Fatoumata
Jahumpa Ceesay, a former Speaker of the National Assembly under the Government
of President Yahya Jammeh, has asked President Jammeh to accept the result of
the December 1 Presidential election, and agree on “a peaceful, dignified and
amicable exit” for President-elect Adama Barrow to assume office come January
19 this year.
Now
a Consultant on Gender/Children; Governance; Elections; Parliamentary and
Peace/Conflict Resolution, Mrs Jahumpa Ceesay, who has been a visible and
strong advocate for the development plans, policies and mission of the APRC
party, stated: “…With utmost respect and great affection for you, your family
and the Gambian people, I believe strongly that it will be in the supreme
interest of our people, our country, sub-region and for the preservation of
your handsome legacy, to work with your colleagues in ECOWAS, as well as the
AU, UN, OIC, EU, Gambia Bar Association (GBA), Gambia Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (GCCI), your current serving ambassadors, civil society groups,
including religious, women, youth and student groups, as well as the security
chiefs; to agree on a peaceful, dignified and amicable exit for you in a manner
befitting of a Head of State. This will
make way for the President-elect to continue the work that you have started.”
The
statement of Mrs Jahumpa Ceesay, commonly known as FJC, is as follows:
ON
THE POLITICAL IMPASSE IN THE GAMBIA
Your
Excellency, Sir, please accept warmest fraternal greetings from me and on
behalf of my family; to you Mr. President and to Her Excellency First Lady
Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh and to first family. As we have just celebrated the
birth of the Prophet (SWT), Jesus Christ (RA) and we prepare to welcome the New
Year, I first want to take this early opportunity to pray for your continued
good health and long life Your Excellency, and that of your family and all
Gambians.
I
wish to rededicate my commitment to your great vision to make the Gambia a
modern country and one of the leading nations in Africa and throughout the
world. I further want to reaffirm my unfaltering support for these plans and to
pledge to you that the mission will be completed Insha Allah, whilst wishing
you a happy and prosperous 2017 in advance. I also want to seize the same
opportunity Your Excellency, to thank you for the opportunities that you gave
to me and my family, as well as to the many Gambians, to contribute, in our
small way, to the massive development and progress you have brought to the
people of the Gambia in the twenty two years of your rule.
My
family and I will forever be grateful to Your Excellency for your generosity
and your great vision.
Sir, personally, I owe you a great debt of
gratitude, because you gave me the opportunity to represent my country in the
great offices of our nation, the sub-region of West Africa, the African
Continent and beyond. It is during your glorious tenure that I ascended the
high offices of the Speaker of the National Assembly, First Female Deputy
Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association, and as Your former Director of Press and Public Relations and now
a Consultant on Gender/Children; Governance; Elections; Parliamentary and
Peace/Conflict Resolution.
I
have also been a visible and strong advocate for the development plans,
policies and mission of our great party the APRC to transform the Gambia into a
middle income country in the shortest possible time. So thank you, Your
Excellency, for laying a firm foundation for a modern Gambia, in just 22 years
and for the good fortune you bestowed on me. Your great achievements as
President of the Second Republic are already documented in history and you have
in the process, carved an indelible place for yourself in the history of our
great nation. It is with a deep sense of foreboding, Your Excellency that I
write this plea addressed to Your Excellency, as a former Speaker of the
National Assembly, and in my personal capacity as a private citizen of the
Gambia and as Peace and Development Advocate with special interest in the
welfare of Women/Children and Good Governance. I write it with the clear
knowledge of the consequences of civil conflict on our women and children, and
it is this that I respectfully ask Your Excellency to reflect on at this most
difficult time in our country’s history, as you prepare to exit in grace and
dignity.
Having
said that Your Excellency and following extensive consultation, several
concerned people, both inside and outside of the Gambia have asked for my
personal intervention in this political impasse that ensued after the
Presidential election of 1st December 2016, in which Mr. Adama Barrow was
elected as incoming President, in a free and fair election.
