One of the strangest initiatives, from one of the burrowing owl of Gambia’s national coffers, who suddenly recovered from her decades-long hibernation on list of daunting challenges that almost all first ladies care passionately about — as her elections draws to a close. This has erupted so much firestorm of outrage and unfettered form of anger because she has always written off our nation issues with her silence as mere afterthoughts or viewed our worries as Irreverence to her convictions. To begin with, since her arrival, she took our national coffers as a prisoners war in a chokehold position— to comfort her desires with luxury. Ironically, she perfected her husband’s skills of an unbroken trail of corruption, with their usual sequestration cut-and-dried exercise on many Gambian business and aid money given to the poor nation.

What’s happened isn’t especially surprising— because everything she does perhaps well intentioned, come with major asterisks. There’s no question the foster children’s in the system needs help and someone of a star power to highlight their cause, but not from someone who been trying to close the door our nation eagerly opened to all with a compassionate heart. It’s incredible that, the way they went about soliciting funds in Dollars currency from business and world leaders, especially during the politics of the moment in exchanged for a photo op’s generated so much passionate outrage.

All in all, given the sad history of her lack of openness and accountability in past fundraising events, leaves additional questions because in the aftermaths of such events, she disappears to USA. The biggest worry about her sudden involvement, made people to cast doubt about whether the money reached its intended victims. That’s right, a year ago, it would have seemed unfathomable for first lady to speak few words to Gambians, but she breaks that mold now. Even more alarming, what also should serve as a poignant reminder is that— any programs she is involved with, were such a bait-and-switch that left Gambians mired in unsustainable levels of gush of red ink debt. In addition, her status as First lady, accorded her great wealth and unusual privilege, but her record over 16 years is one of greed, avarice and irresponsibility.

The way these couples settled their long grievances of poverty growing up from rags to riches, is sadly with injustices to our nation coffers and business to turned themselves into depraved billionaires without an ethical core. A glaring example sprang from Gambia’s once manageable debt has gone rotten and rancid —into a crushing financial burden because of their actions. Her abrasive personality and coarseness of manner, invites so much anger, frustration, indifference and even contempt because — she never let the incessant bad news of husband distracts her nor sympathizes with Gambians on our loss, pain and unspeakable sadness.

She does not possess any requisite qualities that inspires Gambian women nor developed an appreciation and understanding of the real-life concerns of women.

It is almost surreal when you stop and think this woman didn’t intervene on behalf our baby Isha, prevailing on her husband to release the tortured women of April 14th, walking through think bushes in villages with Dr. Isatou Touray or Amie Bojang of Gamcotrap — to lend her star power to the FMG issues and early marriage issues at the times when the women of the country really needed her voice the most. She could have won the respect of Gambians and earned a Nobel price or featured as one of the most influential first lady. We could go on with issues but her persona is the antithesis to our values. Whatever she advocates for at a particular time, does not closely aligns with our current issues.

Her body language or facial expressions does not show that warm magnetism, infectious kindness— when she is around our fine hard working mothers or our precious children. The Gambian voter’s seriousness for coalition, have helped to awaken the Jammeh family everywhere from their decades-long hibernation on issues that matters most to Gambians. Zainab whom largely has been out of the limelight on list of daunting challenges of events that she could change, has finally thrust herself into one of the national emotional issues for all of the wrong reasons. Suddenly, their ears are all perked with disbelief watching the implosion of internal struggles, between the warring factions of hard-liners within their party, that suddenly branched off to support the GDC as a bridge to the coalition.

Perhaps unbeknownst to many, though, she is the reason why the pulse of the bottom of our national foreign reserve coffers” made in china label” are visible. The nation remains on its current fiscal trajectory downward spiral because of their actions. It is a known fact that they do not appreciates anything beyond the preservation of their titles. She seems simply to have lost her grip on reality of her prized misadventures, but the price tag of her hits on our national coffers keep coming. Worst of all, many people claim that her devotion to her agenda of enriching herself and her past actions that results in many Gambians losing their jobs, reveals another closed minded person with lethal consequences. They show no desire to rein in spending of what they collect from Gambians or leaving the corridors of power anytime soon.

