insécurité alimentaire, d’amélioration des services publics et de transparence dans la gestion des ressources publiques ;

5. Des actions importantes de redressement sur l’école, l’emploi des jeunes, la reforme du secteur de la défense et de la sécurité, la question foncière, etc.

Composition :        

Le CSR est composé de 30 membres désignés comme suit :

–       7 membres choisis en leur sein par les Forces Armées et de Sécurité ;

–       18 membres désignés par la classe politique ; et

–       5 membres désignés par la société civile.

Le Président du CSR est le Chef de l’Etat de la Transition. Il est élu parmi les membres du CSR à l’exclusion de ceux représentant les Forces armées et de Sécurité sur base d’un vote devant recueillir au moins les 2/3 des voix.

Le CSR légifère par voie d’ordonnances, lesquelles doivent faire l’objet de délibérations préalables par le Gouvernement et de contrôle de constitutionnalité ou de légalité par la Cour Constitutionnelle ou la Cour Suprême.

La composition du CSR doit tenir compte de l’équité du genre.

Pouvoirs : Le CSR joue le rôle de parlement de la Transition et de direction politique du pays.

Règles de base :

Aucun membre du CSR ne pourra être candidat aux élections présidentielle et législatives qui clôtureront la période de la Transition ;

Les membres du CSR doivent être des personnalités reconnues pour leur patriotisme, leur attachement à la République et à la démocratie ainsi que leur bonne moralité.

Le siège du CSR est à Bamako.

1.2. GOUVERNEMENT DE TRANSITION

Mission : Il élabore et exécute (après approbation du CSR) le programme politique de la phase de Transition.

Composition : Le Gouvernement de Transition comporte, outre le Premier Ministre Chef du Gouvernement, 25 ministres.

Le nombre de ministres formant le Gouvernement est reparti comme suit

• Forces armées : 5
• Classe politique : 18
• Société civile et indépendants : 2

Le Premier Ministre, Chef du Gouvernement est nommé par le Président du CSR après consultation des membres de celui-ci.

 Il ne peut être révoqué que par une motion de censure présentée par au moins le 1/3 des membres du CSR et approuvée par au moins 3/4  des membres de celui-ci.

Les ministres sont nommés par le Premier Ministre.

Le Premier Ministre est responsable devant le CSR.

La composition du Gouvernement doit tenir compte de l’équité du genre.

Règles de base :

Aucun membre du Gouvernement de Transition ne pourra être candidat aux élections présidentielle et législatives qui clôtureront la période de Transition.

Les membres du Gouvernement de Transition doivent être des personnes compétentes et de bonne moralité, reconnues pour leur patriotisme, leur attachement à la République et à la démocratie et  n’ayant pas été associées à la mauvaise gestion des pouvoirs précédents.

1.3. CONSEIL NATIONAL CONSULTATIF (CNC)

Mission : Le CNC concourt au suivi et à l’évaluation du programme de la Transition en tant qu’instance consultative de la société civile.

Composition : Il est composé de 55 membres désignés par les centrales syndicales, les collectivités territoriales et les organisations faitières de la société civile. Les membres du CNC doivent être des personnes compétentes et de bonne moralité, reconnues pour leur patriotisme, leur attachement à la République et à la démocratie et  n’ayant pas été associées à la mauvaise gestion des pouvoirs précédents.

Le CNC élit en son sein un bureau permanent de 7 membres y compris son Président.

Il se réunit en sessions ordinaires tous les deux mois pour une durée  qui ne saurait excéder 3 jours.

Les membres du CNC doivent tenir compte de l’équité du genre.

2. DUREE DE LA TRANSITION

La période de Transition pourrait durer douze mois (12) à compter du 5 avril 2012.

 

3. PLAN DE COMMUNICATION ET DE MOBILISATION

1. Le présent document de sortie de crise doit être adressé à toutes les parties prenantes nationales (CNRDRE, partis politiques, la société civile, toutes les confessions religieuses etc.) et internationales (CEDEAO, UA,ONU, UE, etc.)
2. Une conférence de presse doit être tenue à la Maison de la Presse ou en tout autre lieu.
3. Le document doit être diffusé à  travers l’AFP, Reuters, RFI et tout autre media de renommée locale, régionale ou internationale.
4. Une lettre ouverte relative au schéma de sortie de crise doit être adressée aux  partenaires extérieurs (politiques, techniques et financiers).
5. Tous les organes  dirigeants des partis et organisations de l’Aliance doivent relayer le document auprès de leurs bases pour une forte mobilisation et un soutien ferme à l’aboutissement de ce plan de sortie de crise.

Bamako, le 26 mars 2012

                                                                                                                                                                          LE DIRECTOIRE

Colonized waters of West Africa

As the nations of La-Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Bissau, Gambia, and Senegal are mired in proxy internal conflicts, much of them fueled by their former colonial masters, their rivers and shorelines become a haven for illegal fishing trawlers from Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, UK, Greece), China, Japan, and South Korea.

