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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Videos: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by Momodou[/i] [br]Misrepresentation and Harassment of EFSCRJ by Minister Ismaila Ceesay As the founder and Executive Director of EF Small Centre, I bear legal and moral responsibility to promote and defend the legality, legitimacy, integrity, and credibility of the Centre. This responsibility becomes even more urgent and necessary when the Centre comes under unfair, malicious, and discriminatory attack from none other than a state minister. On Tuesday, January 20, on Coffee Time with Peter Gomez on West Coast Radio, the Minister of information, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, once again launched an unwarranted public attack against the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) and myself, claiming that the organization is a “one-man entity” and therefore lacks institutional standing. This claim is false, malicious, and reveals a troubling misunderstanding of what constitutes a formal institution. An institution is not defined by a fixed or arbitrary number of individuals. Rather, it is defined by its purpose, mandate, structure, rules, and legal recognition. History is replete with examples of institutions that began with a single founder and later grew into global entities. Microsoft, Facebook, and Amnesty International among many others all started as single-founder initiatives before evolving into influential institutions. There is no universal numerical threshold that determines institutional legitimacy. Institutions are functional, not numerical. EFSCRJ is a legally registered organization, duly recognized under the laws of the Gambia by the Ministry of Justice. By law, registration itself confers formal institutional status. Any suggestion that EFSCRJ “does not exist” as an institution is therefore not only incorrect but also a direct attack on its existence and legitimacy. That such a claim comes from a sitting minister who holds a PhD and previously lectured in political science at a university is deeply concerning and frankly embarrassing. More troubling, however, is that this attack goes far beyond semantics. It constitutes an assault on fundamental constitutional freedoms, including freedom of conscience, opinion, expression, and association. Whether EFSCRJ were founded by one person or many is legally irrelevant. The Constitution guarantees the right of every citizen and organization to participate in national affairs, influence public policy, and hold public officials accountable. It is precisely because EFSCRJ has exercised these rights consistently, rigorously, and effectively that it has become inconvenient to those in power. Unable to respond to the substantive governance, accountability, and corruption issues we raise, certain officials including Ismaila Ceesay have chosen instead to resort to character assassination and deliberate misrepresentation in an attempt to silence criticism. This pattern is not new. Long before Minister Ceesay’s anti-EFSCRJ outbursts, the President Adama Barrow himself publicly insinuated that I sought to “burn down this country,” a reckless, malicious, and cowardly claim aimed at delegitimizing dissent. Such tactics are characteristic of corrupt and increasingly authoritarian regimes. When scrutiny intensifies, they attack the messenger rather than address the message. Therefore, the tactics now being deployed by Ismaila Ceesay are neither peculiar nor unprecedented. History records how authoritarian officials have routinely weaponized propaganda, distortion, and character assassination as tools to silence dissent, control public discourse, and ultimately oppress society. Hitler’s information minister Joseph Goebbels perfected the method of repeating falsehoods, demonizing critics, and framing legitimate accountability voices as enemies of the state just to entrench power and suppress scrutiny. The same playbook is evident whenever public officials abandon reasoned engagement and instead resort to misinformation, delegitimization, and personal attacks against civic actors as characteristic of Dr. Ceesay. Such behavior is not a sign of strength or confidence in governance, rather it is the hallmark of insecurity, intolerance of accountability, and fear of an empowered and questioning citizenry. When it comes to Ismaila Ceesay, the irony is striking. A minister who was speaking against misinformation and disinformation in that interview was himself propagating falsehoods in the same interview. Minister Ceesay knows beyond any doubt that EFSCRJ has staff, a physical office, an official website, and legal status. He has received formal correspondence from the Centre on multiple occasions. He has publicly acknowledged and given honorable mention to EFSCRJ at official functions. To now deny these basic facts is not ignorance, it is deliberate dishonesty. When individuals lack conviction and courage, they often choose expediency over integrity, even if it means attempting to destroy the reputation of others. That is what we are witnessing here. But EFSCRJ will not be distracted, intimidated, or silenced. We will continue to exercise our constitutional rights and fulfill our civic duty to demand transparency, accountability, and responsible governance in the interest of the Gambian people and the Republic. I wish to hereby demand Dr. Ismaila Ceesay to cease and desist from unwarranted misrepresentation and intimation of EF Small Centre for Rights and Justice. Failure to comply, I warn him that we reserve the right to take legal action against him. In the meantime, I put it to Dr. Ismaila Ceesay that EFSCRJ and myself, Madi Jobarteh shall continue without compromise to vigorously hold the State and all its agencies and agents accountable within the ambits of the law. That is a right and duty bestowed on us by the 1997 Constitution that we intend to fulfill and not betray. Public office is public property which derives its authority from the people and performs its functions on behalf of and for the welfare of the people as entrenched in Section 1(2) of the Constitution. In the performance of their functions and management of public resources, public institutions and officials must be transparent and accountable. In this regard, citizens have a right and duty to scrutinize, criticize, condemn, and challenge them, whether public officials like it or not. Hence, if Dr. Ceesay thinks that public office is a private or personal territory which is beyond public scrutiny and criticism, we advise him to vacate public office immediately. Otherwise, EF Small Centre and Madi Jobarteh are well prepared and ready to continue our unrelenting and uncompromising accountability work. …………………………………………………………..……….. Issued by Madi Jobarteh, Executive Director, EFSCRJ 24th January 2026 [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.