In a globalizing world marred by uncertainty and full of countless threats, the Gambian people continue to yearn for a leader and government that corresponds to their ideas and aspirations entering the 21^st Century. From the dawn of independence after wrestling the nation away from British colonial rule, the ethical values and bonds of civility which has come to identity the tiny West African nation has seen the country tagged with the ‘Smiling Coast’ of Africa label, thus synced with the people. We should never lose sight of that – and for better or worse, President Jawara deserves credit in steering the affairs of state post-independence and his dealings in the arena of foreign policy. Above all, the Gambian people have come to be synonymous with tolerance despite the ethnic mix which continues to afflict many of its neighbours, and this has seen the country become the envy of many across the continent.

The premise of this effort was meant to be a scathing attack on the person of Dr. Aisatou Touray for her treacherous behaviour in the just concluded unity convention. It was a betrayal of barbaric proportions and a scandal she may never recover from. Politicians will often cite the privilege of serving in public office but to display arrogance and a sense of entitlement as she did?! The woman has no fibre of democratic value in her, but – I shall let bygones be bygones. And I urge fellow Gambians to do the same ‘we are a tolerant people’ and forgiveness is a big part of that. However, this should serve as a future lesson to anyone attempting to fool the Gambian people, or lie your way into public office. To Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, Halifa Sallah, Amadou Barrow, OJ, Hamat Bah, and the rest of the signatories to this historic accord – ‘’Alaa Barakaah’’ Thank you ‘’Un Jaaraama’’ ‘’Jerreh gen Jeff’’.

In a fast-paced world of continuous noise and motion, it is worth gesturing at history from time to time and breathe, before embarking on any further steps. The people have spoken, and now more than ever waking up to their realities and divisive politics about the situation therein. Those divisions on religious and/or ethnic rhetoric has no place in Gambian society, nor anywhere else on planet earth! We have seen extreme language and tribal bashing from a desperate president and his side-kicks on the campaign trail gunning for pay-day at a later date – but we also remembered the tragedies of RWANDA, KENYA, and elsewhere! To put it plain, Gambians are tired-sick of hearing the same excuses of failures, same lies, and the same undelivered promises! The public deserve progressive thinking, bold and big ideas to transform agriculture, infrastructure of modern highways, rebuild our towns and brand new cities on a grand scale. Evidently, tortoise progress isn’t good enough. The people deserve better – and I suspect President Jammeh himself knows that!

We must also not lose sight of the fact that societies everywhere are under tremendous strain going through changes at a faster rate than, perhaps ideal. African traditions and cultures are invaded and at collision with those of the ‘West’ creating confusion and a culture clash amongst the youth and our elders respectively. Recently at a university seminar on ‘Human Rights’, I found myself quite maligned by peers for forcefully arguing that ‘’The traditional (Islam) and (Biblical) definition of marriage explicitly provides only between a man and a woman. Today, ‘Western societies’ pivot on a sexual cleavage of varying orientations where fantasies and confusions are medically adjudged as genuine – This is harming the family, and the traditional role of man. And it is about the only policy I agree with president Jammeh – hence we must guard against evil vices, allowing our men to be men, preserving some sense of dignity between the sexes! As the case with developed nations everywhere, the United States is fighting ‘met’ addiction ravaging several communities. Africa, the Gambian government in particular, must protect its youth against such harmful stimulants for a population of barely two million – who are to inherit farming and the future workforce in a race attaining the UN sustainable development goals blueprint.

Moving forward – the Gambia should never again accept cavalier leadership from a novice. The office of the president is too sacred and great for an untrained recruit, and the world too complicated with economic issues, and the complexities of foreign policy for on-the-job-learning. The track record of President Jammeh is scary enough to contemplate. The Gambian people are not asking for an unblemished or a perfect leader. What we demand, however, is a competent one and nothing else will do! But then again, the country deserves a benign head of state after the HELLISH status-quo the people have endured under APRC dictatorial rule. As polling day draws nearer, public opinion has it that Gambians will vote for a NEW GOVERNMENT in a landslide; one capable of steering the politico-economic affairs of state – and of their dreams right into an epoch of African progress. The voices gathered from the diaspora echoed similar sentiments with DUGA and such activists calling for TERM LIMITS as a roadblock to tyrannical rule and life-presidents.