5.25.2012 source: Al-Jazeera

Inland fresh water and ocean intruded salt water fish provide a valuable source of revenue for local artisanal fishermen and nutrient-rich fish for the populations of these nations. Generally in the multi-ethnic nations of West Africa, trades and industry follow along ethnic and tribal lines. The riverbanks, islands, and archipelagos are dotted with villages of these professional tribes whose sole occupation and livelihood revolves around harvesting fish and other seafood. As these waters become depleted of their fish and other aquaculture, more and more turn to farming on land risking poorer and poorer harvests inured by seasonal droughts and over-used and inadequately or poorly fertilized soils. Despair, induced by unemployment and hunger, leads to base notions of internecine conflicts. An ominous vortex that can threaten the very social fabric of even the more sober of these nations. The UN then busies itself with food aid, humanitarian aid, and all manner of listlessness. The political life of the weak democracies is joined in eternal vortex, softened up for justified but undue meddling and colonization by the more ambitious predator nations.

The predators brazenly violate the international waters and rivers of West Africa in much the same way as they do Somali waters. In Somalia, the last resort of the fishermen tribes is and remains piracy on the high seas because instead of assisting the locals with protective navies that can effectively ward off seafood thieves and bandits, the criminals charge piracy to allow them the requisite impunity to further destitute the fishing communities. More and more, the fishing communities of West Africa are having to rely on themselves to protect their livelihood on the waters inland and offshore. This, as the local economies of Portugal, England, Spain, Italy, and Greece contract into hallmark recessions.

Drug-running and pirate fishing provide feasible means to plunder former colonies in cycles of despair and decrepitude for relief in the colonial enterprises. Under the guise of foreign investment for development, some of these enterprises have negotiated fishing licenses in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Benin, and Senegal where a facsimile of structured government exists and in the failed-states of Gambia and Bissau, front companies and criminal enterprises set up shop while fleets of their boats ravage the rivers and shores. The looted fish is carted further offshore to waiting refrigerated vessels from Europe, Korea, Japan, China, and Latin America where they are offloaded for onward shipment overseas. Increasingly, the markets of Asia and Europe are awash with a confounding variety of West African fish from grouper, snapper, sardines, shrimp, salmon, squid, mullet, to lobster. Some of these companies do engage in properly and legally-negotiated fishing licenses, but the local authorities do not have the means or capacity to regulate the allotments of these licenses. The result is that state revenue from these legal fishing licenses become inadequate to compensate local artisanal fishing villages much less to improve the local industry. In addition to the loss in billions of dollars in fisheries revenue, when the governments are handicapped by internecine conflict and comprehensive decrepitude, any effort to monitor or administer fishing licenses falls by the wayside.

There is an ominous risk of profuse piracy and conflicts on the high seas in West Africa and we encourage more democratic nations and the FAO to help empower local fishing villages on the archipelagos and islands in the Peninsula of Guinea, Bissau, and Sierra Leone to avert the impending dangers. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Greater employment which can earn more livable wages for these and neighboring communities can be provided by more robust coast guards, navies, and riverkeeper mechanisms that will both ward off illegal pirate fishing vessels and protect the local artisanal fishing industry. Outboard motors wont cut it. This will have the attendant effect of reducing internecine tensions and cyclical rushes to humanitarian and food aid.

The GDP Team.

Further reading: http://af.reuters.com/article/guineaBissauNews/idAFL5E8E9AOZ20120315?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

Mali: New Year 2012 Greeting from Mayor El Hadj Moussa Mara of Yelema

Chers amis;

A l’orée de l’année 2012 et comme d’habitude il me plait de vous adresser mes voeux de bonheur, de prospérité, de réalisation individuelle mais surtout familiale et collective.

Prions tous le seigneur, notre créateur, Maître du temps et de l’espace, pour qu’il aide notre pays et notre continent, mais aussi toute l’humanité, à surmonter les tensions sociales, politiques et économiques et à avancer un peu plus vers la solidarité, le partage et le partenariat qui sont gages de progrès collectif.

L’année 2011 qui s’achève fut riche en evenements. Je pense que chacun d’entre nous a sa préférence en matière de fait marquant mais il est incontestable que nous avons tous été emballés par ce qu’on appèle desormais le “printemps arabe”, commencé en fin 2010 en Tunisie et qui a boulversé la donne socio politique dans de nombreux pays. Chacun s’est posé des questions, a douté pour ensuite espérer et constater que ce qui apparaissait au début comme un petit soulevement localisé s’est transformé en véritable torrent emportant beaucoup de pouvoirs qu’on pensait durablement installés. Le changement obtenu grâce à ces revolutions a ainsi consacré l’apparition de nouveaux pouvoirs, élus de manière démocratique, annonciateur d’un certain lendemain pour les pays concernés. Esperons que demain sera beau pour ces pays. Esperons qu’il le sera pour tous les autres!

