Dear Sir,

Re: The Partial Reaction of the Police Force to Hate Speech Is and Will Continue To Be the Main Threat to Our National Security

I write to express my profound disappointment with your institution under your leadership with regards to the increasing rise of partiality on the execution of your duties as servants of the public.

And of course outraged as a concerned and proud son of the land because of your continuous demonstration of selectivism in addressing issues confronting the peaceful coexistence of our people as in the recent arrest of Honourable Abdoulie Saine following the distasteful audio he had earlier released.

Sir, if honesty should be our guiding principle as professionals and a people of one nation, you will wholeheartedly agree with me that his misplaced audio has been preceded by far more hateful, divisive and callous audio and/or video in the most immediate past that neither the police nor the government reacted to.

And one such dangerous utterance was that of Ms. Kalla Jaw of Dippakunda [a prominent member of the then campaign team of the current Mayor of KMC] whom out of resentment promised the cleansing of the Sarahuleh tribe after the Mayoral elections and no one including you and I can with sincerity tell what her threats to the Sarahuleh community would have reproduce if her candidate hadn’t won the elections and her utterances reacted to in the same way she did.

But despite her hateful speech and open threat to conflict between tribes; the police force with all the mountains of criminal codes it has and always mention during the pronouncement of its frivolous charges, never arrested nor cautioned her making it look like the animal kingdom where some animals are more equal than the others.

This practice Sir, is unprofessional, unGambian and above all hypocritical to say the least with fairness to you and your institution because the police force as a public institution and maintained by taxpayers’ money is obliged to at all times act with the highest degree of professionalism and impartiality to uphold the true values, norms and traditions of the Police Fraternity as known all over the world.

Furthermore Sir, there’s of course only one known Honourable Abdoulie Saine  in person but there are many of him in speaking whom also double as public officials, professionals like Journalists, spiritual leaders, private citizens and even ordinary Gambians that do not know the simple differentiation between the left and the right but are known and heard of as notorious propellers of hate speech and divisive agenda but never were they for once bothered about because of the culture of selective justice some of your officers are growing to wreck our nation’s longstanding peace but we will not sit-down to watch it happen.

And for the records Sir, I want to make it vividly clear that I do not and shall never subscribe to that stated by Mr. Saine but equally will not open my hands in embracement of selectivism by the custodians of law and order in our beloved motherland.

For selectivism in whatever form at whatever time and in whichever place is lethal thus a threat to humanity!

Moreover Sir, the abovementioned irresponsible and uncultured woman that promised the cleansing of the aforementioned tribe has a lot of affiliates with one notorious one being Bakary Trawally whom out of pleasure daily eject venomous garbage from his buccal cavity into our peace loving society miles away from his comfort zone in the USA in the name of promoting his political party and ethnic affiliation which in itself is a threat to our peaceful coexistence as a people of one nation but never was he also cautioned by your institution as you frequently claim concern about our nation’s peace .

This thus warrants the questions:

Is your institution’s inaction to such hate speech a result of lack of knowledge of all these open cases which are threats to our national security as you usually brand your routine arrests?

Or is it that some of them belong to a protected few that are considered to be above the conventional law you are sworn to protect and maintain thus giving them the immunity to rain on any they so wish without an atom coming out of it?

Sir, I will beg for your indulgence to remind you and the readership that when Gambians lined up in front of the polling stations on the first of December twenty-sixteen, they lined up in anticipation of the promises they were given by the very people in government today – the custodians of our sacred book, the constitution!

And of the numerous promises was that of a redemption of the common good; a good where all will be accorded an equal share of justice, citizenship and decision making with regards to the affairs of our country – The Gambia. And they were for sure promised that all we will do today will be based on merits and that treatments will be just to each and every citizen.

Sadly, these magnificent promises got defeated like an aborted pregnancy of a newly married bride as in the continuous display of bigotry and discrimination by a selected few towards a section of our community and enabled by the selective justice some officers of the very institution supposed to provide equality before the law are practising.

And this takes me to a visit of memory lane with a reminder of the unprofessional arrest of one Mr. Omar Touray of Gunjur whom out of exercise of his non-negotiable right to free speech as accorded by the principles of democracy, was subjected to the most disgusting humiliation by an unknown militia group of a supposed democratic country.

Indeed ironic it is!

However, a lot subjecting the same or worst vile messages without remorse like that of Mr. Touray to the President, other public officials and ordinary citizens, that do not even know of their existence, aren’t cautioned by the Police Force for they are above correction by the same law that govern each and every citizen.

Sir, history as they say, is meant to teach mankind a lesson so as to make amends to the past but many unfortunately do see and use it a souvenir to watch over and this is sadly being daily demonstrated in the so called “New Gambia” of forgetfulness of the immediate past as in the embracement of the very wrongs of the past as rights today.

And the continuity of this selectivity in your institution’s reaction to hate speech will/can only serve as nutrient to the growth of bigotry and discrimination which both are precursors of societal disorder with Rwanda, Somalia and many other nations serving as classic case studies.

Therefore, I hope with optimism that your institution entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order under your leadership, will take note of this humble review and prove me and a lot more Gambians wrong by letting it serve its purpose professionally through the practice of neutrality in addressing all societal issues as doing so will guarantee you the leader, an ability to tomorrow raise your head with dignity and pride whenever history recalls your name.

Yours in nation building,

Muhammëd Téks Tékanyi