Yaya Jammeh and his regime are engaged in fraudulent voter card buying using money and intimidation. In an unusual public display, the military is also simultaneously working to cut through the political noise by touring the country unnecessarily, thus confirming the long-standing fears of observers. Thankfully, they are aware that they have already lost the pulse of the power they once though were secure in their hands. This explains why they have been recently loud and vituperative. Given the enormous crises facing our country, it is just too late for the same old tactics that worked for the past twenty-two years thinking it will further amplifying their stance. Every Gambian who votes for the coalition have a unique opportunity for a worthy legacy second to none in history. We Shall pick up from the songs achieved in our hearts that shall echo all over the ethos of our country – Home again.

By Habib ( A Concerned Gambian)

Over the past elections cycles, Yaya Jammeh perfected the art of snatching the Gambians wishes of change from the jaws of victory by using so many compounding fraudulent factors and lack of lock step unity of the opposition “coalition “to give himself a landslide victory. Thereafter, he adopted a default campaign mode of blind folding Gambians, using brute force that crosses the moral line to make people fearful of him and regaling the public with tales of false history. Every respectable religious figure in Gambia and the voice of conscience have tried to work tirelessly for Jammeh to strip the worst of his moral excesses but they failed. The EU and world bodies such as UN, have tried to comb through the regimes bad habits and remove archaic and unnecessary brutal policies but he begins pulling out their welcome mats. African statesmen have all tried a matchmaking process to help connect him with his conscience of relishing power but failed. He seems incapable of working with human beings together on anything because he deplorably fight to curtail anything that will move the country forward.

But with 22 years staying in power comes a track record we simply cannot put our backing behind. One cannot be weeding through the thousands of the regimes crimes and issues without shedding tears or losing a piece of your heart. People from all sects of life and businesses continue fleeing the Gambia because of crushing regulations, villains of NIA offered exemptions from the law for crimes they commit and limited economic opportunities. The regime elites are so particularly overzealous with power and it the benefits that they refused to look down their noses to see failures at every level. Instead of providing the leadership the country needs by putting out the welcome mat— in reaching out across the political aisles for citizens who has plenty of government experience under his belt in addressing issues concerning from fiscal prudence to bringing the nation together and denying the unbridled ambitions of the few who put self-interest rather than nation’s interest, he instead chose a supermajority of the incompetent domineering predilections and very divisive people choking our institutions to death.

Particularly so these days, Yaya Jammeh boldly abandoned publicly— all pretense of his promises and began espousing his unthoughtful mental philosophy. He refused to soar above issues that divide Gambia and decided to settle every grievances or guilty consciences he had growing up. It’s felt like from that moment, Gambian simply covered their eyes and kissed “Death” to its face unknowingly. We are still paying for our past mistakes dearly and price tag of this regime with — our lives, blood, money, our heritage, our traditions, our dignity, and our national identity. Where we expected hands-off approach to encourage business grow and competitively bidding various services, they acceded to monopolistic ideology by resorting to detrimental crony capitalism of sweetheart deals for special interests with APRC political connections causing too much too much imbalance. Where we expected the regime to find areas of common ground by building relationships with local communities—that possessed interesting ideas to developed their neighborhood, he began denying them developmental funds provided by EU that lead to the backway to EU. They went further thwarting the skills of experience Gambians on the other side of the aisle who shares a common commitment to the nation —to fix back our broken institutions such as electric company or ferry services by placing people who speaks only the local dialect or patwah at best (broken English) or their drivers of yesterday to head them in their respective institutions.

As Gambia continues to nosedive even further into uncharted territories of brutal dictatorship, he became so comfortable that —they began using of enormous power of the state machinery to settle political scores and do away his opponents. His regime ears, became apparently — not even attuned to the cries of pity or trail of tears from the Gambians —asking them to be more compassionate toward their fellow citizens and stop the ceaseless abuse of Gambians. And with all the bad reasons: The Regime have long thrived on its machinations divisive tactics, intimidation of politicians and manipulation of the unsuspecting Gambians minds. However, the never ending cycle of violence in this 2016 banner calendar year which lefts of with so many unfathomable monuments of pains in our history. This election cycle, emotions and tensions are particularly high, almost every Gambian household have been affected by the regime one way or multiple fronts. To that end, it gave the opposition parties and Gambian people the much needed rude awakening to finally held hands together and walk in lockstep of unity to climb that high mountain of coalition.

Suddenly as December 1st approaches, Yaya Jammeh saw the clouds of the cleansing rain of love for each other we need to wash off mistrust forming in the sky of Gambia. The clouds of happy thoughts to wash away suspicion of each other and clouds that hold the rain of goodwill to wash off division caused by APRC regime chameleon tendencies gathering to fall. He looked around and saw political landmines he buried everywhere and decided a plan B to minimize damage by retracing his exit plan, instead of relying on rosy predictions of anchor babies of the neighboring country— whom are his enablers of security heads. He is now realizing he is on thin ice and immediately withdraw Gambia from ICC. He understands fully well that these people even though some have intermarried among us, do not understand our cherished values of empathy, cared about our religious customs and culture of unlimited compassion of Gambians towards one another.

Deservedly so and cumulatively, Yaya Jammeh knows very well—he will have to shoulder the actions of anchor babies from our neighboring country, his shrewd enablers of security heads busy enjoying his lifestyle, the actions of incompetent easy riders bankrupting the country and freeloaders of mercenary’s judges. Yaya Jammeh never falls short to make Gambia suffer a tsunami of bad publicity even though he ran away from the public to avoid the thorny Orientals of his mere words. In a broader sense, Yaya Jammeh does not need help for bad publicity because —his conduct in numerous controversies always attract increasingly fierce criticism. In another worrisome sign, the reports of possible rejection of asylum of Osman Sonko’s — one of the architects of death and axil of evil, might have prompted him to withdraw Gambia from ICC. Who knows when it comes to Yaya Jammeh because you will never get the honest truth about anything. Well, Yaya Jammeh chose out of his free will to bent Gambia out of shape to suit his vision of old times of barbarism. He spent his presidency fanning the flames of distrust to the point of destroying all our neighborhoods and communities. He has proven to be patently dishonest. No amount of his gesture can be the healing balm to emotionally inflamed communities and our beloved country he totally destroyed. Fortunately, Gambians are beginning to remember what was once lost. The coalition will give his regime the shellacking it needs to ever become history. Hopefully, none of our generations yet to come will have to go through this pain again.

By Habib ( A Concerned Gambian)

Gambians are determined to separate satire from reality come December 1st. The battle to reclaim Gambia’s political soul has just began from fatally flawed characters who have hijacked our country and put us into extraordinarily risky territory. Our hopes of democracy can’t even die of old age because Yaya Jammeh has reformed it to death using dictatorship tendencies. The regime has been attacking Gambia’s own immune systems of our cherished values, cultural norms, our tolerance and now our nation is eventually made sick from the virus of dictatorship. Gambians are now aware the disorder of illness dictatorship and the chaos syndrome of its compounds effects in our society. It has other causes, too: Yaya Jammeh’s intemperate figure and rhetoric has crossed over into the downright dangerous. The list of things the regime can do for Gambia is growing shorter and no one is guaranteed immunity from their tragedy; end of story. They said much, overstayed too long, accomplished very little and enmeshed Gambia in serious scandals that put us in world spotlights. Therein, Gambians have enough of the enslavement, subjugation, marginalization and exploitation.