La leçon fondamentale qu’il faut retenir du printemps arabe est qu’un peuple débout est irrésistible. Aucun pouvoir et aucune force ne peuvent resister à la volonté populaire. Les dirigeants d’aujourd’hui doivent intégrer cette donne et s’engager résolumment vers la satisfaction des besoins légitimes de leurs peuples, la seule vocation qu’ils doivent avoir. Ils doivent enfin se tourner vers leur raison d’être, la satisfaction du citoyen pour mériter sa confiance et la confiance du citoyen pour travailler avec lui dans l’édification de sociétés justes et prospère. Car sans la confiance du citoyen, aucune construction collective durable n’est possible. En Afrique sub saharienne, là où le peuple est encore ténu à l’écart de la gestion publique, là où il est infantilisé, manipulé, désinformé, diverti pour ne pas s’intéresser à son sort, cette confiance est encore plus indispensable à instaurer afin que les intelligences et la force physique des populations puissent accompagner les leaders, comblant ici où là les deficits financiers dans un contexte de pénurie de réssources. Plus qu’ailleurs nous avons bésoin d’ériger le peuple en partenaire. Plus qu’ailleurs nous avons bésoin de l’éclairer, de le former, de l’éduquer, de l’organiser pour qu’il puisse comprendre, s’engager, accompagner et jouer sa partition. Plus qu’ailleurs nous devons accepter la contrepartie de ce partenariat : l’exigence de résultat, l’obligation de rendre des comptes, la nécéssité pour le leader d’être exemplaire, la restauration de la transparence et de l’alternance comme ciments de l’édifice de confiance….

Les leaders et le personnel politique actuels sont ils capables d’accepter, de mettre en oeuvre et de soutenir cette contrepartie? Il faut en douter mais il faut travailler à l’amélioration de ce leadership et à l’accroissement de la qualité de ce personnel politique.

L’Afrique entière a besoin d’un accroissement de la qualité de son leadership. Cela passera sans doute par l’arrivée sur l’echiquier public de femmes et d’hommes capables d’engager nos pays vers le nouveau partenariat présenté dans les lignes précédentes. Je le disais deja l’année dernière en evoquant la crise ivoirienne qui a heureusement eu un denouement legitime.

Chers amis,

Notre pays, le Mali, comme plusieurs autres en Afrique, s’apprête à organiser en 2012 les 5è élections générales (Présidentielle et legislatives) pluralistes de son histoire democratique qui consacreront notamment la troisième alternance majeure dépuis 1992. Ces elections ancreront sans doute encore davantage le Mali dans la démocratie. Il est néammoins utile de rappeler que les élections, pour jouer pleinement leur rôle de catalyseur d’évolution democratique, doivent être organisées dans les meilleures conditions. L’équité entre les candidats, l’égalité entre les electeurs face au vote (carte d’électeur et pièce d’identité accessibles), un fichier électoral acceptable, une campagne basée sur les idées pour permettre un choix objectif des électeurs, des agents électoraux jouant éffectivement toutes leurs prérogatives, un Etat impartial dans l’organisation du dispositif, des acteurs de contrôle présents sur tout le territoire et objectifs dans leurs analyses et enfin un dispositif judiciaire impartial constituent le bréviaire d’élections apaisées.

Il est indispensable que les forces de la société civile, l’ensemble des acteurs politiques et l’Etat s’emploient à tendre vers cet idéal dans la bonne foi et avec la participation de tous les amis du Mali. Prions pour que cela soit et pour que tous les pays africains qui passent par cette étape electorale franchissent le seuil d’élections apaisées afin que plus jamais une élection ne puisse être un moment de tension mais seulement un processus normal de dévolution de pouvoir prélude à un renouveau. Que les élections fassent parti du quotidien afin de faire entrer plus profondement nos pays dans la normalité démocratique.

Prions pour que l’année 2012 se termine dans la paix et la quietude. Pour vous tous et pour tous les êtres qui vous sont chèrs.

Bien à vous tous.

Moussa MARA

Something is still rotten in the state of Gambia. By Foday Samateh

Something is still rotten in the state of Gambia

By  Foday Samateh

Yahya Jammeh and his diehard supporters can slaughter hundred or thousand cows for a merry feast. They can throw all manner of sumptuous parties in all the seven regions of The Gambia for the fourth presidential election he had been declared the winner. All the celebration and chest-beating will not alter a damn truth about this drama of falsehood masqueraded as democratic election. Night will never be day and a cat will never be a dog no matter how many times the claim is made. So too a police state will never be a free nation by mere lip-service. This election, like the previous three, is nothing but a coup by the ballot box to renew the conferment of democratic legitimacy on a petty dictator.

The purported victory serves only one purpose. Further perpetuation of the status quo of a single man who is under the influence of messianic delusions and cheered on by a groveling troupe of mendacious loudmouths, gullible expendables, shameless opportunists, unprincipled apologists, flatterers for hire and happy know-nothings. The official
election result isn’t so much disappointing as it is offensive in that an avowed autocrat continues to exploit the democratic process to keep tightening his grip on power.

The supporters have two recurring defenses for the regime. The first is that Yahya Jammeh is a democratic president because the people voted for him. The people voted for Hitler too, but no one ever considered the Nazi madman to have been a democratic leader of Germany. Saddam and Mubarak had also won elections, but no one ever paid any credence to their landslides. The second is that he has brought transformational development to the country. Then why is The Gambia still sitting at the bottom rung of the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries in the UN development ranking index.
Put another way, in all the thirty years of the previous president, the national debt amounted to three billion dalasis. In seventeen years, this regime accumulated twenty-five billion dalasis in our name for some modest development. If Jawara had ever enriched himself in office, Yahya Jammeh has flamboyantly transformed himself from a destitute usurper to one of the wealthiest men in all Africa.

Yes, the regime has built schools as it should, but the annual West African Examination results show that the standard of education has deteriorated. The regime has built hospitals as it should, but the mortality rate hasn’t dropped a nick and life expectancy hasn’t improved a notch. The regime has built a television station, but only to turn it into a propaganda bureau to brainwash the nation into believing that we are blessed with a great leader endowed with divine powers. The regime established a university but deprived it of even a semblance of academic freedom for credible scientific research and critical debate on public policy and national affairs.

Too much is made of the regime’s vaunted developments; Schools, roads and hospitals are essential but very basic requirements for any modern nation-state. They have been built in both democracies and autocracies, by both transparent and corrupt governments across the world. The difference is not the physical presence of the structures but
the function they provide for the public good. Kim Jong-il of North Korea also built schools and hospitals and roads. Freedoms and democratic pluralism are the proudest boasts of civilized governments. Oppressive regimes everywhere justify their stranglehold as necessary for stability. The world knows the truth. Democracies are stable over the generations
while dictatorships hardly outlast a single regime. It says volumes about the state of the economy when remittances from citizens striving and scraping for a living in foreign countries constitute a major component of the GDP and every youth is desperate to travel elsewhere for opportunities.

Just about any head of state with average ambition can build schools, roads and hospitals. What sets Yahya Jammeh apart is his misplaced self-image as a man of destiny, gliding on the sweeping wave of history. Listening to him, an act of unbearable mental torture, one hears a jumble of crude vocabulary of a self-anointed republican, patriot, nationalist,
field marshal, prophet, genius, shaman and humanitarian. A breathing definition of a multiple personality disorder. He wants to impress upon his audience that he doesn’t only embody the dreams and spirit of the nation but attains a greatness so unique that it defies all categorizations and comparisons. That he is a one-off phenomenon in all the vestiges and vistas of time.

    Such blinding if not archaic hubris and heroic pretensions are quite familiar. Like all egomaniacs, he is the opposite of greatness. He is a petty, aggrieved, insecure, venal, paranoiac, pernicious, depraved, intolerant, crass, corrupt, deceptive, dishonest, avaricious, intemperate, dishonorable, untrustworthy, misinformed, semiliterate, inarticulate, thuggish, malcontent, violent, tribalist, lying little man. Someone needs to tell him that the Holy Quran is not for carrying around. The sacred Revelation is not a prop for
gimmicky display of piety. The Words of the Almighty are meant for recitation to acquire wisdom and guidance. If this ignoramus really knows how to read the Book of all books, he would be doing so every morning and night on national television and leading every Friday prayer at the State House mosque. Just like he is no professor or doctor of any sort, he is no sheikh. He is an empty pretender. A vain extrovert infected with infantile and fetish need for attention. From his overdressing, raving and ranting to uncouth mannerisms, the sane mind is conflicted over determining whether he is a scarecrow or clown with the keys to the highest office in the land.

    For whatever developments that will take place in the next five years if he stays in power, the following too will happen. More defenseless citizens will be rounded up and whisked to Mile Two Maximum Security Prison he called the “five-star hotel” for his enemies. The country will remain a “hell,” as he put it, for journalists until the last of them becomes his crowing praise-singer. He will own more businesses to amass more wealth to drive out competition for monopolistic control of the economy. He will further crush dissent, buy support and influence, and institutionalize patronage into the whole system for access and success to strengthen his clutch on power. He will further promote superstition over science and make new claims that he possesses “miracle cures” and herbal elixirs for more medical conditions. He will continue to court and befriend the endangered species of like-minded despots and unsavory
characters around the world. He will continue to run the affairs of the state like a Mafia boss of the underworld. He will pile up more debt on the nation, raise taxes ever higher, his regime will remain unaudited while a financial time bomb ticks for the country. For supporters and opponents alike, prepare for a painful reckoning when the lease of time for his
nefarious reign is up.

La-Guinea Ultimate Elections – 9/19/2010

La-Guinea Ultimate Elections – 9/19/2010

Campaigning has begun in earnest after a deferential lull in honor of Ramadan and eid’l Fitr.

The RPG party of Hon. Alpha Conde’ has obtained the support and alliance of some 90 other parties including those of Hons. Lansana Kouyate’, Lounceny Fall, Bah Ousmane, Mrs. Rougui Barry, Papa Koly Kourouma, and Mohamed Toure’. These alloyed parties have formed themselves into The Rainbow Alliance to elect Hon. Alpha Conde’ President of La-Guinea.

The UFDG party of Hon. Cellou Dalein Diallo has also obtained the support and alliance of some 40 other parties including those of Hons. Sidya Toure’, Ibrahima Abe Sylla, Mamadou Bah Baadicko, Mohamed Soumah, and Etienne Soropogui.

We recall that the first round of voting was marred by comprehensive fraud and other graft. La-Guinea’s “Independent” Electoral Commission (CENI) goes into this ultimate round of voting with her reputation thoroughly sullied. The results of the first round which put Hon cellou Dalein Diallo farther ahead of the pack with 43% of the vote had removed the votes of some four precincts which heavily favored Hon. Alpha Conde and the RPG. The reason for the exclusion of those votes was that the verbal attestations of some of the voters hadn’t been turned in to the CENI. They were later discovered in the office of Mr. Boubacarr Diallo of the CENI. Just a week ago, the La-Guinea courts found the President of the CENI, Ben Sekou Sylla, and Mr. Boubacarr Diallo guilty of spectacular fraud in the elections and they were sentenced to a year in prison, and fined 2 million Guinean francs each. Mr. Sylla had long since been replaced as president of the CENI and his sentence came while he sought medical treatment in France.

Because of these and many other inadequacies of the CENI, it has been decided that the country’s department of the interior and collectives (Matap) should play a more prominent and expanded role to keep the CENI’s excesses in check and to fill the voids of the latter’s deficiencies. That didn’t come easily because the UFDG claimed a constitutional ammendment was underway by the Prime Minister Jean Marie Dore’. The UFDG was to later yield for sobriety sakes.

The two presidential candidates visited Ouagadougou at the invitation of ECOWAS transition mediator President Blaise Compaore. They agreed to honor the results of a free, fair, and transparent elections for the second and ultimate round of voting. However, just days following the commencement of campaigning, several episodes of violence resulting in hundreds injured and one death made their way into the electoral discourse of La-Guinea. Interim President Sekouba Konate had to proclaim a suspension of campaign meetings until a safe environment can be re-installed by both parties and their alliances.

Today, we are informed that the convicted former President of ther CENI, Ben Sekou Sylla, has died in saint Louis hospital in Paris France. May the Lord afford him peaceful repose.

ECOWAS – A coming of age

Economic Community of West African States

ECOWAS

A coming of age

The Global Democracy Project (The GDP) extends its appreciation to ECOWAS for the sobriety and vision for a better community worthy of her citizens that ECOWAS has displayed in some key areas of community life. Among these, are:

1. The strengthening of the ECOWAS court of Justice
2. The pivotal role ECOWAS played in the ominous vortices of La-Guinea since the passing of President Lansana Conte(PBUH) up to the healthful climax of the first democratically elected president Alpha Conde in the country’s 50-year history. Special commendation goes to President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso for his role as ECOWAS mediator in that matter.
3. The critical role ECOWAS played in the negotiations between all sides of the Ivory Coast divide prior to and after the election of President Alassane Ouattara. Special commendation is due Nigeria and Presidents Ya’Ardua(PBUH) and Goodluck Jonathan.
4. The insistence of ECOWAS for free and fair elections in Gambia, in the absence of which to decline participating as observers in the Nov. 24^th, 2011 election in Gambia. This comes on the heels of the contempt with which the President of Gambia Yahya Jammeh views his more sober peers and the institution of the community.

ECOWAS has demonstrated that a paucity of resources can be overcome by a preponderance of goodwill, collegiality in justice, and considerate life. It is significant to recognize that this transformation has accrued at the same time that each member nation of ECOWAS experienced greater democracy and momentum from such conscienergy has helped guide their actions. We are reminded that when we clean our own homes, we are empowered to help our neighbors clean their homes.

Although it took a little while for the ECOWAS community to be on the right side of history in the Libya affair, it could be forgiven for deferring to the continental body, the AU, which was derelict in its duty to expedite and perhaps negotiate the more peaceful and benign exit of Gadhafi and his family during the early days of the Cyrenaica (Souk Turak) Uprising. With ECOWAs leading the way to circumspect, we are hopeful that the regional communities will inevitably help to center the AU.