In a campaign season of rising hopes, a section of imperious Gambian women are promoting a somewhat feminist agenda to be included into the conversation. Interestingly, however, this has raised eyebrows among certain quarters (men) but these are not new thoughts. In fact, the UN convention on Human Rights has enjoined on governments to prioritise tackling sexism and all forms of injustices women and girls face in everyday life. For the record, the Gambia shall never realise its full potential without the participation of women, and I have no doubt women will be part of the high table going forward. Although not well versed in constitutional affairs, I still urge the government to clearly legislate defining the remit and protection of civil society groups which are enhancing government’s work. ‘TANGO’ – The association of non-governmental organisations must reorganise aligning policies so as not to step-on-each other’s toes in their development programmes working side-by-side with government agencies across the country. However, NGO’s must maintain neutrality in political affairs except where explicitly stated. As a transparent and an accountable champion, I sincerely hope DUGA will soon join the fray on the ground with offices in Banjul, LRR, and BASSE regions respectively – analysing and scrutinizing the executive branch, especially, enhancing checks-and-balances and confidence within the system.

Gambia political analysts have declared in unison that: Ours shall be a democracy built on secular values and social justice. The government must seek to empower citizens where every member is equal and valued. And in terms of trade, the country must seek to revive its manufacturing industry so as to reduce the dependency ratio and susceptibility to price variations and currency fluctuations in the international market. The wealthy in society, foremost, must pay their fair share of taxes starting with the president and his cabinet colleagues. This shall help create a safety-net social programme to uplift the poor and marginalised amongst us enhancing social mobility. Such ideas in turn shall create a middle-class as the engine of our economy driving the retail sector and job creation.

The new government shall also establish an inter-faith adhoc council tasked with fostering closer bonds between the various ethnic groups and religions. In normal circumstances the Gambia does not need this – but we are living in extraordinary times necessitating dialogue so as to soften the blow of divisiveness President Jammeh has subdued Gambians under. His cunning plan was to induce Senegal into a cross-border war; and when this debacle failed, the plan then moved to an ethnic conflict within the country – of which ‘’ALLAH’’ (and the Gambian people) rose up and declared brotherhood with one another. Dictators will do anything to stay in power – It is up to you, THE PEOPLE, to wise up and plan ahead, so as not to be caught up in a trap!

One thing remains certain – Gambians, as a people and society shall rise again. Yes, our politics might seem little dark sometimes but that’s ok. From its origins in ancient Greek, democracy continues to be a work-in-process, never been perfected. It is like a work of art, you got to be chipping at it, every day finding ways to improve on it. And as blurry as the horizon permeates not knowing what the future holds in this defining election, the power of our democracy as reflected in the honourable men and women at the unprecedented ’Hotel Kairaba’ Convention has elevated us all reminiscent of our greats like, J.C Faye, E.F. Smalls, I.M Garba Jahumpa, S.M Dibba, and others.

LESSONS TO LEARN: In recent years the struggle rotated on the hills of solitude starring at a road to nowhere. But because of this agreement, however, the Gambian spirit has been united and strengthened. Today, we are a unified people, structured, getting stronger and prosperous each day. We have also learnt that envy and jealousy breed malicious gossip amongst us destroying the trust we are working hard to rebuild. And although it fair to assess that Gambian courage was tested and deeply shaken in a self-serving system, the shared experience of a hellish 22yrs dictatorship has renewed our RESOLVE. As progressive thinking people assembled on that faithful day, historians shall write that ‘’a revolution unsprung was lit alight by gallants of Gambian democracy at Hotel Kairaba in a progressive accord for the ages’’. Fellow Gambians – please respect ‘agreements’ and unite behind the flagbearer, Amadou Barrow, and together, we shall march towards the true definition of peace, progress, and prosperity.