Moreover, Gambians looked deep into their own consciences, rummaging for one good thing- which the regime has done that have the approval of majority Gambians and couldn’t find anything resembling a common ground with the regime. Yaya Jammeh himself has proven to be the same mean-spirited closed mind with lethal consequences. We cannot afford to swallow the unpleasant medicine of a fare hike to a supercharged dictatorship nor pick our country’s own poison again in the coming election cycle. From the moment Yaya Jammeh romped himself into our State house, scandal and controversy have followed us as a nation. The unprecedented length of our current stay of this regime in our nation, have only exacerbated these problems much more — as regime continues to further divide the magnitude of the challenges our country faces up in many ways. It is very abhorrent that our children’s, our schools and communities—are forced to celebrate the day we lost our beloved country to dictatorship in the 1994 coup de tat— to the violence on our women, genocide directed at our politicians and imperialism that followed his arrival at our Statehouse.

By and large, he lacks anything resembling self-discipline, is prone to temper tantrums and appears utterly unable to focus on matters of policy that benefit our country. And the values he has espoused for the last two decades, bear no resemblance to traditional Gambian values or positions. The regime has lost credibility with their incoherent foreign policy — that has toss Gambia overboard form commonwealth which benefited us greatly, while driving us closer to fellow autocrat leaders who failed their nations, putting us right into neighboring countries centuries of territorial disputes —which is already causing enormous damage to this nation’s reputation around
the world. One thing is quite obvious is—we have moral obligation save our country. Multi-generational solutions are needed because all the pillars which held us as a nationhood have been destroyed beyond recognition. We need our elders with vast experience and a lifelong dedication to public service reversing the spiral of dictatorship.

This is the starkest political choice in our living memory. It’s telling that so many APRC members— have share the existential same concerns about the directions of our country. The party’s noisy breakdown has been echoed eerily. They have distanced themselves from their party’s leader and finding a second home at the GDC party. They finally have become victim of their own hubris, believing the pain he is inflicting on Gambians for people to fear him and miscalculating the scandals he puts the country without limits will, will made stay on power until his demise at old age. As it turned out, he lacks broad popular support but the forces of evil he aroused in our country, have helped him outlive his welcome. It has become apparent he is indifferent to our needs and also to the harm of his deathly policies he has been inflicting in Gambian communities. Given the dysfunction the regime has caused to our nation, it hardly surprising that —there are newer faces on the political scene. The blood of the dead is a stain that cannot be rubbed out of every Gambians memory. It’s a sad with the state of affairs of our country, it takes politics of the fear of losing this election, for him to be very violent on opposition leaders and for him to speak ill of someone, and when he finally does, it’s a fellow Gambian.

In light of the exhausting patience, the Gambia have given Yaya Jammeh twenty-two years’ chance to prove himself but he has pushed us to the brink. The EU whom use to serve as intermediaries’ between us and him, overtime, have seen their influence fade as he become more individualistic and unaccountable about their AID money given to Gambians. Astonishingly, the regime seems incapable of working together with Gambians on anything, even when our interests align. Let’s be aware the regime might be posting some people as turncoat or troublemakers, whose efforts thus far have tied in knots on the coalition rope, for a sole purpose of obstructing our victory—well, everything. We cannot swallow the unpleasant medicine, of supercharged dictatorship again and gloating about its after effects in 2017 moving forward. The times also requires all of our opposition leaders and aspiring candidates to envisions the needs and hopes of Gambians for a better hopeful future. We are confident that this time we shall get it right. There are optimistic signs everywhere that gives us a chance to square our shoulders again.

By Habib ( A Concerned Gambian)

The regime propaganda machinations have been very effective over the past twenty-two year putting meat on the conceptual bones of absurdities—that erroneously vilifies the opposition parties, causing needless worries of fears about the opposition in the mind of some Gambians. Nevertheless, they are hoping too that Gambians will hold out hope of a new beginning with the opposition for a hard –nosed settlement on the continuation of the status quo. Today’s fluid and murky situation of our country should be an eye opener that— we need change of leadership, fresh thinking to meet challenges and the need for unorthodox maneuvers to steer our country back to the right direction. They are desperately trying to put uncertainties in the minds of some unsuspecting Gambians — with a big misleading — dishonest statement that— the opposition would quickly spin up a new War in Gambia by settling scores with the Gambians— if voted into office. To that effect, they are going down meekly hiding behind tall grasses whiles the opposition candidates are on tour, fooling Gambians by engaging into bad illegal practices of buying their voters cards and going door to door misrepresenting themselves as opposition vying for GOFER convention— with the sole purpose of creating animosity within the opposition camps.