Even as we commend ECOWAS for a renewed spirit of good-neighborliness and sober stewardship, we encourage the community to invest itself in the permanent resolution of the separatist MFDC expedition in southern Senegal, to remain engaged in Liberia’s fragile peace and to undertake proactive conflict prevention efforts rather than reactionary conflict resolution. With limited resources, conflict prevention is a far superior consideration to conflict management and peacekeeping after the breakout of internecine conflict. We had ample experience in West Africa and in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda that when seemingly inconsequential neglect and injustice is ignored, it has the potential of undermining the entire community, if not in full-blown and intractable carnage, certainly via a series of festering tumors to ravage the community’s peoples. Further, we encourage ECOWAS to harness goodwill from environmental co-ordinations such as the Mano-River Union, Sahel-Cills, OMVS, OMVG, The Niger River Authority, The Great Green Wall project, and other similar cultural and environmental reserves of bonds. After all, multinational rivers and ranges, are ready conduits of both prosperity and conflict to include arms and contraband.

Du Courage. God Speed.

The GDP

Gambia: Press Statement (detailed) of The UDP-led Alliance on the Nov. 24th, 2011 Presidential Elections

PRESS STATEMENT BY THE UDP/GMC UNITED ALLIANCE

IN REGARD TO THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2011

This Statement is a sequel to the Preliminary Statement issued by the UDP/GMC United Alliance in which we categorically rejected the results of the just concluded Presidential Elections as announced by the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission. We strongly reiterate our stand that the results of the said elections were bogus and fraudulent, and constitute a naked theft of the will of the people through the back door. It shall not stand!!

The UDP/GMC United Alliance insists that the electoral and electioneering processes, including the campaigning dynamics have been intentionally skewed in favour of the APRC to the gross disadvantage of the Alliance. These include the ten day campaign limitation period imposed by the IEC without any basis in law or in fact. The Elections Act makes no provision for limiting a campaign period to ten days. In previous presidential elections, although limited, the campaign period was way more than was permitted this time. Any sincere election Commission committed to the holding of a free and fair election would rather expand the campaign period than reduce it.

This unjustifiably crippling limitation was resisted by the Alliance at the material time before the conduct of the elections, but our concerns were rejected by the IEC without any justifications. Having been denied access to state media such as radio and television for the past five years, and having regard to the oppressive conditions under which the private media had to endure, the opposition was hardly heard during the pre-election period. In effect our stand is that the processes leading towards the elections were not free and fair. Therefore the results of such a fundamentally flawed process cannot receive our endorsement.

The ubiquitous presence of armed security, senior local government officials such as regional governors, district chiefs and Alkalolu and remorseless use of state resources cast enormous doubt and imposed a pernicious influence on the election. Threats were made, and intimidating messages were spread which had the pervasive effect of frightening voters. This was preceded by threats made by APRC Campaign Manager and Minister responsible for National Assembly Affairs that the ballot boxes and the biometric voter registration system were fitted with means of identifying those who voted against the APRC. Voters were warned during the campaign of consequences of voting against the APRC.

The election itself on poling day was severely marred by fundamental irregularities. In many polling stations, our polling agents were refused by IEC and security officials from accompanying the ballot boxes from the polling stations to the various counting centers. In the entire Upper River Region constituting seven constituencies, this denial was applied in all counting centers at the Region. The act of denying our agents to accompany ballot boxes was intended to commit foul play by tampering with the boxes in transit in favour of the APRC, without the possibility of detection. For instance in Jedda Two and Marakisa in the Kombo Central Constituency, voting cards were actually found in supposedly ballot boxes, which indicate how insecure they were. To insert a voter’s card in a ballot box, one would have to remove the box top itself, because the card could fit through the marble hole provided. This is positive proof that it was very easy to lift open the ballot boxes without tampering with the seals provided.

Extra voting marbles were found strewn all over some counting centers and we are in possession of some of those marbles picked up randomly by third parties two days after elections. Voting marbles were all supposed to be collected, placed back into ballot boxes and secured. This was not the case at many counting centers.

Our agents reported a pattern of simultaneous multiple token counting conducted at many counting centers across the country. In those instances, our agents were outnumbered and could not participate in most of the counting taking place. This made it possible for election officials in collusion with the APRC to compromise the integrity of the counting and collation processes. Tokens were removed from boxes in many of those centers, counted without the opportunity of verification accorded to our agents and certified by joint IEC/APRC counters.

In many of the counting centers, there were no proper lighting provided. In the case of St. Peter’s school, at Lamin, ballot boxes were indiscriminately scattered about in the court yard without adequate security, while the place itself was massively littered with APRC supporters and militants, and persons donned in security uniforms.

