By Kebba Ansu Manneh
Engineer Alieu Basadi Jawara, cousin brother to Gambia’s first President late Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, has disclosed in an exclusive interview with The Voice that his cousin was never hungry to remain in power forever, as he had expressed his willingness to relinquish power at the party’s 1992 biennial congress.
The former President has been very hungry to restore rule of law, democracy, and good governance in the country even after his ousting from power by the military junta led by the then Army Lt. Yahya AJJ Jammeh, on 22nd July 1994.
Engineer Jawara who was at the time when the military overthrew President Jawara was pursuing his degree program in Canada on a Canadian Scholarship ticket said the 1994 coup d’etat came as a big surprise to the entire Jawara family.
He stated that there was no indication of any justifiable and convincing situation that can warrant any possible coup d’etat of Jawara’s regime that was anchored on democratic dispensation, rule of law, and good governance.
He emphasized that Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, in fact, openly expressed his desire and willingness to relinquish power to a possible successor at a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) congress held at Mansakonko, Lower River Division (LRD) in 1992. He revealed that this decision of the former President was turned down by the PPP delegates including ministers, chiefs, and ordinary members who all prevailed on him to stay put two years before the military illegally take over the country.
“On 22nd July 1994, I was in Canada pursuing the degree program that I won through the Canadian government scholarship when I heard of the disturbing news of unrest at home. I quickly reached out to Sir Dawda to enquire but I couldn’t reach him through his contact but I managed to reach out to my brother who told me it was unrest organized by the army,” he recalled the events of 22nd July 1994.
According to him, he was later informed that the American Ambassador convinced Sir Dawda to enter in their Naval Ship that was anchored at the port at the time in their efforts to engage the militaries but this engagement failed and the ship left for Senegal where all his efforts were frustrated and blocked which led the success of the coup.”
He reiterated that Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara initially refused to heed the advice of the American Ambassador to take refuge in the US Naval Ship, hence he was not ready to leave without engaging the military but was eventually forced on the naval ship and to Senegal where he was temporarily blocked and cut-off from the world in his efforts to restore democratic rule in the country.
He went further in his narration that “We (family members) were not expecting any form of the coup in the country during that period because before 1994 military takeover there was a free and fair election held in 1992, which Sir Dawda won overwhelmingly. The economy was also picking up after the Economic Recovery Programme, the tourism industry was booming, the civil service was very efficient, well organized, and effective, rule of law, democracy, and the rights of every Gambian was highly respected and guaranteed.”
He added that “Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara was an accomplished technocrat who didn’t jump into development without making studies and weighing the benefits and the impacts. He believes in developments that are viable and sustainable as attested by many of his projects including Gamtel, Gambia Ports Authority, Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) plus many other institutions that are still benefiting in the country.”
According to him, even after Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara’s final move to the United Kingdom (UK), he has never relented to pursue the democratic trails to restore rule of law in the Gambia through engaging the UN, AU, UK Government, ECOWAS, and Nigeria. Some of these efforts led to the announcement of a transitional timetable, the institution of a provisional electoral commission, and returns to elections in the country.
He described the former President as an exemplary leader, a good statesman full of wisdom and respect for human rights and democracy, and some of the family members who were against the former President giving them privileges later apologised to him for saving them against the wrath of the militaries as usually experienced in other countries where coups occurred.
“Sir Dawda was such a leader who believed in due process, he didn’t believe in giving favors to his close friends and families at the expense of the nation and this saved almost all his families and friends. The militaries would have humiliated his family members and friends for possible corruption charges. Supposed he implanted them in government key positions but this couldn’t happen because he was not doing them any favors and giving them privileges,” Alieu Basadi Jawara explained.
He noted that the only trouble that members of the Jawara family went through in the hands of the military junta was when some of them participated in a planned PPP demonstration at the American embassy and got arrested, detained, and prosecuted. However, no single member of the Jawara family was charged for corruption, misappropriation of funds, or acquiring properties illegally or through the influence of the former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara.
He dismissed any suggestions to compare or contrast the regime of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara and Yahya Jammeh, he said the former came to power through the ballot box while the latter through the barrels of guns whose regime ended up with mass killings of Gambians and non-Gambians.
He called on the government of President Adama Barrow to emulate former President Jawara’s ‘Tesito’ agricultural programs that helped boost farming in the country, and that the former President did not exonerate his responsibilities to the farmers and the agricultural sector, “he did everything to support farmers during the rainy season to enable them to stay on the farms.”
“If I have the opportunity to advise President Barrow and his government I would advise them to follow Sir Dawda’s agricultural policies and programs of developing agriculture in the country.
Our agricultural sector should not be left unattended because farmers need support to push for agricultural development. This is why in Jawara’s regime farmers were given support in terms of farming implements, subsidies on fertilizers and seeds, and even good supplies during the rainy season, ” Jawara explained.
He claimed that “Our agricultural sector and the farmers have not been enjoying the support since Sir Dawda left, during Jammeh times everybody was working for him alone resulting in the collapse of the sector. So the best thing for this government to do is to revive ‘Tesito’, empower farmers and make farming a lucrative investment venture that can attract people to farming.
Alieu Basadi Jawara who recently returned home after many years in exile called on the Gambian youths to venture into entrepreneurship and said all the youths need is small capital to invest and manage well thus ripping the benefits in no less than three years for the business to take care of you.