Mr Gibril Saine

London

If the recent video of Yaya Jammeh have taught us anything, it is that after twenty-two years in power after ceasing our nation by staging Coup d’état, this man still lacks political deftness the presidency requires. The ideology he governs with is ill suited for the job of presidency and he perfectly demonstrated on camera for the whole world to bear witness — why he is the whirling disaster who is only about himself. Fiction is obviously to his taste, particularly fiction of his own making, that makes him remain on power. He cheerfully said whatever was convenient for him to say at that moment without reading a script. One requires enormous patience, a capacity to tolerate boredom just to listen to his speeches because — he will empty out all the awe and respect one has for people around him. He loves to portray himself as having a third eye and professing to have deceptive psychological powers, that enables him to communicate with the unseen.

This continues to be a nagging concern for all Gambians. He does these foolish things because he lacks the political deftness to get things done. it’s beyond the pale to openly make such calumnious statements about “Nothing will happen during constructions of the road this time around”, as if there were unseen species (Jinn’s) — preventing the construction all along. Didn’t he claim that the jinn’s voted for him in the past? How come then he denied them road development? It is breathtakingly hypocritical — suddenly after being exposed about ritual sacrifices, he wants us to believe that he is strangely reticent about the everyday hardships that bedevil the lives of the poor Gambians? Oddly enough, it is very troubling for 22years, this man never feel’s bad about the children you convoy kills on routine basis.

it’s clear that the rock-ribbed divisive dictator wouldn’t buck up the courage to stand behind his failed record — because has left behind a well-documented record of corruptions and all his misdeeds on Gambians have thrust upon him. It remains to be seen whether he can match his rhetoric with reality because he cheerfully ignores his responsibilities. Wherever he shows up or walks into, he adds more to his already long list of the whiff of interlocking networks of scandals — that causes our nation such degrading embarrassment. None of us should be under any illusions why anything he is involves himself, results in failure. He does not possess that steady pedantic skills that is necessary for governmental projects to be successful, but wouldn’t let those who have the necessary skills set to do their jobs without interfering.

The Depressing realities of Dictatorship at his best, left us in monstrous events of crisis. Hundreds of Thousands of Gambians have fled the country because of this regime cheerfully ignore its citizens, introduced a seriously broken society in which the leaders are the least intelligent or unprofessional people who unreservedly see him as a savior, and brought our country to the bottom of the barrel in every level of good governance’s measurement. Gambians feel cheated once more again — as he ducked a chance to explain why our children are been adopted for ritual sacrifice. Instead, he uses the time — Gambians are paying him to repudiate the opposition coming together and make a quick-fire sale of treats to the population. What is also evident on that video is — Yaya Jammeh lacks the ability to work non-contentiously with Gambians. Perhaps most egregious of his mystical personality — is he loves to prejudge people wrongly — by egregiously trying to read their minds.

He lacks that charismatic personality to lure Gambians to become hopeful of the future or even mobilize for a cause — without using fear — because he has made other nations to believe there isn’t any humanitarian catastrophe in the Gambia. The recent death of our National football team female goal keeper, who fell through the cracks of the backway journey and drowned at sea, should be a lesson for everyone concerned about humanity. Many Gambians including the opposition have been thrown into dank and fetid prisons around the country. Several thousands of our citizens have lost their lives fleeing by sea — from being conquered by the brutal regime, and used as ritual sacrifice for Yaya Jammeh to remain in power and keep their idols fed. The murder of prominent Solo Sandeng and reports of his body fed to crocodiles without trial should be stack reminder to the west who give lifeline to his regime by showing his with aid money.

Yaya Jammeh went on a rant on national TV about the only things he worries that will make him lose his seat of the presidency. Where he went more than a step too far is —when he attempted to explain he was divinely elected as a chosen leader of Gambia. That excuse doesn’t fly with any Gambian. He tried to deflect responsibility by intoning his team about the racketeering that destroys projects, but he is the first to dive down collect all the pearls of developmental projects. He knows he cannot gin up an ounce of enthusiasm about his intransigent, pugnacious and irrational ideological policies have held Gambia captive in perpetual a gridlocked of terror. That why he operates using fear — an ideology that is outdated, expensive, and using dysfunctional policies which has become a sick joke. Gambians are already so spavined by the additional burden of the realities of ritual sacrifice and now our communities are relentlessly being carpet-bombed again, with his men hunting children to meet the demands of his idols.

This might be a good time for us to dust off the adage frustration with those in the southern border of Senegal. We the native Gambians are anecdotally and humbly requesting Senegalese leader to revisit his famous strategy of red line of silence and to prevail on his citizens on especially Cassamance, who come to interfere in our elections — for the sole purpose to influence our political trends. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been easy, because there have been much more complex and emotional issues — that are largely in line with the ritual practices of certain regions in Cassamance, that now been used as ideological policy by Yaya Jammeh to oppress our nation. We recognize our simultaneous existence, but Gambia is at a critical juncture in its history. As we reach the home stretch before the Dec.1 General Elections, we need our neighbors to play more active role in restraining their citizens than leaving it to their late-night comedians.

As this dismal regime reaches the end of the drain -where it belongs to be history, Yaya Jammeh is ready to put us through a national trauma of enormous proposition. One of the mains societal problem Yaya Jammeh has begotten us is—a strained relationships of all kinds. Gambians families are broken by this regime such a way that some families are no longer talking to their brothers-in-law, friends from high school, uncle, dopey cousin, current wife or ex-girlfriend- all because of one Yaya Jammeh. The strain that the regime has placed on friendships, families, and fellow countrymen is incalculable. Even on social media, many confessed to unfriend certain people, block people because of fear of the ruthless regimes backlash. There is no way we can balance or reconcile our fears and compromise our worries about the regime again. Jammeh must go! Please vote for the coalition!!!

By Habib ( A Concerned Gambian)

My Dear President and Godfather,

You recently said that “if the people want they can vote for the opposition who will never be president in this country; they will not even be National Assembly members. No election, no military and no foreign power can remove me from office …………………..unless Allah says so”.

At the end of that meeting, some of the attendants most probably came forward to congratulate you and to assure you that you will once again win this election with another landslide because your threats are so effective, intimidating and scary that Gambians would not dare to vote for the opposition. So you must have left the meeting feeling great that your election victory is sealed, signed and stamped.

Mr. President, those surrounding you will only tell you what you want to hear for obvious reasons. They might be worried about losing their jobs; or they might be scared of earning your wrath thereby being a guest in your five star hotel; or they might be only interested in gaining something from you such as a position, promotion, money or other material benefits.

My Dear Godfather, as a person who have extremely high regard for you; who sincerely care for your personal safety, security and well-being; who is neither afraid of losing his job nor seeking for any material gains from you; and as a person who is concern about the peace and stability of our beloved country; I can give you a honest, unbiased and independent opinion of the real situation on the ground. I hope you listen to my message of peace with your heart and not your mind.

Mr. President, it is not all honky dory with the Gambia and her people as those surrounding you might make you to believe. In fact any person, marabout or jinn who tells you that Gambians love you so much that they would vote for you next month is simply telling you a big lie. They are giving you false hope just for their own personal interest because not even they themselves will be voting for you. Before I go any further, I will deconstruct your statement quoted at the beginning of this blog post for you to know how it is perceived from the other side of the bridge.

Your statement has a number of hidden messages but I will highlight just two. My first observation is that you wisely and truthfully said that nothing will remove you from office “unless Allah say so”. Your Excellency, we all know that the days of revelation/prophesy are long gone and Allah does not talk to ordinary human beings like you and I. In this regard therefore, is it not possible that the days of your presidency are indeed over? Is it not possible that Allah has decreed that it is this election that will remove you from office? Is it not possible that Allah has decreed that it is indeed one of those opposition politicians that you are ridiculing who will be succeeding you?