There has been widespread voting nationwide by uniformed persons, at polling stations where they were not registered or stationed. In Bakau Constituency, army officers led non uniformed recruits who were not on any elections assignments to vote at polling centers across that constituency, even though they were not registered as voters in that particular constituency. The UDP led Alliance Candidate himself intervened and reported the matter to the Returning Officer for Kanifing Municipality who dismissively asserted that he was under instructions to allow them to vote. The Chairman of the IEC was personally informed but before the situation could be arrested, most of these personnel were already permitted by to vote, although they had not right to vote at those polling centers. This pattern was seriously repeated nation-wide.

We are informed that police and military uniforms were indiscriminately provided to persons who were not serving members of any security establishment and these persons participated in securing and conveying ballot boxes of ballot boxes, and were active at polling and counting centers nationwide.

There has been a mass influx of non Gambian voters from outside The Gambia who were camped by the APRC at various sites such as the old Medical & Health Department in Banjul, Garba Jahumpa Upper Basic School in Banjul, Wander Beach Hotel, the Brikama Community Center, the NYSS premises in Bakau, and other places within West Coast Region and Kanifing Municipality. Gambian citizens would not normally be camped in such places, isolated from the rest of the public because every true Gambian citizen would vote and return to their family homes. Some of these places were disclosed to international observers, who went and verified for themselves.

The irregularities are fundamental and numerous. We are still in the process of evaluating more of such information and evidence from across the country.

Units of law enforcement personnel publicly displayed preference and bias for the ruling party during the campaigns. Credible information reaching us today lends veracity to this. Soldiers based at Lamin Koto conducted a so-called election victory celebration at Jerome Koto, while contingents of the Police Intervention Unit went on a victory celebrations at Kerr Ousman Boye, threatening local residents for supporting the UDP led Alliance.

Traditionally, election security and crowd control have been conducted by the Police Force in this country. But this time around, Gambians have been severely intimidated by the inexplicably heavy presence of the heavily armed soldiers in our streets, particularly in the capital city of Banjul, as if The Gambia was in a state of war. This had the intended effect of spreading and consolidating fear among the population to the benefit of the incumbent against the Alliance. The flagrant violation of the principle of neutrality by the security forces is additional affirmation of the lack of a level playing field and a fundamentally flawed electoral process. In this regard, the Independent Electoral Commission Chairman was seen on television welcoming the incumbent and leading him to vote.

The radio and television coverage provided by GRTS to the UDP/GMC Alliance was heavily censored, edited, watered down to produce the lowest possible effect, while half of our campaign rallies across the country were not even featured or broadcasted. Commentaries on GRTS were largely derogatory of our progress, while the APRC was accorded in extremely favourable light. The return of the incumbent was aired two days running each lasting over four hours. The UDP/GMC Alliance candidate was give only thirty minutes. Even then it was reportage from the GRTS correspondent with no pictures shown.

The UDP/GMC United Alliance is proud of the patriotism demonstrated by Gambians across the country. The Alliance is very appreciative of the legendary hospitality accorded to it by Gambians along the campaign trail and the tumultuous welcome received. To all those who hosted the Campaign, shared their resources with us, and gave us the best accommodation they could provide we say thank you.

To Gambian voters, we thank you for voting in your strong numbers for the UDP/GMC United Alliance. We assure you that your votes shall not go in vain. Together we shall vigorously defend the will of the people. Together we shall not relent in this effort.

The UDP/GMC United Alliance is equally appreciative of the tremendous contributions of Gambians in Diaspora, particularly those who have materially contributed towards the efforts in the campaigns. For the indomitable online Gambian press such as Maafanta.com, Freedom Newspaper, Senegambia News, The Gambia Echo, Gainako Online Newspaper, Hello Gambia, Jollof News and others, the list is unending. We are proud of you and your Nation is proud of you. Thank you for providing a veritable medium of expression for Gambians in such a manner denied to them in their own country. We assure you that we shall never give up on you, and we are confident that you shall not give up on us. Together, let us consolidate the partnership in the effort to enthrone genuine democratic plurality in our country, expand the democratic space, build a culture of tolerance and defeat those forces of oppression. Let us together continue to work harder to liberate our country. The struggle has just begun, and we must use every successive stage as a new beginning in the overall struggle for comprehensive political change in our national governance infrastructure. Another Gambia is possible. And together we shall build it.

Long Live the Republic of The Gambia!!

Long Live the UDP/GMC United Alliance!

UDP Secretariat

Banjul, The Gambia

Dated at Banjul, this 28^th day of November 2011.

Gambia: Nov. 24th, 2011 Presidential Elections. What Happened?