It is hard to believe despite all the events of dark terror that made world headlines, adversarial relationship that harms us more than benefit us, challenges of hardship that knocks the doors of every Gambia family, the regime propaganda machinations have been extraordinarily effective in maintaining the dishonest statement that— the opposition will spin up a new kind of war against members of the regime. Well Yaya Jammeh’s family is living freely among us here and no one has their time or much think about revenge. That’s not our nature. We are good descent people who just want opportunity to thrive. Most of the former regime agents or people who harmed our families, are in Senegal and elsewhere to this day enjoying our benevolence and seeking our assistance . Does any Gambian in their right minds think Halifa Sallah, lawyer Darboe, Isatou Tourey, Fatoumata Tambajang and rest of the opposition will even harm even a fly? Then why are Gambians keeping our opposition on their heels by tiptoeing right up to — or over — implicit traps set up by the regime? It seams sometimes, people still display openly remarkably friendly attitude towards the regime killing our fellow citizens and openly display their displeasures on the matters of significance “ Coaliation”— our only opposition’s parties guiding light to victory . The regime has shown over and again that they cannot be trusted to strike any kind of mutually advantageous deal for the opposition, except terror against their member as evident on April14-16 events.

The regime is tainted forever with scandals that degraded of moral standards of our nation. The self-inflected blow of stonewalling Gambians out of opportunities have now back fired on them. Also the mysterious practices of raffling our lives and blood for the pleasures of their idols/spiritual doctors’ evil wishes, have shielded our country from much needed blessings to prosper. We were all sadden by the abrupt cutting of diplomatic relations with commonwealth and other nations—that ended the dreams of many Gambians education ambitions— at the high institutions at Taiwan. To that end, they are putting dust in the eyes of Gambians who are blithely unaware of their strategy for the general election slaughter of the oppositions, just to avoid the shellacking that will disgrace them in history. Even though a record number of Gambians believe the Gambian dream is out of reach and most have fallen to the crack of their ambitions ladders— to the risky backway journeys, some exiled out of the country, whiles others send early to their graves. it is all because of their dreams intertwines with the dictator’s absolute love of power. We should remind our fellow Gambians about how much pain there is in this country and life has gotten worse for people like them over the last twenty-two years. The better course for all Gambians—including the diasporians— who are appalled by this prospect of the regime to gain legitimacy again— should not to step back and take the long view of leaving all the work on the shoulders of the opposition candidates. The job for the rest of us is to figure out the right response of education our families and friends to standup with the opposition—with their votes in meeting that challenged.

There isn’t a crisis of solidarity but the crisis of misconceptions, which is just slowing the walk to coalition line. Once we cross that line, then solidarity can be rekindled nationally. We are pervasively betrayed by Yaya Jammeh with his big flashing light of dictatorship— that has partly blinded some of our folks. We are imprisoned by his old reticent—stoical ideal ideology of the past, and his policies with awashed our country into moral and financial debts of enormous proportions. We have tasked our opposition to build the coalition ladder of hope— to rescue our country adrift by the toxic waves of dictatorship that eat away all the pillars of our nationhood. The opposition are on our side to restore our traditions and allow us to dust off our values of ideals that aren’t working anymore. They have plans to curb out poor standards of education failing our kids and the high education dropout rates. They have policies to put an immediate stop the senseless high incarceration rates and free our elders at prisons around Gambia. They will work together to eliminate the rampant corruption practices that contributed stalling of opportunities. Eliminate the culture of intolerance that made us strangers in foreign lands and help bring back of brothers who fell through the cracks of their dreams into prisons of backway or our sisters— held against their wishes as domestic slaves in arab countries. They will create policies to enhance job growth and end the monopoly of business that contributed to the low labor force— that made our youths adrift into backway crisis.

