By Ali Jaye: As any sincere Gambian home or abroad feels, I must also express the bitter pain and frustration of the nation’s innocents but of course I am directing it to the ‘Yahya Jammeh’s people’.
The title may sound wierd but I chose it for a reason. Prior to the outcome of the election, the nation was divided on party lines. After the election, however, the country is now divided between patriots versus egoists, being the people aiding and fueling Yahya’s irrational actions to bring the country on the brink of chaos. You will certainly fail because God will save the Gambia from your evil plots! The sincere APRC camp members patriotic to the nation have long embraced the truth and verdicts of the nation except the self-centered few of you called ‘Yahya’s people’.
Therefore, the crisis now is beyond party line but rather self-centered individual wanting to see Gambia into a state of anarchy. Truth be told, the ongoing resistant and power claim by the supposedly out-going president is nothing more than his cowardice to face the tribulation for his actions.
Folks for Jammeh, Lord Acton is right about you: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. How I wish I had the intellectual stature to conjoin mine to his, “…absolute power narrows the morality and reasoning of the powerful because the evil outgrow the good in them”. It is beyond comprehension to admit that our own mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters are still standing-by a man who has lost control and respect. The worst is seeing the erratic man chanting and digging a grave for all of you. Your wishes for the Gambia shall never come to be. You shall all fail in your plot to turn our nation into turmoil. And to our securities who are silently maintaining their loyalties to the Gambian people, we are with you and maintain your promises.
To you the people of Yahya, I want you to understand that the limit has been reached, the limit of enhancing the desires of a man who, for 22 years and more, betrayed, abused, enslaved, and maimed your own people. You have proven to all Gambians that you do not care about the nation but rather care about the benefits you gain from him. Your actions are evidently clear to all Gambians. I am confident that every Gambian except those of you who continue to pursue personal interest, is far better than Yahya in class, reputation, and manner. Therefore, the unforgiving state of apprehension and the emotional affliction on the innocent, non-violent decent Gambians on behalf of this unethical louse only earns you the wrath of Allah. I applaud those in the foreign mission, civil society groups, local and community leaders for acknowledgement to the will of the people but moreover, letting the louse understand that he needs to vacate the seat of power for the next president because he needs to respect peoples’ voice. Thank you for embracing the truth!
To you the ‘Yahya’s people’, at this point in our crusade, Gambians are not asking you to back down your support for him because our victory is in sight but your shame and destruction are also in sight. Therefore, hold fast to your Jammeh loyalty if your values are for him and him alone. I bet, Yahya is the proudest person and the winner in your mutual game: he knows that he is failing and decides that he must go down with many of you. That is why he wants you to be visibly seen in this crisis for the world to recognize all of you as his allies. The wise and rational ones are keeping the distant. Truly, he is the winner because he has the least to lose and the least number of blood relations in the Gambia. If my memory serves me right, Yahya’s only blood relation is his mother, and wife and the two kids who will be at safe-haven in the event of eventualities. You know best that he fell apart with all other relatives.
Going forward, Gambians will remember the extent of your commitment and support to a man whose evil nature acclaimed him a worldwide fame as one of the worst dictators on earth. The history that will narrate your roles in his evil acts will surely be read to you soon; your roles in the students’ massacre, the torturing, imprisoning, killings and disappearance of alleged coup plotters, political opponents, civic activities, journalists, raiding of our poor innocent elderly in the name of anti-which hunt operations and many more are just enough still stays in our mind for accountability purpose.
And please get me right; there is nothing wrong to serve in his administration because you are working for the government. The problem comes when you continue to uphold his values and support his actions that undermine your values, integrity, and pledges to the country as are happening at this moment in our political crisis. I refuse to accept your excuses that there are no other alternatives. If you are truly faithful and sincere to your nation, then no amount of influence or action should keep you serving a failing outgoing president who refuses to accept defeat. Gambians are flattered with your commitment to serve this toothless bulldog, a man who is been abandoned by all credible people and partners including the entire international community. Please, for the sake of your descendants, redefine your positions and desert him now before the eleventh hour passes.
Over the 22-year period, we have seen noble people who realized that they cannot continue to work under a man with such ‘malmannerism’, and resulted to exile or abandoning his offers for fear that they may act or support initiatives that oppresses the people they pledged to serve. We have also witnessed officials who honorably turned down his appointments or withdraw from service because they avoided been used against their own people. In fact, if I could remember, a minister who was appointment, sworn and within a week or two resigned from his post. Countless number of Gambians in the civil and security services has taken international and other private services jobs against their will. That was better decision for those people than to serve the interest of a killer of people. You cannot tell me those people are more honorable, have more moral and love for the country than you do. I therefore strongly believe that decisions you take to stay with him to this moment are voluntary choices which speaks volume about your values and integrity.