Your Excellency, you are neither a prophet nor a saint but a very ordinary human being who is not more important/influential than people like Gadaffi, Nino, Tailor, Gbagbo and many other presidents who were unceremoniously booted out of power. You may not be an exception Mr. President

Your Excellency, my second deduction from your statement is that you are making these threats simply to scare Gambians from voting for the opposition so that you can remain in power in order to retain your presidential immunity. In military parlance, we call that throwing smoke or maneuvering in shallow waters. Mr. President, you are worried that if you lose power, Karma may catch up with you to account for your deeds during your 22 years in power. And you have good reasons to be worried.

One such reasons is that all the old and traditional opposition parties have finally reconciled their differences and have formed a coalition. And as we all know, you have violated the fundamental human rights and freedoms of each and every single member of the coalition apart from Honourable Hamat Bah by imprisoning many of them and forcing others into exile. You are therefore worried that things will go south for you if you lose the election.

Your Excellency and dear President, however, that might not necessarily be the case. As I have said in my first challenge to you not to run for re-elections, Gambians are among the most forgiving, peace-loving and God-fearing people on earth and therefore there is every possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation. I firmly believe that there is still a way for you to leave power in peace, honour and dignity.

Your Excellency, all that you need to do is to cancel your IEC nomination scheduled for next week and then not running for a fifth term in office. There are already two distinguished and capable gentlemen and patriotic citizens who are all set to take part in the elections. In that way, you can preside over a free and fair election, hand over power peacefully to whoever is elected by the people and then retire peacefully into the world of elderly statesmen.

Mr. President, I urge you to recall that one of your proudest achievements and most favourite quotations is that “not even a chicken died when I came to power on Friday 22 July 1994”. Your Excellency I believe that there is still a golden opportunity for you to boast in many years to come that “not even a chicken died when I left power on Friday 02 Dec 2016”.

Mr. President, please do not participate in this election because there is only one outcome for you. You will lose so badly that you may end up in the Guinness Book of Records as the incumbent with the worst election defeat in the history of democracy.

In conclusion, I hope you will take my advice seriously and announce your withdrawal from the presidential race before the last window of opportunity closes on you. May Allah grant you the wisdom to realize that you have come to the end of your regime and may He grant us a peaceful political transition.

 
Author Gano
Posted on November 5, 2016

First of all, the eventual selection of Mr. Adama Barrow of UDP to lead the coalition of seven political parties (PDOIS, UDP, GPDP, NRP, NCP, GMC, and PPP) has been no easy feat and is highly commendable. I had to admit that initially I had misgivings and doubted the ability of these seven political parties uniting under one candidate to unseat the tyrannical and murderous regime of Yaya Jammeh, the deranged leader of The Gambia.

As a political pundit, I have observed that elections alone have never unseated entrenched, paranoid and criminal dictators like Yaya Jammeh who have everything to lose and nothing to gain by yielding power. However, an all-opposition coalition would provide a single voice to enforce the will of the people by engaging and coordinating mass protests to root out the dictator who would most likely try to cling to power no matter what.

Gambians should learn from these two lessons: In Burkina Faso in 2014, mass protests chased Blaise Campaore, another despotic and criminal president, out of office when he was hell bent on extending his stay in power. In contrast, in August 2016, Ali Bongo of Gabon managed to hold on to power by fraudulently “winning” with a razor-thin margin over his coalition-backed opponent, Jean Ping. Protests ensued but was poorly coordinated and fragmented, while the opposition was busy trying to seek legal redress to no avail.