Over the course of Gambian history, we produce patriot sons and daughters who took the responsibility to do one activity that leaps across the chasms of segmentation that afflict our country. Kunta Kinteh stood up against the practice of Slavery and the fight later picked on by Martin Luther King elsewhere. Sir Dawda and his compatriots stood up to rescue us from colonialism and GOD blessed their efforts with the vibrant democracy— that also gave Yaya Jammeh all the opportunities of life. Now, we are at that point again at the moment of history that a “Coalition” of all our political parties will untie the shoes of dictatorship for us to regain our national story line of the smiling coast of Africa again. Yes we can Gambia!

By Habib ( A Concerned Gambia)

The disjointed nationwide discussion about the December 1st presidential election has drawn plenty of observers now turned experts and the regime old guards—trying to get their arms around our momentum by — loudly weighing in, aspiring to trim our hopes with unparalleled cynicism and pessimism. We keep drying our tears because each time we make tremendous progress, these personalities will throw a thorn in the laurels misaligning everything and amending our hopes. That kind of obfuscation—intentional or not and from either side of the aisle—inhibits our focus on the regime, let alone help us. Although sometimes we are constrained by statements uttered with actual malice becoming a sore spot in our memories, this an unprecedented moment in Gambian history for us to be deterred from our cause, perhaps even more than usual, we have an obligation to weigh necessity against the wishes of the dictatorship whose regime has already severely impaired Gambia. The country as a whole already suffers from a massive backlog of needs but the deplorable daily injustices against our citizens, looms above all others.

The regime hamstrung itself long time ago when they intentionally walked away from the needs of Gambian people. Now they are working on preventing added tensions for a chance to pull themselves out of the gutter by busy shielding their leaders irredeemable deplorable, hoping to mask their records of intolerance, misogyny and pervading feeling of exclusion that does not augur well for our country. Conversely, no amount of boilerplate passionate speeches from the regime can change the political equation because the country is ready for change. These are the only things Yaya Jammeh and his regime are amazingly good at, instead of apologizing to Gambians for failing us. Yaya Jammeh has swept in a cultural revolution to eviscerate traces of our past. Our venerable streets are being renamed after the regime elites who fanned the divisions in our society today. The macro aggression of the NIA has also reached unprecedented levels to sway people away from their displeasures and incorporate things that don’t resonate with our DNA as Gambians. All these should remind Gambians of the fierce urgency of now— in making this regime history.

It’s easy to forget also, the disastrous turn the dictatorship has completely razed our society too. It’s increasingly unfashionable to celebrate our once established traditional core values of empathy, neighborliness, truthfulness and trustworthiness that guided our aspirations or even translate them into concrete mechanisms in our daily lives. Those were the things that tied us together as one Gambian family but it appears everything is being swapped with the regimes ideological political configurations. Neither are our multicultural prospects made better by regime elites who fanned division, in effect, if not consciously, continuing to confused Gambians with Yaya Jammeh’s ideological political configurations. Those who secured the highest reaches in the national firmament are mostly cavalier about what their job responsibilities entails, but do not hesitate to take advantage of the situation — in stirring up enmity within their institutions.

Beyond the particulars, there’s plenty of work ahead to bridge the sore spot of political polarization apparent from the troubling rhetoric we hear from both sides of the political aisle. The Gambian people discontent about the murderous regime has become so widespread. We already have a guiding light of coalition to follow hoping it will lead us to victory in rejecting fortress dictatorship. Thus, the regimes primary aim is to prevent all parties from coalescing for them to maintain political monopoly. It’s difficult to see Gambia change for a better having a leader such as Yaya Jammeh who is as careless with his words and with his actions.

By Habib ( A Concerned Gambia)