By Momodou L C Gaye
It is disheartening to listen to the transitional leader President Adama Barrow already booking himself for 2 terms as President of the Republic of The Gambia. The guy is supposed to stay in power for 3 years in order to effect necessary reforms and create a democratic environment/space for a successor. He now deems all those who want to see him adhere to the letter and spirit of the Merorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by coalition political partners prior to the holding of the presidential election of December 2016 as betrayers and probable enemies of state. Even if he were to go for 5 years he would still remain transitional. The President did not stop there. He carried on with his monotonous bombastic utterances about his own might because he has the loyal support of The Gambian Army, The Police, the intelligence agency SIS and not the least the ECOMIG totally supporting and backing him. He was so boastful to the extent of comparing his enlarged military muscle to that of the ousted dictator, Yahya Jammeh. He even bragged about the size of his staged managed crowd from the West Coast region of the nation. In his view that meeting at the State House grounds was his own Congress giving likely credence to the much talked about political party he is about to launch. Strangely though the Congress preceded the naming and registration of his political Party. He is having all these campaigns/gatherings serving as a launch pad/springboard or as a prelude to his Party’s take off. It is very scary for a transitional coalition leader to entirely on his own embark on extending his duration of stay in power to the chagrin of many Gambians and with complete disregard to the principles outlined by the agreed Memorandum of Understanding; signed by Coalition stakeholders. In any case intimidating and threatening citizens can be considered an abuse of power. His many utterances/statements could one day backfire because he is bringing the seat of the presidency to disrepute. He seems to have quickly forgotten his mandate by abandoning any tenet of democratic dispensation. The Gambians may increasingly find it unacceptable to once again be dragged into primitive dictatorship. Mr President, this kind of behaviour is not what citizens expected from you when they voted you to become the occupier of the presidency for 3 years. They envisaged a transitional coalition administration that would initiate effective institutional, political, economic, media and security reforms without vacillation. Many today are dismayed and cannot fathom your unguarded behaviour in high office.