We have once again been treated to a marvel of an election, this time with Yahya gaining an average of 70% in all constituencies, even the traditionally secure strongholds of Kiangs, Jarras, Wullis, Kombos, Nianis, and Sandu. This while in the duration between 2006 and 2011, arms and amunition coming from Iran and destined for Kanilai were intercepted in a Nigerian Port, a billion dollar’s worth of cocaine was found in Bonto riverside village resulting in a Dutch citizen’s murder, Assets of Pristine Consulting Biometric registration were confiscated and impounded upon, the Gamcotrap-2 have been illegally arrested and are still being gratuitously prosecuted, Yahya’s relationship with his friend Chavez of Venezuela is on the rocks for the former’s antics against his former friend Gadhafi to save his own hyde, Baba Jobe was murdered to dispense with potential witnesses to the Sierra-Leone-Liberia Blood Diamond saga, and Yahya and his wife’ss implication in the assassination attempt on the life of La-Guinea President Alpha Conde’.

As in 2006, 2001, and 1996, The Gambia’s voter rolls include citizens of Senegal particularly from the region of Cassamance where the rearguard of Yahya’s Kanilai enclave hails from. On occasion, these illegal voters were housed at The University of Gambia and some have been intercepted in the southern border region between Senegal and Gambia.

Yahya has total control of state resources to include the national television and radio which he uses to the stealthy exclusion of opposition messaging and campaign. On several occasions, the national radio and television station refused to broadcast meeting advertisements of the opposition political parties and the inspector of police refused to grant permit for the conduct of opposition rallies. On one such occasion when the opposition United Democratic Party held a meeting without a permit, an officer of the UDP, Hon. Femi Peters was arrested and remanded in prison for using a loudspeaker and leading a public procession. In the runup to the election, the opposition parties were allowed 11 days of public campaigning while Yahya has been campaigning for 5 years. Public officials, including Seyfolu and Alkalolu, used their state vehicles, fuel, and other logistical resources to openly campaign for Yahya and his APRC gang.

Prior to election day, bands of the Green boys and girls groups went on an intimidation campaign to inform would-be opposition voters that hidden cameras were installed in the voting booths to survey how voters voted and that those who vote for the opposition parties would be found out and dealt with after Yahya’s foregone win.

On election day itself, voting marbles were issued to both illegally registered voters and unregistered voters.

On election day, labels were removed from ballots and re-labelled according to weight and improper labels attached. All the while, opposition representatives were prevented from monitoring the ballot totes/drums until the deed is done.

Friends, Gambians, and countrymen/women, this was the manner of your election on November 24th, 2011.

The GDP Team.

Liberia: Presidential Election Runoff to be held with only Hon. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson on the ballot

It is ill-advised for the Runoff election to be conducted with only Hon. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on the ballot. We encourage Hon. Sirleaf to exercise some humility and sobriety and to suspend the second round of elections while she engages main challenger Hon. Tubman in dialogue. The challenger must be reassured of the integrity of the election.

Elections are held to choose among competing alternatives for governance. There is no reason to conduct the exercise of an election when there is no challenger. That is both foolhardy and a severe waste of valuable resources for Liberia. In addition, it is a recipe to open old wounds that are slowly healing in Liberia. Democracy is not easy. If it were, all leaders would subscribe to it. Elections for the sake of the exercise does not add value to a democratic dispensation.

We encourage the US, President Obama, all development partners of Liberia, and the UN to take note of the inuring decrepitude in Liberia and insist on veritable elections to avert Liberia returning to its conflict past. We encourage ECOWAS and the AU to bear on the wise counsel of their good offices and assist Liberia in this inauspicious moment. The winner of a single-candidate presidential election cannot be a legitimate president.

Hon. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf must understand that citizens have both the right to vote OR not to to vote. The vote is an instrument to express the constitutional right of free assembly and association for religion and industry. The constitutional right of a citizen to vote is underpinned by the rights of such citizen to a free and fair election to choose their government among competing alternatives.

Libéria

Présidentielle : sans rival, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf est seule au second tour

Le second tour de l’élection présidentielle au Liberia s’est ouvert mardi 8 novembre. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf est seule en lice après l’appel au boycott de son adversaire Winston Tubman. Au moins deux partisans du candidat du Congrès pour le changement démocratique sont morts lundi lors de manifestations.Peu d’incertitudes quant à l’issue du second tour mais de vives inquiétudes entourent cependant la tenue du scrutin. Au moins deux à quatre personnes ont été tuées lundi 7 novembre à Monrovia. Un policier libérien a été arrêté par les hommes de la Minul après avoir admis avoir ouvert le feu sur les manifestants durant les incidents, a confié un inspecteur de police libérien. La Minul a fait état d’un mort et plusieurs blessés, sans en préciser le nombre.Amnesty international a demandé l’ouverture d’une enquête et a appelé à la retenue les différentes parties. Le président américain Barack Obama a, quant à lui, mis en garde contre toute tentative de « perturber » le second tour de la présidentielle, soulignant que les électeurs avaient le droit de voter librement et sans peur. Jeuneafrique.com