In the Gambian culture, there are two words which are always frequently linked in our statements in times of crisis; patience and perseverance. Indeed, no matter what we go through, we are often tempted by our goodness to give the aggressor a pass by even saying in our minds “greed got the best of them” but we cannot help to let go off the outrage in our hearts. The 22 years of Yaya Jammeh’s rule have brought along jumbled disparate events that share a common theme of brutality, Yet, all marked by significant differences of ill will he carries for that person to be exterminated for good. Some are shot at close range, other burnt off, few were beaten to drive their souls of their bodies, infant’s mouth sealed with amulets before buried alive, virgins pushed into crocodile pools, some ran over by his speeding convoy and others chopped into pieces. All those victims have names but its will bring back nightmares to families and agitate healed wounds which still reigns in their minds.
All those events now starkly emphasize, there is almost no time more demanding a sense of responsibility than that of high passion and Gambians are ready to curb their patience with Yaya Jammeh. Gambians now horrified by the needless death sizzle constantly with outrage because the so call president is the enemy of the state who still does not know — how to live together with us in peace, kindness, respect and restraint. For the first time in decades, Yaya Jammeh has struggled to shake his reputation spark by a long-simmering set of discontents, collective outrage, blanket of condemnations, accumulated grievance which all fast track to the state House door whistling on his ears and darkening his visions— which in the past, he rode out those storms confidentially. The man with a massive ego , limited grasp of reality, chameleon tendencies ”Kaakatarr” of setting up people who often brags in attaya sessions among his military peers about disciplining Gambians frightening issues and the torrent of his abuses by using his knife’s edge except for certain issues he finds convenient to use his loyalist, whom he established as connoisseurs of the shabby and the shameless to put his interests above life of millions of Gambians, now find themselves force to handle their own maniacal aversion of conflagrations in their best moments of terrible personal urgency.
Nevertheless, it is clear to every Gambian now in this extended season of anger and violence of Yaya Jammeh against Gambian citizens, his denunciations of people or exploiting divisions have serve little purpose because 20 years of committing destructive cycle of horrendous crime and populating prison cannot be washed away with brides or mere words because— Gambians have been educated about dictatorship now. No wonder the awards sprung on the public at the last minute to further divide us, only helped exposed people in the diaspora with chameleon tendencies. Gambians have outgrown the playground of dictatorship Yaya Jammeh made for us and now has gone out of style for all of us. Whiles promising to look after us, he instead redistributed all our land to himself up to our cemeteries. He promises to look over wealth but left us with a “Dalasi Holocaust” at our central bank. It is difficult to stomach our once exemplified society is apparently controlled by adrenaline-fueled moments of crisis.
Of interest, Gambia today is not only unpleasant but demoralizing for many of its citizens. This is why the youths feel a powerful desire for one-way ticket out of Gambia because Yaya Jammeh’s new solution is sweeping Gambians problems under the rug and giving his maniacal aversion of the truth. Yaya Jammeh has offered Gambians a sobering warning this year about the dangers of what is to come after 2nd December or rather, to excoriate what will happen if we don’t put our acts together. It’s a long list of lessons that generated considerable buzz but provided a much-needed guidepost this election year to once and for all sublimate this violent regime and replace it with a government that has empathy towards Gambians. The latest controversy of military personnel yet again confessing to slitting the throat of another citizen and pushing him into pool of crocodiles goes way too far. Where the heck do we go from here?
Some Gambians are a greatly skeptical of the flawed process by advocating for a salient footnote on December 1st whiles others actively listened to the mood of the country and reflect its yearnings of going to election for a momentous task of putting an end to Yaya Jammeh. The overriding question is no one trust the process will be free and fair but both camps wants Yaya Jammeh to go away. Let’s get beyond platitudes and talking points because we can’t honestly reflexively dictate people of what to do but educate them to help soften their harden stands. We need our politician to finally present a viable plan, one that deliver more good jobs, revive small business, raises the level of education, fix our broken economy and finds common ground among Gambians. All these are possible through elections otherwise December 2nd, the status quo remains the same. Gambians are determining to end dictatorship and understand that December 1st, there will be fear-mongering of the highest degree but giving Yaya another free ride to finish off Gambians is too risky for our nation. The APRC regime have provided a vivid and horrifying picture of what our citizen will face if this menace is left unchecked to continue unleashing their mayhem.
By habib ( A Concerned Gambian)