I
must appeal to you Your Excellency and my dear brother, that my pride and
elation in you and your family knew no bounds upon hearing the glowing tributes
and respect that were lavished on you specifically and to the Gambian people
generally; when you graciously conceded defeat and publicly congratulated the
President-elect Mr Adama Barrow for his handsome victory
Therefore,
on the 2nd of December 2016, you added yet another achievement to your many
other achievements, by showing the world that the Gambia is a democracy and
Gambians are democratic, and we can have a peaceful transfer of power through
constitutional means. You confounded the critics and impressed the world with
your mature gesture of magnanimity in defeat and proved once again that you are
a true democrat, a true Pan-Africanist and a devout Muslim in faith.
Your
Excellency in your televised congratulatory telephone call to President-elect
Mr. Barrow, you graciously informed him that his victory is the decision of
Allah (SWT) and that you believe in whatever Allah decrees. To that end let me
remind you, most respectfully of the long standing adage that, “Man proposes
and God decides”, so your unwavering belief in Allah (SWT), must now convince
you that Allah is Raheem and it is HE who controls our fates. Your Excellency,
being born and bred in a family that is endowed with proven political pedigree,
I understand the idea of winning and losing electoral contests.
Therefore,
with utmost respect and great affection for you, your family and the Gambian
people, I believe strongly that it will be in the supreme interest of our
people, our country, sub-region and for the preservation of your handsome
legacy, to work with your colleagues in ECOWAS, as well as the AU, UN, OIC, EU,
Gambia Bar Association (GBA), Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI),
your current serving ambassadors, civil society groups, including religious,
women, youth and student groups, as well as the security chiefs; to agree on a
peaceful, dignified and amicable exit for you in a manner befitting of a Head
of State.
This
will make way for the President-elect to continue the work that you have
started.
I
wish to further suggest that you and the President–elect co-chair such a
meeting of stakeholders, similar to what is being done in Ghana currently. Such
an arrangement will further underscore your credible claim of putting the
Gambia first in all your actions and intentions. Your Excellency, this action
will also cement your commitment to the protection and preservation of the 1997
Constitution of the Gambia, to which you swore an
oath
of allegiance, in which you pledged to execute your obligations under that
constitution without fear, favour, affection or ill will, whilst upholding that
Oath of Office.
I
truly believe Your Excellency that if you listen objectively to your colleagues
in ECOWAS, tasked with facilitating a peaceful transfer of power to
President–elect Barrow, you will find agreement that will preserve the peace
and avoid conflict. Your Excellency, Sir, my dear brother, I happily recall
your often quoted statement that the women, the children and the youth, are
your number one priority in your development blueprint. As a woman and child
rights advocate; and on behalf of these vulnerable groups, please Sir do all
that is in your God given powers to avert violent conflict, such as those that
have claimed the lives of thousands of women and children in our sub-region in
the last three decades and destroyed their future prospects. This I hope will
never happen in the Gambia under your sterling Presidency of our beloved
country.
Your
Excellency please be rest assured of my continued support and prayers, as you
work with your peers and your citizens, to find a peaceful resolution to this
political impasse. You are fond and proud of saying that when you came in 1994,
not even a chicken was killed. I hope as you exit the government, that the same
be said of your exit, this time, may it be said that not even a fly was
swatted.
Finally
Your Excellency, let me pray that in this work may Allah (SWT) strengthen your
will and your hands to reach a peaceful exit following your glorious tenure of
22 years. Please be further assured Your Excellency, of my continuous high
regards and affection for you and your family. May God bless you, the First
Lady H.E. Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh and your beautiful children Mariam and
Muhammed Jammeh.
Season’s
greetings and God bless you all.
Affectionately
……………………………
Hon.
Dr. Mrs. Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay
Consultant
Cc:
H.E.
Mrs. Ellen JOHN- SIRLEAAF
Chairperson
of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of
The
ECOWAS/CEDEAO and President of LIBERIA.
H.E.
General Muhammadu BUHARI,
President
of the Federal Republic of NIGERIA.
H.E. Dr. Ernest Bai KOROMA
President
of the Republic of SIERRA LEONE
H.E.
Mr. John Dramani MAHAMA,
Out-going
President of the Republic of GHANA
H.E. Mr. Marcel de SOUZA,
President
of ECOWAS/CEDEAO
H.E.
Mr. Muhamed Ibn-CHAMBAS
Special
Representative, UN Secretary General and
Head
of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel
