In his address to the nation before a panel of African Lawyers, President Yahya Jammeh appeared erratic, broken, angry, defiant, betrayed and defensive about his decision to challenge the outcome of the elections.
To Gambians and non-Gambians alike, the man in that erratic and defiant tone on national television was a familiar face; a face of deceit, lies, greed, arrogance and disrespect for due process. From his rants about the election, to the principles of sovereignty regarding interventions by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the United Nations (UN), none of Yahya Jammeh’s remarks makes sense. The erratic leader’s remarks mark a sharp contrast from Gambian and international governance realities.
Regarding his reasons for shifting from conceding to challenging and annulling election results, Yahya Jammeh failed to realize that his actions constitute an abuse of legislative and executive power; an act of treason as most legal luminaries opined. Under the constitution, participating political parties can only file a petition to the Supreme Court to determine the validity of the election. And such petitions do not necessarily change the outcome of the election presented by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
More baffling of all was Jammeh’s departure from his earlier assertion that the election process in The Gambia is by far the most transparent in the entire world. Jammeh’s departure from his own bragging lines and conceding defeat to transgressing constitutional procedures and principles confirms President Yahya Jammeh’s lack of respect for the people.
Reference to remarks on interventions by ECOWAS and the UN, little did Jammeh realize that there has been a change of policy on the meaning of sovereignty. The erratic president’s use of sovereignty and non-interference in dismissing calls to uphold election results is indeed a departure from contemporary meaning of sovereignty. Traditionally, the meaning of sovereignty was limited to non-interference, however, in contemporary terms sovereignty means responsibility to the people. President Jammeh got it all wrong.
By the dawn of the millennium, a response to the state abuse of power or reluctance to protect citizens in Rwanda and Srebrenica (just to name a few), triggered a new global initiative to draw the fine line between sovereignty, responsibility and intervention. In line with that thinking, former Secretary General Kofi Annan was among the first global citizens to plea to the international community to find a consensus on state sovereignty, responsibility and intervention.
In September 2000, the UN General Assembly established The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICIS). The commission comprising of twelve commissioners presented its report with the central theme “The Responsibility to Protect”
“The responsibility to protect is the idea that states have an obligation to protect their citizens from avoidable catastrophe when they are unwilling or unable to do so, that responsibility must be borne by the broader community of states”.
The shift from sovereignty in the context of control and non-interference to sovereignty in the context of responsibility strengthened intergovernmental provisions of good governance and the rule of law in numerous way. First, state authorities are now held responsible for functions of protecting citizens. Second, state authorities are directly accountable to citizens and the international community. Third, state agents are directly responsible for their very own actions. President Jammeh’s narrow perception of sovereignty and non- interference shows his lack of interest for the legitimate concern of citizens regarding good governance, security, opportunities and progress in a changing world.
Arguably, the principle of intervention, including military intervention is justified and supported when citizens are harmed or peace and security is threatened and the state is either unwilling or unable to protect citizens, or the state is the perpetrator. These are the basis on which ECOWAS, UN and AU intervention in Gambia is justified. It was the same basis on which ECOWAS intervened in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea Bissau.
In sum, President Yahya Jammeh got it all wrong in his address to the nation. Gambians have spoken well and President-Elect Adama Barrow is entrusted with the legitimate consent and mandate to be the President of the Third Gambian Republic.
The author is at Rutgers University, Newark Campus
By Professor Binneh S. Minteh
Imam Touray spoke at length on the history of the council, its role and relation with the government since it was established in 1992 saying the council was formed by Gambians from all regions of the country. He prayed for the new government and reminded President-elect Barrow to always remember that “leadership is ordained by Allah. He gives to whoever He will”.
The Impact of Gambia’s predicament on our general well-being
The 22 years of Jammeh’s repressive rule, characterized by arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, mass incarceration, torture, maim and killing of innocent citizens, came with serious consequences even to those not directly affected. Amongst all, killing is the worst and I have previously argued that Jammeh has killed more black people than the United states police and colonial slave masters combined. This claim was swiftly followed and validated by the revelation of Jammeh’s involvement in the illegal weapon smuggling to Southern Sudan, where countless people are currently being killed. No doubt these are all just a tip of the iceberg, shocked will be an underestimate of what we ll find when this monster is eventually removed. Overall, the consequences of living in fear, economic hardship, frustration and despair can be simplified into one factor – stress! That every patriotic Gambian both in country and abroad have been going through the past 22 years.
