The
opposition National Reconciliation Party, NRP, has said “The Gambia’s exit of
the Commonwealth of Nations is as a result of the country’s bad human rights
record” and has condemned the act.
“Knowing
the Commonwealth summit will be taking place next month in Sri Lanka and The
Gambia will be among subject(s) of discussion, the NRP party learns with utter
dismay the decision taken by the government,” NRP leader Hamat Bah said on
Monday.
On
October 2, the government announced the country was withdrawing its membership
of the Commonwealth “with immediate effect”.
“(The) Government
has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that The
Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution, and will never
be a party to any institution that represents an extension of Colonialism,” the
statement read.
However,
Mr Bah told journalist on October 7, that the move threatens the overall
interest of the Gambian people and Gambia as a nation, when he spoke at his
party’s head office on Kairaba Avenue.
“No
matter what happens at the Commonwealth (summit), the Government of The Gambia
should be brave enough to go face the Commonwealth and defend its position and
the nation,” Bah said.
He said
the NRP have been saying this, that “the human rights record of The Gambia
Government is one of the worst” you can find. “It is extremely bad, and the
government cannot escape from dealing with these issues with the international
community,” Bah added.
The
third largest party advice the President Yahya Jammeh-led government to do
whatever possible to rejoin the Commonwealth. The Gambia cannot escape from the
Commonwealth because “there are issues they are trying to avoid”, he indicated.
The
Commonwealth, he said, has been a useful institution to The Gambia. It has
benefited a lot of support from the Commonwealth, said Bah who is of the view
that 95% of Gambians are against the decision to pull out of the Commonwealth.
“The
decision was taken without due process and consideration of the Gambian
citizenry,” Bah said while citing countries like Canada, Great Britain, Australia,
India, and Nigeria as some of the biggest democracies in world who are all part
of the Commonwealth.
According
to him, if the government runs away from the institution those issues (human
rights) will still follow it to other bodies like the United Nations (UN) and
the European Union (EU).
Commonwealth
member states are also part of the UN, and the EU, with the exception of the African
Union (AU), which seems like “an organization of birds of the same feather
flocking together”, he said.
“Probably,
the government does not know how much Gambians benefit from consular services
at Commonwealth embassies in other parts of the world,” he said. “Gambia also
knows very well that the Commonwealth has sponsored many Gambians in the form of
scholarships, civil service reform, governance and development of the press.”
Early
this year, the Jammeh government pulled out of talks with EU over an Article 8
political dialogue on reforms, however, the tiny West African country returned
to the table for talks with EU in June 2013.
They
should able to face the Commonwealth and take up the matter with them, Bah
said. However, he admitted that “It would be difficult to defend a country that
had (its image) badly tarnished of bad human rights record and governance”.
Since
coming to power in 1994 in a bloodless military coup, President Jammeh had been
blaming the colonialists over exploitation of The Gambia in particular and
Africa in general.
But Mr
Bah said blaming the colonialists is not acceptable anymore. “You cannot be
blaming somebody for your failure after nearly 50 years of independence. Those
days are gone, people have gone out of that era,” the NRP leader argued.
Withdrawal
is not the solution to the problem. The fact is that The Gambia Government must
rethink its decision, rejoin the Commonwealth, attend the upcoming Commonwealth
summit in Sri Lanka and defend their position, he advised.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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