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Ask any man, with religious belief; what’s the highest authority over them – and they’ll proudly exclaim that it is God. Even Jammeh’s man killers will tell you God is the highest authority. Whether Muslim or Christian – didn’t these killers know that it’s forbidden by this highest authority that – ‘Thou shall not kill’?
To paraphrase the Qu’ran; Taking one innocent life is akin to killing the whole mankind… And to help save one innocent life is like saving the lives of whole mankind. To state it simply, there is not a scripture or a doctrine that permits murder. The reasoning from these scriptures – is because the divine authority that creates life, makes it sacred, also forbids taking it.
So why will a lesser authority in the person of Jammeh be reason enough for these people to kill their fellows?
Every time I read about the savagery of these killers, dubbed ‘the junglers’, I’m quickly filled with rage and disgust for their vile acts against their own brothers and sisters. The sentiments they instill are of more value than the words convey even in their august sense. The revelations, at times by some of these ‘ex-junglers’ are bone chilling. The brute and vile state a fellow Gambian can reduce himself to be is just unbelievable.
How did we create monsters out of our military and our so-called ‘intelligent services’, now called the SIS that were beating people to death, burning genitals and experimenting with all kinds of torture methods on our brothers and sisters? How can our fellow countryman pick up a knife and coldly pierce through the flesh of his fellow, slash his throat, cut his jugular vein or slice through his main arteries and watch them bleed to death simply because he was ordered? How can any Gambian pull out a machete to cut his brethren into pieces like a butcher preparing lamb chops for a meal, before dumping the pieces into wells or shallow graves?
These are among many methods our brethren were killed and butchered by these human wastes called ‘the junglers’. These exposed the brute side of our society in colossal, and until we put a closure to it with the full weight of the law, we cannot claim to be sincere when we say; “never again”.
Crimes and punishments grow out of one seed. The two cannot be separated; they are two parts of the same unfolding. Inevitable dualism maintains nature, so we can’t have dog’s head without a tail behind, because they accompany each other. Punishment is not for revenge, but the second half of our crimes, and the two has to form unison in the criminal.
Therefore, for our crimes, the converse is punishment; the two are inseparable. Endless combinations of evidences from which I’m deducing this doctrine of maximum penalty – are in plain sight and expressed in every part of society. Absolute equity adjusts its balance in every part of our lives, with our will or against it; but for the apparent side of this justice, we will demand that it is fully and expeditiously delivered here and now!
In the folktales and in the proverbs of all societies- crimes and punishment are never separated, and no fable or folklore can gain any currency when justice is not executed in full measure in the legends passed on to every new generation. We are taught these invaluable moral lessons in our childhood innocence; so when a story is told to us in which a crime is committed, we are sure to conclude that a penalty will be levied against it – in full measure. We observe these simple laws wrought its way through all parts of our lives and preached to us by our every impulse.
Now, as adults some of us are regressing in our judgment like invalids or insane – and start to wonder if the heinous crime of murder should be punished after all. Some of us can no longer find our moral compass, so we want to philosophize the very wisdom of bringing killers to justice in the name of reconciliation. These were arbitrary killings committed in cold blood, in silent mornings, in dark bushes, in quiet nights when the rest of the nation is sound asleep.
Our parlor soldiers and so-called intelligence officers that allowed themselves to be used like ponds are worse than pigs and dogs. They betrayed not only their conscience, but also the basic human instinct – to not kill our fellows. To compare them to dogs and pigs may not do justice to these animals, because these beasts are still noble enough to follow their instincts. These human wastes are more like expendable objects; filthy toy soldiers, void of all humanity.
To those that guile these barbarism and murders of our people with the condescending mask of civility, reason and neutrality; your heartless trifles will not deter the triumph of justice. These malicious disguise that attempts to paint those demanding justice as impatient and unforgiving will certainly fail. There are enough of us that will continue to call out this hypocritical gentility disguised as a hand of forgiveness. We will not rest until justice is served.
Civilization is built on a several fundamental principles; absolute respect for human life, punishment of crimes against persons and property, and equality of the citizenry before the court of law, i.e. impartiality of justice. Our government, party leaders and all opposition leaders must be very mindful of these principles and keep it’s doctrine. They cannot be talking on ‘both sides of their mouth’ – prattling around to prod the public to buying into any foolish notion of forgiveness in the name of reconciliation.
We the citizens remain the exchequer of justice and its dispensary – and will demand the full prosecution of those that committed the most heinous crimes against our citizens. Our government cannot be timorous in the call to see justice through – for the numerous tortures and extrajudicial murders of our countrymen for 22 years.
We have these dogmatized and shameless political instruments of the past regime still having a home in APRC. This facade of a political party continues to be home to these killers and their accomplices. They march the streets in pride, with the picture of the beast, monster Jammeh, plastered on their chests. No formal apologies, no show of remorse and no expression of sympathy to their victims.
We have killers still serving in our military. We have torturers and other enablers of the evil regime still serving in the SIS.
When some of us raise alarms at why the current government is hiring these imbeciles for critical positions or ‘coddling’ with so many of those that served in high positions and were in positions of influence but were complacent or turned a blind eye through all; we are told to be patient and given all kinds of idiotic reasons why some of these vultures are kept at these critical positions.
This is what we know: when you see vultures hovering in an area, there must be a carcass below somewhere. When you see it hover, know there is a stench of filth even if you can’t smell it. So yes, we have every reason to be worried at the sight of these vultures hovering over our government. We know there is something stinking about it.
Lamenting the past isn’t enough; we must take actions to make this point emphatic. We must not wait for each other to take our individual actions. Every change in the society begins with a flash of thought in the minds of men. One among them will bring this private impulse to the public – and from such simple acts the mightiest revolutions are born. So do not underestimate the step you take today to bring attention to plight of Jammeh’s victims and a demand to bring all suspects to justice.
We cannot give back live to those loved ones that were murdered in cold blood, but we can honor their memories by delivering justice to their murderers and making their loved ones whole to the extent possible.
Society owes it to them. It is our social debt and arguably the highest duty of our new government. If the government and the society absolve these killers from their heinous crimes, the whole society will pay in full! To Be Continued…