Stress could be defined as environmental insults that threaten our mental, emotional and social well-being. Its part of the daily routine of every adult, hence our body having a sophisticated mechanism in place to help us counteract it. This our body is able to cope with to a certain length of time, however, prolonged exposure to stress without relief or relaxation between episodes could have an adverse effect on our health. Common health problems associated with stress includes headaches, upset stomach, insomnia, worsening of certain already existing diseases/symptoms and hypertension. The latter, also known as high blood pressure, is what am most concern about because of the simple fact that is classed as one of world’s top ten killer diseases by the world health organization; and also the fact that it shows no symptoms which is why it is also called the silent killer. Africans are most susceptible due to our genetic make up and it imposes a huge economic burden on different countries. Prolonged stress, inflicted by Jammeh’s attitude towards our people, will invoke our body to respond by producing a hormone (chemical messenger) called cortisol, which promotes sodium retention, causing an osmotic pressure in the blood vessels, and eventually leading to hypertension. This is common to Gambian dissidents in the developed countries, and it is thus conceivable that its magnitude on our people in the country, being the ones feeling the absolute brunt of tyranny, coupled with lack of adequate health care and malnutrition, will be more severe.
The associated emotional and social consequences are also a serious problem on our people. It saddens me because Gambians are the best people a Know. They are descent individuals who do not deserve the treatments inflicted by their own government. Its true every society have their own problems, but Gambian’s are attributed to lack of education and depravation of information. The climate of fear has given the people no space to even voice out or speak to a relative about how they feel. For example, no one will dare have a funeral or even a gathering to recite qur’an for a loved one killed by Jammeh. More to the point, stress can cause emotional problems such as depression, anxiety and bipolar. Byproducts of stress hormones can act as sedatives (chemical substances which cause us to become calm or fatigued). When such hormone byproducts occur in large amounts (which will happen under conditions of chronic stress), they may contribute to a sustained feeling of low energy or depression. This further affect our social-well being and even to an extend of breaking relationships and marriage. Most partners will tell you they are not all that happy in their marriage as their partners are addicted to online radios, and listens to it to get their routine “hit” of stress. Our cultures and religions helps in this regard to maintain marriages, as divorce applications will hit the roof if we were people of western cultures.
It is good idea for us try attenuate these problems by understanding that Jammeh is done and he will NEVER be our president again past 18th January. We should be more engaged in other activities such as exercising regularly, eating healthy (low salt) and spending enough time with loved ones. We have won! And we are in one piece!
Moving forward, god came to our rescue finally and has given us the best leadership we could hope for. For a country coming from a 22 years of brutal dictatorship, it is blessed to be in the hands of a calm, collected and compassionate leader surrounded by competent and determined team members ready to deliver us to the promised land. Hon. Barrow, apart from unifying and helping to build stronger communities, institutional reforms, building the foundation for democracy, must put the broken health care system, that’s been ignored by the jammeh administration for two decades, an utmost priority to mitigate further loss of lives. A lot of our people are dying from preventable diseases.
He should promote primary, secondary and tertiary health care system that will not only safe lives but also increase a nationwide live expectancy from the current 60 to 75 years. Primary health care will aim at enlightening the people of diseases by creating health clubs, seminars, training first aiders, health and safety awareness and assessing traditional health practices and integrate good ones and try get rid of bad ones. Secondary health care will promote construction of hospitals in towns with a certain number of people, provide state of the earth laboratories and equiptment, adequately trained professionals, provide ambulances and ensure an affable health care service for all. Tertiary health care will create or at least revamp current five major hospitals (Banjul, Farafenni, Brikama Ba, Bansang and Basse) that will be equipped with accident and emergency, and intensive care unit. These might not be achieved but will be a start for subsequent leaders and in 10 years, Gambia will be created where citizens will live up to their full potential.
I have no doubt Hon. Adama will serve to our expectation in putting Gambia in the right direction and I commend him for his call to all inclusive Gambians workforce, and would love to see some of the resource rich diasporans going home to help, as I would love to see a new Gambia that is as strong as those who defend her. I am hopeful for my country!
God bless the Gambia.
By Yunus Hydara