The sunset of Yaya Jammeh’s exceedingly rancorous presidency is about to occur in December 1st election but he is trying to resuscitate his image from his lengthy records of self-inflected wounds. Indeed, Yaya Jammeh has often revised his convenient tall tales of excuses depending on the campaign needs at hand. However, over the span of twenty-two years, he has erected so many monstrous shadow of dark clouds monuments on the minds/hearts of Gambians and put our country through tremendous turbulence of brutal dictatorship that continues to raise our eyebrows. Among them are — the dark clouds of April 10/11, the heavy rain of terror on April 14/16, the constant abuse of power, corruption, cover ups, and the daily terror he put Gambians through — purposely driven by his ego-driven politics of greed. Unquestionably, his intentional demagoguery of Gambian population and his failure to seek redemption that comes thereafter from wronging the Gambian population, has manifested itself into call for change of regime that spread to all parts of the country. Yaya Jammeh’s forays of scandals hovering over his head, has in fact limited his strength and it has helped spawn the once loose assemblage of citizens in the diaspora into a powerful force now of reckoning. His misplaced priorities by his nature of governance, has tarnished and littered our country with numerous scandals and political intrigue — that now plagues many Gambians.
It is also becoming increasingly evident of the dark cloud hovering over his head and mistrust of his once closest allies, propelled him — to fire one of the most prolific authors of tortures and horrific assassinations of citizens in Gambians history — Osman Sonko. Osman Sonko’s actions as one of the architect of brutal crimes — and his front zipper problems, have place him on the bottom of the sympathy threshold as one of the two most disliked figures in Gambia. Even prior to his dismissal, Yaya Jammeh knew an unpopular — naturalized Cassamance native at the front line of terror against the Gambian population, holding on such a high profile post on spotlight after his men — were involved in the murder of Solo Sandeng was tentative. Was it done to provide much needed political cover or is the little monster he created in Osman Sonko sufficiently got — too tough for his consumption? Time will tell. Of course the firing of one of the lesser of two evils — Osman Sonko, is a welcome news for Gambia, but we hope it was not done more specifically — to gain traction or credibility amongst the families they both victimized. If Yaya Jammeh doubles down further to release all political prisoners, compensate the tortured women and release the UDP executives, then he will be patted on his back by only few people. But the truth is — Yaya Jammeh have found himself in a remarkable quagmire of his crimes with tremendous consequences for the Gambian population — if he is allowed to lead the country again.
Yet, Yaya Jammeh wants Gambians to empty our hearts forcefully from all his of deliberate failings, his intentional mistakes, his frailties to our nation and instead, wants us to blindly associate him with sense of awe and respect as the developer? Huh! The man had the opportunity to lead our nation with dignity, not with — terror or playing hide and seek with Gambian citizens. We are in a unique moment in history where Gambians are finally taking notice of his irreversible abuse of power and his absence on UN world stage as a result of being — so isolated. Many of his peers — harbor an intense dislike of how he continues to cause problems in their region and Gambians are so dissatisfied with the nation’s current path under his watch. Realizing this and his visceral experience of encounter with the angry Gambian diasporians over the years, it gave him much goose bumps to stay out of eyesight as he continues doing what he does best — for his own interest. But that calculation may very well poised to fumble once more a great opportunity to advocate for — investments, medicines badly needed for our hospitals, seek solutions to advance our nation’s technologies but instead, they have reduced the summit to a reading event for his ministers. What else other than this — can be more evident as a proof that Yaya Jammeh is an obstructionist for Gambians advancement?
Today, we are at a key juncture because the regime that has caused large-scale repression, wants to legitimacy through elections again. For twenty-two years, the man cannot take a single responsibility of his own policies but — continues to distort and disgrace the legacy of PPP government to distract Gambians. He knows consciously behind his mind — what Gambia was yesterday — and its historic place in the world — as the smiling coast of Africa to — it’s new identity of the crying coast of hopelessness and terror he helped shaped Gambia today. It does not stop there with him, he wants to preserve that identity for five more years overshadowed with — extremely difficult times, unimaginable consequences of terror for Gambians he harbors vendetta, and gives us a final blow of collateral damage of our economy.
Given the tentative nature of December 1st election and all the various compounding factors of terror that awaits the Gambian population — if the regime is given another 5-year mandate, not the least of which is — the potential for a controversial Islamic State of Yaya Jammeh and hard times that lays ahead for all Gambians– including those in the diaspora. Gambians should be encouraging their love ones to all come out in their large numbers and vote for the opposition. Be watchful of foreigners at our polling stations. Gambians should look out for people marching in the voting booth with their figure stained with ink — from previously voting. Give them high fives whiles watching their fingers. Sadly, this is the way Gambians can legally opted out from another course of cruel dictatorship. So again — our call for the opposition leaders to form a formidable coalition to send a powerful blow of rejection of Yaya Jammeh’s regime. But the battle is not over.
We all know Yaya Jammeh and his regime are now on their heels — cunning political maneuver to impact the elections outcomes by undoubtedly offering whatever stories they can cook up as an excuse to the Gambians and further attempting to divided the opposition parties. We cannot allow the dictatorship train — full of enticing gifts to leave the station and start deceiving the Gambians they have failed for twenty -two down the tracks. Let’s derail this train before it continues to grind on reaching December 2nd elections. We need to forge a new path that empowers Gambians to take control of their destiny as a people and have a credible government that respects the diversity of contemporary Gambians. Here is our chance, let’s not blown it again.
By Habib ( A Concerned Gambian)