Having said that, why did Dr. Touray, an independent candidate and Mamma Kandeh of GDC, both of whom claimed to be vying for the presidency in the “interest of the country” pulled out of the coalition talks? I am disappointed, but not surprised. Both were only interested in being selected as flag bearer. The moment they realized the odds were not in their favor, they each resorted to some nonsensical technicalities, mostly pertaining to faulty operational procedures instead of convincing their colleagues and other parties’ delegates to support their candidature.

Dr. Touray announced her candidacy sometime in August 2016, at a time when the coalition of eight parties (including GDC) were working feverishly to find a common ground to come together. Her argument for coming out, albeit disingenuous, was to offer herself as an independent candidate since the opposition have failed to come together in prior elections. Her entering in the field was at best premature and further complicated the coalition talks (more negotiating parties is never better for consensus-seeking negotiations). She should have offered herself as an alternative candidate only if the opposition failed to come together this time and she should have done it in close doors instead of bad mouthing the opposition and displaying great deal of arrogance and contempt. Nonetheless, the opposition parties gave her due consideration and included her and her team in all their deliberations.

After several meetings and negotiations that included Dr. Touray or her representatives, the parties agreed to the modalities of selecting a flag bearer, a document that Dr. Touray signed on October 14, 2016. Few days later, she came out with an incoherent letter of a press release criticizing harshly and hauling insults to the opposition calling their document “at best too broad, pre-mature and incoherent and at worse inadequate.” Who signs a document and then disagree? This is political immaturity, poor judgment and bad negotiation skills that is not expected of our learned doctor and future president. The ramifications of such types of action may be catastrophic for a government.

Without the courtesy of notifying the convention organizers, Dr. Touray also failed to show up at the convention with her 70 party delegates after she was included in the ballot. I was flabbergasted and thought something might have happened. The doctor issued a statement saying that she “deeply regrets her absence” and that she will “stand in solidarity with the opposition.” Two days later in a press conference, she was belligerent and disrespectful to journalists who posed some uncomfortable questions to her. She made several contradictory remarks such as “I do not pull out.” She stated that she will go back to the people to see if she will put up her candidature for the presidency and retorted shortly after a question was posed to her that she is “going ahead with the nominations.” Which is which? Again, Dr. Touray has displayed political immaturity, inability to work well with others, and lack of tact and basic decorum to lead Gambia forward.

As for Mama Kandeh and the GDC, I have to admit that I was initially an unofficial supporter of GDC and its leader based on their ability to rejuvenate some sectors of the electorate and to pull large crowds. Kandeh is also very charismatic, eloquent and looked presidential. However, as time goes on, it was evident to me that he was interested only to lead the coalition. His party joined the coalition talks but refused to sign the document when they got wind that the odds were stacked against Kandeh to lead the coalition.

GDC’s primary reasoning for not signing the document was that they were never included in the document as a party as the document was between Gambia Opposition for Electoral Reforms (GOFER) and the independent candidate, Dr. Isatou Touray. GDC, as alluded by one Mr. Kah, a party executive who doubled as a spokesperson in this matter, was not in existence when GOFER was formed and thus the agreement was not binding since they never formally joined GOFER. Is GDC not an opposition party and not for electoral reforms? How hard is it to reach out to the GOFER members to solicit official inclusion? How difficult was it to pick up the phone or send a person, or write a letter to resolve these matters? Not at all.

Also, Kandeh’s camp rallied for an open convention (while not part of GOFER, so they say) which is impractical, resource intensive and would lead to voter fatigue. In my opinion, the moment GDC realized that UDP candidate would likely be nominated, they used technicality of not being part of GOFER to excuse themselves from the coalition. Why were they actively involved in the coalition talks for weeks if they were not part of GOFER? Did they not know then?

I strongly urge both GDC and Dr. Isatou Touray to revisit their stance and rally behind the coalition-led candidate, Mr. Adama Barrow, else they lose their credibility and ensure another term for Jammeh. They should quickly jump on the coalition’s bandwagon or risk being relegated to the bad actors of Gambia’s political history.

By Diallo Jallow

USA