Is Yahya Jammeh’s LEADERSHIP REALLY THE MAIN PROBLEM OF The Gambia?
Addressing this subject of Yahya Jammeh’s leadership, I am going to be using my experience living in The Gambia as a child and a frequent visitor in my adulthood as a case study for several reasons:
- Because Gambia is where I come from and, I am more familiar with it than any other country I have ever lived in.
- Gambia was and arguably the most populous and vibrant country in West Africa therefore whatever affects Gambia affects all of the Western parts of Africa.
- It has become a “proverb” all over the world how bad Yahya Jammeh’s leadership is ruining the Gambia socioeconomic institutions and fabrics.
Ever since I was a young teenager growing up in The Gambia, I kept hearing continuously almost like a mantra “that our only problem in the Gambia is Jammeh’s bad leadership” or “that our biggest problem in the Gambia is Yahya Jammeh”.
Books have been written about this man, Radio conference call forums are unending , social media topics and postings, all kinds of comments on social media platforms and avenues where various experts, teachers, writers, professors, have tried to foster solutions to this all abiding problem of how Yahya Jammeh ruined the Gambia’s economy and turned the country into a land of hopelessness.
To the man on the street however, who does not go to the symposiums and seminars, he is only left with what is displayed in his eyes as the Jammeh’s economic development only translates into the roads, street lights and well decorated buildings. Infrastructure that has no ‘intestines’ or tables, chairs, equipment etc, with the street person hoping that there would never arise a kind and lovely leader like Yahya Jammeh who will build a wonderful nation for them like what they already have under Jammeh, where everyone would be happy and satisfied like they are. For this hope, the ordinary man and woman prays in his church, mosque and even in the secrecy of his home for their president and his regimes infinitive longevity.
This hope is what drives him to keep on queuing up in all kinds of weather, in hope of showcasing his or her solidarity and loyalty to Yahya Jammeh and his cohorts. For the hope of this supposedly great and kind leader Yahya Jammeh. As paradoxical as this might sound, this hope have even led some naive and zealous men to sabotage and throw a number of attempted coupists’ under the bus all across The Gambia in recent times. In fear that just in case not from their ranks and social class, might arise that kind and great leader that would ignore their plight and selfish objectives of helping themselves build their dreamed paradise as already, under Jammeh.
The only problem with this kind of mentality is that it is now over 50 years since the Gambians have been hoping and are still hoping for a good and kind leader that would bring our nation to the Promised Land. If we are to apply the principle of critical thinking, we would see that it is either what we are praying and hoping for is wrong or something is wrong with our nation The smiling coast (The Gambia).
Hypothetically, if this hope and prayers had been correct, there should have been at least a president amongst the two we ever had in The Gambia since independence, who should have gotten it right, especially since the time span we are talking about is not 5 or 10 years, but over 50 years. 50 years is a lot of time. There should have arose a lot of opportunities for at least a few Divisions in the Gambia to have produced a great leader, who would have built prosperous and a greater Gambian nation.
The fact that this same problem seems to plague all the over 50 countries in Africa, is by itself not a coincidence. With no apparent evidence of remedy, could this be telling us that we are putting our hope in the wrong place? Are we sure Yahya Jammeh’s leadership is truly our main problem
As a young teenager growing up in The Gambia, there was no chance for me to think outside the box. I automatically found myself thinking as majority of the people in The Gambia. That our only problem is “Yahya Jammeh’s leadership” in The Gambia. Whenever we speak about Yahya Jammeh’s leadership however, we are not talking about the leadership of schools or less significant government agencies. We mainly refer to a politician or top government officials at the helm of affairs in our nation.
I listened to that theorem, that our main problem is Yahya Jammeh’s leadership so many times, that I never even thought it might not be true. It was automatically assumed to be true by most of the people around me. But Jammeh’s brutality cannot be ignored and it speaks for itself, worst dictator in recent times.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 cor. 13:11
However, having lived outside of the Gambia for the past 20 years, working with politicians, countries, governments and being a student of national transformation. I now being a consultant and an expert in a top global financial institution, i now think differently.
Before I bring out my arguments, permit me to say that there is no doubt about it that Yahya Jammeh’s leadership has no place in our entire human civilization endeavor as a nation. My friend John Maxwell has popularized the saying “Everything rises and falls on leadership” I couldn’t agree more.
However, when it comes to building a nation, even though leadership too is important, but it won’t be of overwhelming significance. The role of leadership might be more significant when we are talking of business, company, or smaller units like family, communities, associations, industries, etc.
In the above mentioned people groups, the role of a set man is almost supreme and indispensable. But when it comes to nations, I would like you to take your time to read through my argument in this piece. I appeal to all of you that are reading this, not to be in a hurry to stone me or stop reading. Please don’t think I am in some form of error or in support of Yahya Jammeh’s regime or his brutality. I am not!
Let me reinstate here that yes, leadership is important in all human endeavors, but when it comes to nation building, leadership, especially leadership of a single man is not of the significance we have attached to it.
In history however, not too many people were willing to listen to this type of reasoning that I am presenting today. All throughout human history, men tend to simply take it for granted that a good leader means a good nation. A kind leader would take care of his people and bad leaders oppress their people.
There is a justification to this manner of thinking though. Especially since most parts of the then known world, in almost all ethnic groups, the leadership of these nations were primarily kings and monarchs. In which case without a doubt, individual leadership of the monarch is the singular factor in determining the standard of living of the people.
Yes, if we in The Gambia today have been running a monarchy system of government then that statement, “leadership is our only problem” could have been justified.
Our modern world is long become a post monarch world. The democratic system of government has replaced the supremacy of the monarchs in most countries of the world. It is for this reason that the emergence of democracy has now reduced the all-important role of a good and kind leader in building a prosperous nation.
Even though leaders still have their place and their roles to play in building any kind of nation, yet in the modern world of the 21th century, the role a leader plays in building a nation is no more as paramount as it once use to be.
If I ask most of you reading this article to mention to me the names of the leaders of each European country, not many of you would be able to do that. Apart from the big and influential countries of the world like America, England, France Germany, etc. Most of you might not be able to name more than 10 leaders of nations.
The lesson history has taught us is that it is no more strong men that build great nations. It is strong systems that build great nations. If you have strong men that refused to build strong systems, their works would be short lived and their memory forgotten. Our emphasis therefore should be in raising experts, technocrats, administrators, leaders who are capable enough to build strong and lasting systems.
In most of the advanced countries of the world today, I cannot say they mostly have strong leaders. No, they no longer look for or depend on finding loving and caring leaders that will lead them to paradise. They have managed to build strong and reliable systems that functions automatically, irrespective of whom the leader is, strong or weak.
The truth is all these Gambian citizens asking for better leaders are not really ready for them. They mostly don’t know what they are asking for. Senegal was a case study in recent times. They had the best leader in Abdoulie Wada any nation could dream or think about. Their leader was so good and supreme that there was no country on earth that could produce a leader as good as he was. Yet, because Israel did not know the value of such leadership, they complained, they whined, murmured, grumbled and demanded for yet a better leader in “laid back” Macky Sall.
But the thing displeased Senegalese when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Senegalese people prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Senegalese as written in the bible, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”1sam 8:6-7
My dear readers, I hope you see what happened here. The leader the children of Senegal had and were not satisfied with was the Lord God himself. He was ruling over them through Abdoulie Wada. But the people of Senegal were still not happy; they wanted to have a leader according to their own fantasy. They wanted a King, so God gave them a king. But soon afterwards, they were again dissatisfied with this king they got and demanded yet for another.
When people think that their only problem is leadership that is a way of them saying, it is only the leader that needs to change. Meaning they don’t need to change. It is only the leader that must pay the price of growth and development. Meaning they don’t need to do that. It is only the leader that must work out means for their advancement and prosperity, while they just follow.
What is happening in this case is that, the people are abdicating their power to the leader. But that is not what democracy is all about. Democracy is all about the power of the people, for the people and by the people. In democracy it is the people that take responsibility for the growth and development of their nations. They take responsibility for their economy. They take responsibility for their advancement and civilization. Even though there is a place for leadership, but leadership only stops in the area of giving direction and casting vision.
Had there been strong leaders in the world that worked the magic and succeeded in bringing the desired prosperity to their people? Yes indeed, but in every one of those cases, it’s either the leaders were eventually killed, betrayed or rejected. Most of these so called great leaders were only recognized as such after their death.
The truth is people who ask for good leaders, don’t know what they are asking for. Most of Gambians don’t know what they want. Yahya Jammeh is a bad leader no doubt, but our institutions and democracy is as weak as Yahya Jammeh.
It’s elections 2016, so let’s show Yahya Jammeh that power belongs to the people and our people build leaders and our institutions are strong enough to kick him out of power.
A Peek Inside The Monster’s Dungeon
The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s residence looks like a place of refuge (put emphasis on refuge) – for someone trying to hide and save himself from supposedly his own people. The many check points, the army barricades, the guard towers, the installed surveillance cameras, tall heavy concrete walls, the hundreds of security guards with their heavy machine guns, not to mention hundreds of other staff – all cramped into an area less than one mile square.
At first glance, one can be forgiven for thinking this place is housing a drug kingpin because the layer and layer of security can only attest to the protection of a wanted man, not a head of state who is truly loved and admired by his people and therefore has no need to be so far removed from the real world that his fellow country folks live in.
But then this after all is Yahya Jammeh, the most reviled Dictator in the world, who doesn’t lose a beat when it comes to killing and maiming his own people. So perhaps, he does have a good reason to hide, make himself unavailable at all times, and be very wary of these people who have come to look like strangers that he cannot trust. Here is what we saw when Faturadio took a peek inside this monster’s dungeon:
First Floor: Moroccan Sitting Room, which is where he meets guests too.
Second Floor: This is where the infamous Jamaica Room is, the place that will forever evoke unpleasant memories of a brutal man for many young Gambian girls. This is where he rapes young under-aged girls using threats, intimidation, fear, and bribery. We were surprised to find that only five short steps down is the second floor, where Zainab, the First Lady’s bedroom is located. Guards have confided in us that she rarely uses this room since she is mostly out shopping around the world for expensive personal stuff on the back of the Gambian tax payers. We therefore figured that explains Jammeh’s audacity. On the left of the First Lady’s room is a round dining table with four chairs sitting next to their daughter, Mariam Jammeh’s room on the right.
The second floor also has Mariam Jammeh’s parrots named Lilly and Kuku. Both parrots and her dog are kept in the Orderly Room also located on this floor which makes that room very stinky. Because of this bad smell, First Lady according to our source, is always unfairly blaming the Orderlies for being dirty and not keeping their room clean. “If she has any regard for these workers, why put them in the same room as their pets?” The source queried with indignation.
The Third floor: On this floor is the room that has the green leather furniture, round glass table and 75 inch flat screen TV that you all see on GRTS occasionally. Three steps from there on the left is where the kitchen is located. The room opposite the kitchen is where their son Muhammed Jammeh sleeps with his nannies, Jamila and Isatou Jammeh. Mariam Jammeh’s nanny is Yaminy. We will hasten to grudgingly add that their non-Gambian Nannies get paid $10,000 a month while their Gambian staff go home with a little less than D4,000 a month ($100).
If any think that the security staff around Jammeh is immune or exempted from abuse he metes out on innocent Gambians, you will be surprised therefore to know that he constantly beats up the Orderlies and worse; even sprays them with an insecticide each time they doze off on the job. They are given very rough chairs to sit on to make them uncomfortable – a sleep deterrent Jammeh calls it. The switchboard is manned from the Orderly Room.
The source also informed us that Jammeh hired a hunter who brings him bush meat as and when he wants it. He eats a lot of bush meat including ‘Dix’, which he loves charcoal grilled with a lot of salt. He also drinks a lot of “Kabaa” Juice and loves peanuts, maize (‘Mboha”), “Kony” and “Solom Solom”.
You be your own judge and draw your own conclusion. Our job is to report, the decision ultimately belongs to none other than you our esteemed reader.
The Detention of The Hydara Brothers Has clocked Past The 72 Hour Constitutional Mandate Without Any Charges Brought Against Them!!!
It has been already more than 72 hours since the illegal arrest and detention of Sheikh Mohamed Fadel Al Mahfouz and his brother Atabou Sheikh Mahfouz. From a very well-known religious family, they originally hailed from Cassamance, Senegal and later resettled in The Gambia with their father, Sheikh Mafouz many years ago.
Sheikh Atabou is the country director for Penny Appeal, a non governmental organization that builds mosques around Africa most notably in Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Muritania and Guinea Bissau. He also runs an orphanage and provides relief support to the needy including giving out scholarship to needy families.
Family members have confirmed the disappearance of the two since last Thursday, July 9 when they were each picked up at different times from their residence on Jang Jang Road, London Corner, Serekunda by operatives of The National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Until now, family members do not know the whereabouts of the two brothers.
Sources have said that an NIA operative has hinted to the family members that Yahya Jammeh was the one who ordered for their arrest with strict warnings that the duo should not be released under any circumstances unless the directive comes directly from him.
Their brother Sarane Mahfouz Hydara is the country director of Muslim Hands, an international charity organization with an office in Gambia.
The Mahfouzs are a family of marabous and are also into charity organizations and Islamic teachings. The reason for their arrest hasn’t been established but this kind of situation is now the normal operating procedure by The Gambian authorities – people are detained on Yaya’s orders without any explanation of the reason, then once they are picked up, they are kept at a secret detention center with no access to family or lawyers while their captors, the authorities wait for Yahya to come up with a made up charge and forced witnesses to send them to prison. During this period, most are severely tortured on his orders to the point where false confessions are extracted from the victim.
The family is currently traumatized not knowing what to do or where to go. An observer notes that Yahya has now made it a point to have in the docks at least one prominent religious leader at any given time, mostly to send a clear message to the Muslim Community that he will dictate religious matters in that country and also to mystify himself further since most Gambians have the believe that these religious leaders have some hidden powers that if used can destroy someone. This, the observer said “is all part of his effort to say to an already terrorized population; I can do anything to anyone in this country including the supernaturally powerful religious leaders and nothing will come out of it”. But he concludes; “and of course this is not the case, Yahya is just a coward going after people who just cannot defend themselves because Gambians are not ready to stand up to him”
We will be monitoring this case and our esteemed readers will be updated accordingly.
Enablers and Dis-Enablers
This obsession about Enablers of Yaya Jammeh is going to be a major factor in the derailment and weakening of the struggle to bring about positive change in the Gambia if we are not careful. All those who are struggling to remove Yaya Jammeh must realize that in fact all Gambians are enablers of Yaya Jammeh. The facts are clear; first, the people voted for him, either by directly voting for him or refusing to vote at all and therefore enabling him to be a winner.
Secondly, the opposition, by their refusal to see the urgency of unity by any means have therefore conceded the space to Yaya Jammeh to occupy in full. By their failure to unite, the position has also caused frustration in many people to lose hope and therefore fail to vote. Thirdly, all those Gambians who have fled the Gambia for whatever reason have by their absence enabled Yaya Jammeh to occupy the space in full. Fourthly, All those Gambians who are in the country and have refused to stand up and demonstrate against the regime have therefore enabled Yaya Jammeh to continue to rule as he wished. Fifthly, all those who have decided to work with him in any capacity are also enablers. Therefore in essence all Gambians are enablers of Yaya Jammeh.
Having said that let us however realise that all of these enablers come in various degrees of responsibility and culpability. Of course there are many among the voters of Yaya Jammeh who do not have the necessary information and political awareness to realise that this regime is not in their interest. Others have been intimidated or marginalized by denying them basic social services in their communities and therefore forced to vote or show allegiance to him. We cannot hold these voters primarily responsible for the atrocities of Yaya Jammeh.
There are many in the public service that are honestly and genuinely doing their work as citizens for the State of the Gambia and in most cases with so much indignity because of the abuse and interference they get in their jobs from the Office of the President. These are innocent men and women who may have even gone to Kanilai to farm or paraded before Yaya Jammeh on July 22 celebrations. They have been forced to do so, openly or tacitly and they lack the individual power to resist.
Yet there are also those at high levels as directors in various ministries and departments and even heads of institutions who are complying but with lot of indignity and tacit resistance. Some have served in that capacity primarily because they genuinely believe that they can make a difference and have taken steps to bring about change in their little ways. They are not enablers. People like Fatou Camara or Amadou Scattred Janneh can be counted among many as part of this group. Fatou was the first to truly bring media chiefs for a detente with the dictator with a view to improve relations in the interest of the country. As minister, Scattred Janneh was the only one to have visited the burnt Independent newspaper and express total solidarity with the newspaper contrary to Yaya Jammeh attitude.
Those we need to hold to account are indeed Gambians either as public officials or private citizens who have taken decisions and executed actions that directly harm Gambians. For example, Momodou Sabally has made official statements that insult the dignity and integrity of the Gambia and her citizens. As recent as few weeks ago, Sheriff Bojang has not only denied, but went further to defend the atrocities of this regime openly in response to the US State Department’s report on human rights in the Gambia. Other individuals like Imam Fatty or the Imam Ratib have not only failed to provide good counsel to Yaya Jammeh and condemn the un-Islamic nature of the regime and actions of Yaya Jammeh, but went ahead to defend and cleanse Yaya Jammeh as an Allah-fearing individual. We do not even have to mention others such as security men and women who carried out actual acts of violence in the name of Yaya Jammeh. For example Bai Lowe did confess that he was part of the assassin team.
But even where such individuals did such, what needs to be born in mind is that when such an enabler finally breaks off from Yaya Jammeh for whatever reason and now finds it prudent to seek the removal of Yaya Jammeh, we the people must welcome such individuals. Bai Lowe just demonstrated that he is prepared to give his life away to see to it that Yaya Jammeh is removed. This is noble of him, indeed! They can only add value and strength to the struggle than otherwise. By their willingness and readiness to seek change in the Gambia is clear testimony of their acknowledgement of the misrule of this regime regardless of their previous participation. We cannot therefore forsake such people. They are Gambians and they have a right to take part in the development of this country. We cannot claim holier than thou attitude to shun them. After all many of us would have acted similarly or even worse than the people we accuse of being enablers if our circumstances turned in a certain way. In that case we would have also become a terrible enabler. But it won’t be justified for us to bar such people when after everything they decided to join the struggle to save the Gambia.
No Gambian has the authority to determine who should be part of the struggle or not. Each and every one must do his or her part and be your own judge. So long as one is not continuing to engender the regime and directly harm Gambians by your individual actions, any individual who now seeks to bring about change is an arsenal that must be accepted and utilized.
If we do so then we will all become Dis-Enablers of the ENBALERS in which case we are all therefore enabling the regime directly or indirectly. Think about it…!
Another Case of Bizarre Justice In The Gambia!!
If you think you have witnessed enough drama in Gambia’s out-of-this-world justice system, the Chief Superintendent (now former) at the Mile 2 Prisons, Lamin Korta’s story will boil your blood. It’s a case that epitomizes the idiocy, cruelty, and total disregard for the law you read about on a daily basis in Yaya Jammeh’s Gambia. The Jammeh regime recently claimed to have released 85 prisoners, a claim that was later debunked and has since then been established to be yet another lie and diversionary tactic by the man at the helm – most of the names on the list did not exist, some had already died in prison, and those they claim to have released were rounded up and sent back to prison due to what they claimed was a mistake in releasing those people.
Among those released was one Omar Manjang, a former Police Officer who was found guilty of murder during the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara era. When news broke that the released prisoners were being rounded up and returned back to prison, several went on the run and among them was Mr Manjang. He was able to escape to an unknown location believed to be somewhere in the sub region.
Lamin Korta’s luck ran out when it was discovered that he hails from the same village as Omar Manjang, Kartong Village in the Kombos. When the government could not catch Omar, someone they themselves released telling the whole world he was pardoned only to renege on their promise, which as we have discovered now has backfired, they grew desperate. Lamin therefore become the fall guy – he is accused of helping Omar abscond, a charge he vehemently denies. Making the matter even more interesting is that even the government is not claiming to have any evidence linking Lamin to the crime he is being accused of but rather only claiming that since Lamin is also from Kartong, he is the only one who will harbor sympathy for Omar to offer such help. If this whole notion of guilt by merely being from the same village with a suspect is incomprehensible to you, be rest assured; you are not alone. He has since been demoted to the rank of Private and detained at the Remand Wing of the Mile 2 Prisons were he used to serve.
Lamin continues to languish in prison. “Nothing New Under The Gambian Skies” indeed – another case of bizarre justice.
PRESIDENT JAMMEH FIRES ORDERLY CAPTAIN BAKARY CAMARA
Captain Bakary Camara, an orderly to Gambia’s dictator, Yahya Jammeh was fired yesterday after serving at the Bravo Company for almost five months. As in the case of army general, Alhaji Martin and director of protocol, Baboucarr Puye Jobarteh, no reason was given for his removal. Camara was one time a former bodyguard of the president, and was prosecuted and sent to prison for two years and charged with felony theft and giving false information to a public officer.
Thrown in the Gambia’s notorious donjon of Mile II, his co-accused, Manlafi Sanyang died while they were serving time. No doubt, this ex-military officer’s trial and tribulations were orchestrated by no other than the nation’s brutal dictator, Yahya Jammeh, whom he had agreed to serve again until his removal yesterday.
The Gambia is not a democracy. It is a tyranny. The evidence is clear.
The incidence of arbitrary arrests, detention and enforced disappearance and killings by the State under Yaya Jammeh is a clear testimony that the country is not run on a rule of law based on good governance principles. The lack of transparency by the State in the manner it decides the affairs and uses the resources of the country is a clear testimony that the State has rejected the fact that it derives its legitimacy from the people as enshrined in the constitution.
The total control and personalization of state institutions such as the indiscriminate sacking of judicial officers, lawmakers, public servants and other officers of statutory bodies such as IEC and NCCE among others clearly indicate that President Jammeh does not wish to submit himself to the rule of law.
His use of men and women of GNA as guards and workers in his businesses and farms, and the tacit forcing of public servants and communities to work on his farms, coupled with the incessant and illegal accumulation of individual and communal lands and other properties by Yaya Jammeh all show that this man is not a neither a patriot nor a leader, but a greedy criminal. The constant interference with parastatals and the economy in general with persistent threats to private capital and initiative are all indicative of the regime that seeks to destroy its people than empower them. The constant attack on the people for merely expressing themselves about their manner of government is a clear testimony that the State has become the leading violator of rights, which it was supposed to protect in the first place as required by Section 17 of the constitution.
The actions of Yaya Jammeh point to one fact: To perpetuate himself in power by any means. He has demonstrated that he will employ unjust laws and violence to ensure that his objective is met. The recent amendments to the electoral law initiated by the Executive and approved by the National Assembly is a clear testimony that there will never be a level playing field for free and fair elections in the Gambia. The Executive and the National Assembly have no powers to decide on election matters as this responsibility has been squarely handed over to the Independent Electoral Commission as a statutory body under the control and direction of no person or authority in the Gambia in the conduct of elections. As it stands, it is clear that Yaya Jammeh cannot be removed out of office by elections.
Hence the Gambia has reached a situation where no sane and patriotic Gambian should perceive it as a multiparty democracy where one can exercise the liberty to choose between parties. We do not have that liberty. All Gambians must take a determined stand to fight against Yaya Jammeh and his regime to be completely removed from the Gambia. That regime is not a democratic dispensation but a violent and evil force imposed on our people. Only the ignorant and dishonest will seek to rationalise the Gambian situation as a democracy. The sooner our people are conscious of the direct threats posed by this regime to our very existence individually and collectively, the more urgent we will find the need to undertake concerted efforts to remove this regime.
This kind of regime is not the first of its kind on the African continent and in the world. Similar regimes have existed in many countries in Africa and we all are aware of what happened in those countries. The fact that there are periodic elections, multiple media houses, multiple opposition parties and popular assemblies and civil society organizations running around the country is not an indication that there is democracy. These are semblances of democracy that has happened under Samuel Doe of Liberia, Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Mobutu of Zaire, Lansana Conte of Guinea, Campoare of Burkina Faso, Mubarak of Egypt, and are currently happening under Bashir of Sudan, Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Museveni of Uganda and Nguruziza of Burundi among many. All of these, past and present are nothing but a mockery of democracy. Gambians need to be conscious of this fact and realise that if we are to save ourselves from the path of armed conflict and a damaged future with an untold misery for a long time, then this is the time all must rise up in our big and small ways, collectively and individually to flush this regime out of our dear country.
Let us all stand up. No one should be neutral anymore. Sooner or later we shall all pay the bloody price if we allow Yaya Jammeh and his regime remain in this country.
Free Gambia!
The Gambia: Overdue opposition unity puts Gambians on the path to freedom; amidst National Assembly blunder
No one saw it coming. It hit the airwaves like a thunderbolt. Its effects, apart from euphoric, are giving Gambians back their long lost sense of hope. The skepticism surrounding an opposition, which for long seemed locked in a state of permanent conflict and grandstanding, has historical precedence, but reconciliation too has always been a possibility. The necessity for the opposition to overcome the insignificant bottlenecks that stood in the way of coalescing around the life and death issues affecting Gambia, is the beginning of the process of re-engaging Gambians across tribe, and political affiliation on matters germane to citizens’ welfare.
The Gambia’s future is a collective responsibility, but the established opposition has to lead the way, and their unity, last week, burst out like spring desert flowers, to mark the beginning of re-establishing the citizenship of blue-blood Gambians.
For a significant number of Diasporans, past opposition unity, though always desirable, always seemed elusive. But in the end, it is the diaspora civil society organizations that are stalled in conflict of interest and petty quibbles, even as Gambians’ suffering continues to escalate. Support of opposition unity is reverberating in Gambian communities around the world, and its promise is galvanizing citizens worldwide clamoring for political change. This time, the opposition unity glue seems to hold, even as fears of past political single-mindedness cloud the public judgment with apprehension and uneasiness. Hopefully, political events around the world, will, this time around, change Gambians’ minds about the political possibilities, even as the combined opposition and civil society face stiff resistance from a regime, which, by its murderous history, long ceased to have a reason to exist. The opposition needs to leverage the combined power of civil society and the people, which is no match for the guns and bullets Yahya Jammeh relies on, to keep him in power. After all, if Guinea-Conakry did it, Senegal did it, Ivory Coast did it, Mali did it, Burkina Faso did it, it should be a cake walk for a united political opposition, the Gambian population and civil society at home and abroad, to collapse Gambia’s murderous, kleptomaniac regime.
Unlike any other year, since 1994, Gambia is confronting challenges that resonate with citizens of the ECOWAS region who successfully turned decades of political inertia into extraordinary determinations to change their political circumstances. The political world-view in ECOWAS member states, increasingly, has no tolerance for the demagoguery of pariahs like Yahya Jammeh; a view that is supported by the international community, both governments and institutions set up to guarantee human dignity and safety from the political promiscuity of regimes that deprive citizens of their rights. The crux of the mushrooming universal political paradigm centers on returning political power back to the people, to give them the tools to make educated, free and unfettered choices. And political systems in West African countries are increasingly rejecting the ingrained notions of state supremacy; instead, constantly evolving to concede power to the lynchpin of democracy; a free people. In Gambia, where politics have regressed from, perhaps, the most progressive in Africa, to its most savage, the political revisionism the past two decades is unparalleled, as is the high level of brutality and state control of the lives of the people. Yahya Jammeh has crossed every boundary of acceptable human behavior; from open daylight shooting death, to neck breaking, from public executions, to female breast-cutting, and from economic plunder, to the Jolanization of the civil service. It is hard, if not impossible, to even try to epitomize Yahya Jammeh’s monstrous crimes against Gambians, even when he leaves office, Importantly, Gambia cannot be the only country left out on this cusp of political change sweeping the continent, in particular, the West African region. Today, Gambia’s necessary political change is predicated on the predominance of the regime’s demonic moral depravity, which has spurred the rigid opposition to the irrelevant regime, particularly, at a time when rapid regional and universal political change is transforming politics into a more humane enterprise. Gambians can no longer afford the isolation of the country from the rest of the world, and it is Gambian citizens’ prerogative to force political conformity to regional and international social and political norms; For this to happen, change is necessary. The Gambia is consequently now at a crossroads of allowing the political barbarity to continue, or forge a common path to complete freedom.
To say Gambians now face some daunting challenges, is an understatement, and this has worsened with the passing of a National Assembly Bill requiring political opponents of the military regime to deposit exorbitant sums of money that most opposition leaders cannot independently afford. The barriers to political participation, underlies the festering perversion of politics in Gambia, but the shackling of Gambians’ inalienable right to have voices, challenges Gambians to get more involved in satisfying their fundamental citizenship rights. Yahya Jammeh’s fearsome attachment to a universe of asinine politics, has only succeeded in perpetuating his own undoing and that of the eventual downfall of his ruthless regime. When the so-called National Assembly passed the Bill limiting the political space to only the regime supporters, the outcry was swift and relentless. The rubber-stamp National Assembly, has once again, deferred to Yahya Jammeh’s illegal manipulation of the political system, causing an eminent political crisis. The inability of the National Assembly to act in the nation’s interest has baffled political pundits for two decades, but it is their conscious defense of Yahya Jammeh’s scheming to seize the political space, and in so doing, emasculate the political opposition into embarrassing redundancy that has left Gambians fuming, And now, some members of the National Assembly, uneasy with the political chaos they uploaded on the Gambian people by passing the electoral Bill yesterday, have developed short fuses of intolerance, resorting to the unbecoming thug use of insulting language to a media simply trying to make sense of the political insanity they created. The Gambia’s political story has always been punctuated with the actions of the clueless and classless, and the so-called National Assembly has proven once again that they lack the judgement of impartiality; having mortgaged their souls for money to Almighty Yahya Jammeh, who recently earned the unflattering title of Africa’s five most uneducated “so-called” leaders. But the gratuitous passing of the controversial electoral Bill by the National Assembly yesterday may be a harbinger of what will happen to the Bill amending the Constitution Death Penalty Article, making the killing of citizens as easy as drinking water. And a Gambian political dissident aptly characterized the National Assembly this way; “MPs care for their today, more than everyone’s tomorrow.” The wise rambling of an angry dissident. I could not say it better
Shocking!!! Abuse of Power on Full Display!!! Where is Gambia Heading!!!
Since the question of whether there is abuse in The Gambia or not is settled – no one is in any doubt as to the fact that The Gambia is the closest to being the North Korea of Africa than any other country in that part of world. Therefore, this story we are about to tell is by no means meant to confirm that fact, but rather, it is the ordeal of yet another victim whose rights are being blatantly violated right under our noses with absolutely no recourse available to him.
Abdou Gaye was born in Farafenni in 1983 where he also attended Primary School and Junior High School. He finished High School in Albreda, in Nuimi. Young, smart, vibrant, and full idealism, he would later become a Creative and Fine Artist – teaching Arts and Craft for 8 years, and according to a statement he signed at the Police Station in The Gambia, was also an expert journalist.
An avid Internet user – mostly conducting research, Abou’s troubles started when one day, he accidently browsed his way into the website of the White House where he saw an interesting policy document (a Presidential Memorandum) with the title “Expanding America’s Leadership in Wireless Innovation” according to the same statement with the Police. This document directs the Secretary of Commerce “working through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), to collaborate with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make 500 MHz of Federal and nonfederal spectrum available for wireless broadband use within 10 years.” According to (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/14/presidential-memorandum-expanding-americas-leadership-wireless-innovatio).
Being a well-meaning Gambian, with the believe that such a project can immensely improve wireless technology in the country, he decided to rewrite the document and send it to Yaya Jammeh hoping the President will consider implementing such a badly needed project. This will prove to be a big mistake, for unbeknownst to poor Abou, Yaya takes advice from no one and there is a reason Technocrats, Experts, smart young professionals, and Intellectuals have all deserted that country and settled in other places.
Upon receiving the document and the accompanying letter from Abou, Yaya immediately instructed the Minister of Trade, Energy and Information to have a meeting with Mr Gaye “no later than 10th instant and that the Hon. Minister of Trade to Chair the meeting and the Managing Directors of NAWEC and GAMTEL to attend.”
Abou went to the meeting thinking that he was there to discuss his proposal, so he was shocked to instead be confronted with accusations of plagiarism. Scared and realizing that he was in big trouble, Abou decided to apologize profusely to all them, admitting that he should have told the president the idea was not originally his. He left the building and went home feeling dejected and disappointed.
Yaya, after getting briefed about the meeting, dispatched an Executive Directive instructing the Prosecutor to charge, release on bail, and prosecute Abou Gaye with charges including “giving false information, plagiarism and theft of intellectual property rights.”
The fact that Yaya is instructing the Prosecutor to “charge, release on bail, and prosecute” is very telling – such decisions are supposed to be at the prosecutor’s discretion, so with him ordering the Prosecutor to do this confirms what we knew all along to be Yaya’s influence on our justice system. First, there was no investigation by the Prosecutor. Second, there is yet to be any probable cause since just copying an idea that is not patented is no crime anywhere. Third, the fact that this young man was only doing this to help his country develop in an area that seriously needs the improvement should have been enough reason to limit the reprimand this young man gets to the admonishment he already received from the Ministers who didn’t know any better. Fourth, if any law was broken here, this kid in his zeal to help his country could not see that, and his unfamiliarity with copy rights laws should all be mitigating factors to let this matter slide. Wasting State resources on a frivolous case like this, against a promising young man, shows the callousness of Yaya and his regime.
Abou in the meantime is left to fend for himself, worried about his fate, and just wishing that a judge will find it in his/her heart to throw this case out. The sad fact is; since Yaya is already giving directives, he (Abou) can only wish because there is no hope.
Below we produce letters from The Presidency and the ministry of Interior as well as Abdou’s cautionary statement.
Simmering Tensions!!! The State House is on Fire!!!!
Faturadio has received news of a very disturbing development at the State House – of course, just as always, the chief culprit is Yaya Jammeh himself whose penchant for pitting people against each other with a divide and conquer objective is all too familiar. But before we delve into the nitty-gritty of the story, let’s take time to talk a little bit about General Saul Badjie and Musa Savage who are the main actors in this latest scheme of deceit, lies, treachery, and above all; abuse of power.
General Saul Badjie, like many Generals before him who were ultimately used and dumped by Yaya Jammeh, used to be the darling of the State House. He was Yaya’s most trusted confidant, at one point prompting observers to opine that Yaya maybe grooming him to be his replacement in the event that his regime crumbles under its own dwindling weight. Badjie was always the go-to guy even deputizing for Yaya in some key state functions and meetings that should have been delegated to the Vice President. Because of this strong connection to Yaya, even soldiers kicked out of the army would always plead with him to prevail on Yaya to let them back in, requests that he dutifully carried out leading to the re-instatement of many. These kinds of favors are now paying dividends for him, and this will become more apparent later in this story.
Musa Savage on the other hand is now the go-to guy and Yaya is quietly positioning him to replace General Badjie. Savage is the typical showman, never shy to exhibit his chest beating bravado. Since the failed December 30 coup attempt, he has been elevated to status of celebrity within the security apparatus, with expanded roles in the area of “Counter Terrorism” in addition to being the snitch for Yaya against his colleagues in the Army.
So since his fallout with Yaya over issues that we haven’t been able to establish, General Badjie has been watching his steps but also forged closer bonds with the men within he security forces he had curried favors for in the past when he had the Dictator’s ears. Yaya, we have discovered wants to get rid of him, even implicate him in some made up scheme just as he had done to others before and either kill him or send him to Mile 2 for good. However, Yaya is also aware of the dynamics of the situation now and very afraid of making a move against Badjie in case he makes the wrong move or at the wrong time – Badjie’s insurance policy is the men in uniform who have pledged their allegiance to him and have vowed to fight to death if Yaya tries to harm him. In fact, according to our sources, Yaya is now very concern that Badjie will stage a coup of his own against him – there is now total lack of trust.
Yaya’s distrust of Badjie is so strong, according to the same sources, during the President’s Agricultural Tour, a senior member of the Gambian military was asked to report back to State House after an attempted coup in Burundi was announced because he (Badjie) was the commander in charge back then and was all by himself at the State House.
This quandary was the motivation for Yaya’s recent move to promote some soldiers to General, so as to create a buffer. Among those promoted to General was Musa Savage. Tensions among the newly sworn in Generals of The Gambia Armed Forces are very high as many of them are not on speaking terms, a confusion orchestrated by Yaya Jammeh. According to sources, General Musa Savage was given directives by the Commander in chief to monitor General Saul Badjie. Those sources have also said that General Badjie is not happy with General Musa Savage’s promotion to the rank of a General and has been complaining bitterly about it. Everyone is on a war footing at the State House as we speak as Generals are devising plans to eliminate each other while in the meantime time, the man who is using them against each other takes a front row seat enjoying the show.
Observers within the Security forces have expressed their bitter disappointment in these Generals for they opine that everyone should be wiser now when it comes to Yaya. These Generals they said should conquer their fears and talk to each other and deal with the common enemy rather than fighting among themselves, a battle that will consume some and ultimately all of them, only to give way to a new batch that will also be used and dumped like everyone before them. This cycle they lamented is what needs to be broken.
Shocking!!! All Pardoned Prisoners to be put Back In Custody – Jammeh Claims Pardon Was a Mistake!!!
Very credible sources have confirmed that an executive directive from The Office of The President has just been issued instructing that all pardoned prisoners, most of who have been released already, to be re-arrested immediately. All this mess is unfolding within the last 24 hours, confirming the fears and concerns observers have had about the whole exercise from the beginning. Faturadio just last night ran a story stressing those doubts.
This latest news comes on the heels of reports that the number of prisoners pardoned was in fact nowhere near the 85 being bandied about by the regime. One Lama Jallow for instance died in Mile 2 prior to the pardon but his name was added to the list of those the Jammeh regime claims to have pardoned.
According to Sources, Yaya had a sudden change of heart about the move even though the release sent out to the media regarding the pardon claims at the time to have been carried out in the “Islamic spirit of mercy and forgiveness in the Holy month of Ramadan” and “spirit of liberty and freedom that underlines the 50thanniversary of Gambia’s independence from colonial rule”. Rudy Gazzi, a Dutch national and three others from Mile 2’s main gate are already in custody and as we speak, a prison truck is out looking for other released prisoners. Nobody knows why the sudden change of heart and even our sources are scratching their heads to come up with a likely explanation. Observers however note that this should not come as any surprise to any since Yaya Jammeh is a typical dictator – he carries out all his decisions at his whims and caprices. He is only saying the move was a mistake.
Another dream of innocent folks dashes with yet another false promise by Yaya Jammeh.
The Gambia: Death Penalty amendment, Sharia Law and the dangerous descent into lawlessness
It almost seems surreal; like the incantation of a funereal ballad of horror which shows Gambia slowly morph as the Third Reich reborn; methodically transformed into an archetypical anarchist society. The Constitutional parameters, which limit and inhibit the excesses of state power in the Gambia, have crumbled and dissolved into nothingness. The Gambia’s Constitution, a revered social and political organizing document, has, long ago lost its force of law, the victim of Yahya Jammeh’s systemic subversion and determination to decree who lives and dies in the Gambia. Yahya Jammeh has already usurped the authority of the judiciary to determine the legal fate of Gambians, but to insert an additional death penalty language into the Constitution, will essentially legalize the indiscriminate and needless killing of more Gambians, for trivial offenses.
For the second time in five years, Yahya Jammeh’s fixation with amending the Death Penalty Article looks suspicious, apart from the military regime’s total lack of legal justification. The Death Penalty Article itself has a storied history. The 1970 Republican Constitution permitted its legal basis for the felony crimes of murder and treason, but, in 1993, former president, Sir Dawda Jawara’s government amended the Constitution and abolished the death penalty. In 1995, however, the new military regime repealed the Constitution and re-instated the Death Penalty language abolished in 1992. By 2010, Yahya Jammeh’s lust for blood combined with an overarching necessity to conceal his criminal drug connections to South American drug lords, ordered former Justice Minister and Attorney General, Edward Gomez, to introduce a Constitutional amendment in the National Assembly, which added drug possession and sale as death penalty eligible crimes. This addition to the death penalty crimes was, however, severely constrained by Section 18 (2) of the 1997 Constitution, and in 2011, was subsequently repealed in short order, without much fanfare. But a year later, in the summer of 2012, Yahya Jammeh ordered the mass summary executions of between nine and twenty-six Mile 2 Prison inmates, even before the legal appeals of some were exhausted. Today, two and half years after the executions heard around the world, Yahya Jammeh again intends to amend the Gambian Constitution in order to broaden the Gambia’s death penalty eligible crimes.
By now it has become all too apparent that Yahya Jammeh is not driven by the same emotional forces that haunt the conscience and compel the mind to steer towards compassion and altruism. In a rather comical statement that reveals the sheer absurdity of the idea and deviousness of the Constitutional amendment proposal, the motion to amend reads like a scary line from an R. R Tolkien novel: “the amendment seeks to amend the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia to provide for the application of the death penalty in circumstances other than where there is actual violence or administration of toxic substance resulting in death.” What Yahya Jammeh wants in this ridiculous amendment motion is additional death penalty eligible crimes, which will evidently open the Gambia to the characteristic brutality of Yahya Jammeh, whose sole purpose is plant more fear and foil citizen verbalization of their grievances. One of the inherent dangers posed by this amendment is, give Yahya Jammeh, through his poppet judges, extraordinary latitude to adjudge who lives and dies. Without sounding cynical, the politicization of the judiciary will fulfill one of Yahya Jammeh’s objectives of establishing Sharia Law in Gambia. For Yahya Jammeh, the expansion of the death penalty eligible crimes will serve three purposes; satisfy the human sacrifice needs of his oracles, eliminate his real and imagined political opponents, and attract financial support from wealthy Sharia Law compliant Middle East countries. Several years ago, the blow-back from Yahya Jammeh’s dabbling with the idea of introducing Sharia Law, was spontaneous and intense, leading to the demise of that idea. Besides, adding more crimes to the death penalty qualified roster, runs counter to the African Union’s intent of completely abolishing the death penalty in member countries. As late as April, 2015, in its 56th ordinary session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), put the abolition of the death penalty at the heart of its debates, and adopted a draft regional treaty to help African Union member states move away from capital punishment. An official panel discussion on capital punishment in Africa took place at the ACHPR session on April 2015. For the AU, its time to close this chapter of Africa’s political barbarism, even as Gambia broadens it.
In the 2010 Death Penalty Constitutional amendment, what most stood out as a signpost of hope became a poignant reminder of the cruel underpinnings surrounding the very concept of expanding the death penalty crimes. Then Attorney General and Justice Minister, Edu Gomez, unwittingly admitted to the international community of the ‘draconian’ nature of the amendment, which made drug possession and sale, death penalty eligible. The contradiction between legality and draconian, was a compelling enough admission to an esoteric intent, apart from providing grounds for its repeal. The issue, then as now, remains challenging why Yahya Jammeh is sickeningly bent on making state-sanctioned killings easier; not harder. With the mass Mile Two Prison executions seared in Gambians’ collective memory, the lingering question then is whether the Gambia’s rubber stamp National Assembly will have the audacity, fortitude and sagacity to withstand the bruising test to Yahya Jammeh’s spiteful retribution. There is no historical evidence to support the independence of the National Assembly; on the contrary, digression from Yahya Jammeh’s goals has led to the expulsion of the entire retinue of AFPRC National Assembly representatives, back in 2006.
Even without making it official, Gambians live under a constant state of martial law, and the creeping lawlessness of amending the Death Penalty, will further aggravate the dominance of the regime over the people, rather than the other way around. The bottom-line is this; the National Assembly has completely surrendered to Yahya Jammeh’s comedic and Messianic pretentions, and latched onto his every command as a divine order. The way in which the National Assembly has, over the last two decades, deferred to Yahya Jammeh’s arrogance and alienated the Gambian population, violates their solemn contract with the electorate, and National Assembly members need reminding that the arm of justice is long. As we go to press, Yahya Jammeh deception has again come center-stage, as he supposedly pardons some Mile Two prisoners. Lama Jallow whose name was read on national television as pardoned, died last week, in that death trap called Mile 2 Prison, according to his friend. This brings the death toll at Mile 2 Prison to nearly five hundred, and still Yahya Jammeh wants more incarcerations, not less. I have no plea, or advice for the National Assembly. Their choice is between doing what is right for Gambia and what is right by Yahya Jammeh. Thats the bottom-line. End of story.
The Gambia – A hasty ban on the use of plastics?
The Gambian authorities have made good their promise to ban the importation, manufacture and use of all plastic bags (without any exception) with effect from 1st July. Of course it has been generally agreed that plastic bags are a big environmental hazard, especially in Africa where people do not seem to have the attitude of throwing rubbish into rubbish bins, apparently because in most places, the bins are not even available. However, implementing such a measure like the ban on the use of plastic bags required a thorough study and implementation in phases rather than an abrupt stop like what seems to have happened in the Gambia. It certainly makes no economic sense to impose a complete ban on the use of plastics without enough public sensitization as well as thinking about an alternative.
While it would not be quite difficult to replace plastic bags used for shopping with paper bags, but there are certain trades such as water bottling and the sale of chilled food items that cannot be replaced by ordinary paper. Therefore, the authorities at the National Environmental Agency should have thoroughly studied all the possible negative impact as well as the implications the imposition of the ban would have had on both the society and the economy before implementing it. It is just not enough for them to rely on the power and authority given to them by law to carry out such a measure without considering those negative implications.
One can imagine the chaos the ban has caused in the society, particularly amongst the petty traders and those in the informal sector, many of whom rely on plastic products to carry out their businesses. It is therefore not a surprise that certain businesses have come to a complete halt, apparently because they have not yet had any alternative to the use of plastic products to carry out their business. It is a similar situation with the manufacturers and importers of plastic products, some of whom have been compelled to lay off their employees, thus causing a serious negative impact on the economy as well as a surge in the level of unemployment.
Indeed, this is even very likely to cause an exodus in the few foreign investors still left in the country as well as discourage those with plans to invest in the country. There is for instance this case of a foreign investor who has just established a water bottling plant somewhere up-country which was scheduled to start operations before the end of July, but suddenly, with the ban on the use of plastic bags, the gentleman is confused as he has no idea what alternative he should use to bottle the water. One can therefore imagine the frustration he is presently going through after investing his money in the business. It is a similar scenario with the many water bottling plants dotted all over the country.
One would therefore wonder whether the NEA or whoever was responsible for such a drastic action ever considered such negative implications on the economy and the society at large.
While Senegal is also in the process of enacting a similar law, but in their own case, they have assigned the experts to thoroughly study the implications on both the economy and the society and come up with suitable alternatives. In their own case also, they do not intend to impose a complete ban at once but in different stages while they search for suitable alternatives to the various types of plastic products in use.
Therefore, considering that the Gambia is almost completely surrounded by Senegal and Senegal is yet to impose a ban, one would wonder whether the NEA officials ever thought of the possibility of the wind blowing plastic bags across the border from Senegal and thus negate virtually all their efforts in cleansing the country of plastic bags.
It is a well known fact that plastic is much cheaper than paper and the fact that the Gambia does not have paper production facilities means importing large quantities of paper to meet the needs of the shoppers as well as those who utilize the product. Can anyone the import bill being able to accommodate such an increase? Let us hope that the economists considered all that and advised the authorities accordingly.
