In a video clip circulating on major social media platforms, including Facebook and several online news media platforms, the former ruling APRC parliamentarian Borry Colley has openly and publicly called on his fellow ethnic Jolas to rally behind a fellow Jola, Bakary Badjie in the mayoral contest for Kanifing Municipality. He has also attacked Badjie’s main rival, the incumbent of KMC, Talib Bensouda, as ‘someone from Lebanon’. His comments have been flagged as hate speech.  

Context 

Borry Colley is a member of the former ruling APRC party, which has formed an alliance with the ruling NPP. The candidate for the NPP-APRC alliance is Bakary Badjie, who is seeking to unseat Talib Bensouda as mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council. Mayor Bensouda is seeking re-election on the ticket of main opposition UDP. 

The election for mayors and chairpersons is slated for Saturday May 20. Election campaign is in high gear ahead of the polls, characterised by mass political rallies. Malagen has confirmed that Mr Colley made the remarks at an NPP mass rally in Tallinding attended by mayoral candidate Bakary Badjie, Speaker of the National Assembly Fabakary Tombong Jatta who is also the head of APRC, deputy Speaker Seedy Njie, presidential advisor Dou Sanno, former mayor Yankuba Colley among other high profile NPP-APRC officials. The meeting was held on May 8 at Tallinding Bantaba. 

Borry’s comments seem to be in response to earlier comments made by Mayor Bensouda, who had accused his predecessor Yankuba Colley, of turning the Council into a political bureau, attracting people from Casamance. The reactions that followed appears to indicate that former mayor, Yankuba Colley, and now Borry Colley, have taken Bensouda’s ‘people from Casamance’ comments to mean ethnic Jolas.   

What Borry said: 

Speaking in Jola, and translated in Mandinka, Borry said: “To all Jolas, Bakary Badjie is your relative, he’s your son. I call on all of you to give him your vote. I have families in KM and in the West Coast and I will protect my family. Therefore, anyone who is a Jola in KM, or is related to Jolas, give your vote to Bakary Badjie, the candidate sponsored by the APRC-NPP alliance. In Jola, we say ummmm. For someone [Talib] who is from Lebanon to come and insult Jolas in The Gambia, if you’re a Jola, then we will know.”

Why the statement is hate speech 

In flagging the comments as hate speech, Malagen has considered Borry’s status in society. He is a former National Assembly Member for Foni Bondali. The district has a population of over seven thousand people, as per 2013 Census. He is an executive member of the APRC, one of the main political parties in the country. He had also served as deputy chief of protocol at the Office of the President under former President Yahya Jammeh. He therefore is a man of respectable influence in the country, and his community in particular. 

By openly and publicly calling on his fellow ethnic Jolas to vote for Bakary Badjie based on his ethnicity and against Bensouda based on his origin, Bora’s comments are a classic case of ethnic politics. They are implicitly hateful as, in reference to the UN definition of hate speech, he uses ‘discriminatory language with reference to a person’ on the basis of who he is. 

Conclusions 

The NPP-APRC alliance – and all other parties – should institute effective intra-party investigative and disciplinary mechanisms. Such mechanisms may be needed even for various campaign teams. For example, Candidate Bakary Badjie should have a disciplinary mechanism as part of his campaign structures. 

Moreover, when the hate speech happened, Bakary Badjie and/or other influential speakers should have addressed it in a timely manner and with due prominence. Unfortunately, from our findings, Borry’s remarks were not addressed by any of the speakers. Instead, he was cheered on and applauded by the audience. 

The NPP-APRC alliance should consider taking disciplinary action against Mr Colley as punishment for his conduct, and for deterrent purposes. The alliance or Bakary Badjie’s campaign should issue a statement to condemn Colley’s remarks and to dissociate from it. 

About Malagen media monitoring 

Malagen media monitoring tracks and counters mis/disinformation, hate speech and dangerous speech. 

Report to Us:

Have you seen any mis/disinformation, hate speech or dangerous speech? Please, report to us via this email editor.malagen@gmail.com or call/WhatsApp us on +220 308 6738. 

This hate speech alert was published with the support from the UN Peacebuilding Fund through UNESCO Dakar office under the project: countering hate speech and promoting responsible digital citizenship in The Gambia. The project is being implemented by the Open Media Centre (OMC), the publisher of Malagen.