One can also wonder how many of the petty traders who used to sell their wares in plastic bags can now afford the paper bags. Therefore, what is likely to happen is that people who used to sell food items, for instance, in plastic bags would tend to resort to using unhygienic materials to wrap the food, thus exposing their clients to health hazards.
It is therefore extremely important that our political leaders always carefully consider the implications of all their actions and consult with the people at every level rather than relying on their power and authority to make certain decisions.
PUBLIC NOTICE: SENEGAMBIA DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE
Senegambia Democracy and Governance Organization (SENDGO), and the Vice Chairperson in charge of This is to inform the general public that, Madam Tuku Jallow, Executive Director and Founder of The Women Affair’s for Gambia Consultative Council (GCC), is scheduled to travel around Europe as part of the effort to visit with diverse Gambian groups and organizations to acquaint them with the activities of SENDGO, following its launching on the 16th, May 2015. As a development organization, which is set up to promote and educate women and girls about preventive healthcare, Women’s Right’s, FGM at home in the Senegambia region, and SENDGO’s European tour is expected to further educate Gambians about the political necessity to bring Gambians together to more effectively work towards regime change in Gambia.
Madam Tuku Jallow will depart from Washington DC, tomorrow and will visit The European countries (as follows: Germany, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, London, France, Italy, Spain, Brussels, etc to principally share and exchange views and ideas on issues relating to how to educate and help improve the quality of life for women in the Senegambia region.
The tour around Europe will enable Madam Tuku Jallow to meet and discuss with fellow Gambian Diaspora communities as well as learn from them ideas that will further help SENDGO grow to be an effective organization in addressing the critical issues facing women and girls in the Senegambia region. The whole premise of the tour is to solicit the cooperation and support of all Gambians to promote the welfare of the women and girls at home. Madam Tuku Jallow is expected to return to Washington DC, after mission accomplished.
Thanks you.
Ms. Tuku Jallow
Executive Director and Founder
Senegambia Democracy and Governance Organization (SENDGO)
2412 St. Albert Terrace
Brookeville, MD 20833
Website: Senegambiademocracy.org
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 240-705-5128
Rebuttal: A critical reply to the Banjul Insider’s article on the people in the struggle to end dictatorship!
The independent Gambians want the unending bashing of the socalled ‘Jammeh enablers or self proclaimed ‘selfless participants to nation building’ jurors and judges field to halt and recind the recent’idiocy’rants. The Gambian independents and i in particular are bristling at the largely tepid response by so called bloggers and contributors to online media publications to characterization of Jammeh’s enablers as unapologetic, should be ashamed of themselves and step up to the plate” to propell the struggle into victory and finally nail Jammeh and his evil diciples in their coffins for good.
Several 2016 contenders have brushed off Jammeh’s enablers bashing comments while others have ignored them. O.J, a seasoned politician who is a former PPP ruling member, denounced them as not just wrong and inaccurate, but also divisive, after declining for almost 20 years to address the matter directly. Another opposition leader in the race, Ousainou Darboe, said the legal system is terrific, brash and speaks for itself and we should continue to exploit them to dispense judgement on Jammeh enablers or his disciples and not crucify them on social media.
It’s an uncomfortable moment for the opposition, who want more financial and political support and usage of online media airtime from the ‘Ex enablers’ surging into struggle population, fleeing for fears of persecution and personal safety from Jammeh’s brutal tight fist governance.
And it could be a costly moment if more opposition candidates like Halifa Sallah don’t go beyond their Jammeh-will-be-Jammeh and ‘Yalla bahna’ response and condemn him directly and name and shame anyone involved in his brutality.
“The time has come for the candidates to distance themselves from gimmicks and embrace substance and call out all documented or non documented evil metted out on Gambians and not these bashing online newpapers comments that are: ludicrous, baseless and insulting.” “Sadly, it hurts the struggle with ‘Jammeh’s runnaways or socalled ‘enablers’ doing their quotas in selflessly narrating their stories and that of others left behind in ailing prison and legal conditions as born_a_agains participating in protests, on line call in forums or even publishing articles documenting and calling out Jammeh’s crimes.
It’s a level of idiocy I haven’t seen in a long time to lose focus and inwardly fighting each other instead of trying to win more hearts and minds to join the struggle, to get rid of this conterminatinating and poisonious Jammeh regime.
So far, Jammeh has paid less of a political price than an economic one. The EU, America, Taiwan and Arab nations, has backed out of sending blank aid checks (foreign aid) to Gambia, NGO’s a joint venture between Gambia and Charitable Non Govermental organisations , which also recently began cutting+ ties with Jammeh. Other African leaders are facing pressure to follow suit.
In his speech last month marking his entry into the reconcilation mode with former jailed compaetriates like Musa Suso in Sukuta, Jammeh said ‘Musa paid the price for their friendship by not listening to his advice about distancing himself from drug dealers and crooks. That they’re only bringing crime towards him and not wealth as thought by Musa.’
The Lebanese businessmen has refused to write checks to Jammeh and are not willing to bribe or back down, although Jammeh has recently expelled people like Tajudine and then recinds and now he is allowed to stay and even insists his remarks were misconstrued. His IEC reforms on presidential candidacy financial requirement contributions were deferred by supreme court.
His statements have been contorted to seem harsh and uncalled for, his concerned fellow citizens and even some supporters wrote in a message to the struggle on FB Wednesday. What he wants is for inclusive voting system and not a one man show or one party state legal and not to be unfairly punishing future interested and capable presidential candidates because Jammeh wants to rule for life. His original comments, though, did not make a distinction between one party state and a no election contest.
His rhetoric may resonate with some of the APRC Party’s most passionate voters, who have long viewed Jammeh as a demi God, as one of the nation’s most promising president and best citizen.
But the 2016 contest brings opportunity for the struggle to make inroads with undecided voters and those defected Jammeh supporters.
Even so, Ahmat Bah has said little more about Jammeh’s comments than that they were wrong.
Maybe we’ll have a chance to have an honest discussion about it online any day he decides to come out of hiding and grant and interview with the struggle online radios.
We are all paying keen attention to how the candidates respond to Jammeh’s xenophobic, homophobic and divisive rhetoric.
We’re listening very, very closely, not just what candidates say but what they don’t say — the sins of commission and the sins of omission, carry same punishment in common law.
Calling defectors enablers is wholly inappropriate and we should wait until Jammeh is out, set up a comission and not rush to judvemnet. But in a subsequent conotation, those that reserve judgement on enablers and so called enablers have all right to be where they are on the fence for now, until reconciliation commitee is set up and rules judgemnt post eviden e collection, scrutinisation and analysis.
I don’t think online publication’s remarks reflect the struggle annd they are engaging in political correctness in attacking anyone who severed ties with dictator Jammeh, afterall he is a dictator. The struggle needs someone who brings Gambians in diaspora and those at home together — not someone who continues to divide us.