We should all be disappointed with Yahya’s actions, a man who claims to be a Pan-Africanist and a champion for peace negotiation with respect to his involvements in Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea Conakry and many more including his faked peace and unity speeches at the UN assembly. When he is now faced with his own test of faith, he couldn’t but reveal his true identity: egocentric, greed and shallow-minded whose rational senses are bloated with evil pleasure acts on own his people. Here comes the narrow mindedness persona described by Lord Acton; a man whose conscience cannot simply let him understand that the peoples’ choice overrules his individual interest regardless of the mountain of development agendas he claims to have. I find it difficult to understand why a man, whom, Gambians have given so much and endured so much pain, says he must continue remain in power as if he is a god over of us. I can only blame him to an extent when people like you who continue to fuel his actions. I also find it so difficult to question his psyche without questioning your rationality.
Knowing how caring a “typical” Gambians is especially our women folks, it is also shameful to continue seeing the likes of Isatou Njie Saidy, Fatou Lamin Faye, Fatou Mbaye, (the list goes on…) standing by a man who has no path a good end. I challenge their honestly, sincerity and love for the Gambia. I also question the authenticity of their religious morals and beliefs. To all of you, I say, the history to judge your actions is already in the making. To you, I say again, your creator and Gambians in particular cannot forgive give the role you may individually play in the 22 years oppression. Twenty-two years is long enough for a child born within the period to mature and be able to differentiate good from evil practices.
My list of champions in this near-ending crusade are endless; from the people who lost their lives on the cause to emancipate us from the oppressions (from 1995-present), to those who involuntarily left the country as well as those who stayed behind bearing the pain but more so, the countless politically motivated sentences and tortures. I cannot also forget our noble champions political leaders as well as voters who coalesce their strengths to uproot the evil man with power of marbles. Today, we can proudly say that Gambians including you will all come to enjoy the freedom you denied us.
The Barrow government, I can certainly foretell will be a decent one; one that will not out to witch-hunt as you had and supported. The composition, maturity and caliber of the incoming leadership tells a lot about the new Gambia in the making; a Gambia that will respect the rule of law, freedom of speech and empowerment of its citizenry. This is what Gambians miss under the regime you hail and foster. One thing I can surely say, your victims shall not rest until justice is served to them. The old saying that Gambians are very forgiving will no more prevail because so many malpractices have been executed in your 22 years cannibal administration.
Regardless of his evil actions, I feel some remorse for him. He surrounded himself with people like all of you who misled him or were not ready to tell him the truth. the prove to this was is his post-election remarks stating that he was insulted and even his mother. I laughed over that but again it validated a remark once made by our champion Fatou Camara of Fatu Network who once said she believes Yahya does not visit the social media because he hates being criticized. Though I believe her, but I also believe that he changed after December 1. To me, that was the date he curiously started to explore the social media and discovered those remarks. If he had been on the media before, then Pa Nderry Mbaye’s “fair and balance’ medium, Essa Bukarr Sey’s focus discussions, BambaMass ‘Kalimas”, Pa Samba Jaw’s relentless advocates (the list goes on), would have taught him what was been said about him.
I will also sympathize with him for saying he has learnt a great lesson but only if he means the lesson was that you were feeding him with wrong impression and advise up until after December 1, when he discovered for himself the truth about how people feel about him. Regardless, I believe ‘Babilimansa’ should of sound mind to know good from evil. He failed to follow the footsteps of Nabi Daud, who went out to find out for himself, how his subjects felt about his ruling. Instead of helping him to be a better person, you have participated in shaping him into an evil monster whose past and legacy will never be a good history for Gambians to narrate to the future generation.
In conclusion, I ask for all Gambians to join me in petitioning the incoming administration for the eradication of attributes and symbols of tyranny in our beloved land from now to posterity. Therefore, please help to complete the wish list to the attention of the incoming administration:
- Never to celebrate or recognize July 22 anniversary as a public holiday;
- Change the name of Arch 22 to City Gate or any other beautiful name the Banjulians will like;
- SulaymanJunkungJammeh hospital to be renamed as Bwiam hospital;
- AFPRC hospital to be remain as Farafenni Hospital
- July 22 square to be renamed Banjul Central square or any other name the Banjulians will like;
- All areas, facilities, and services sectors that he named to be remembered should be renamed to reflect the community or beneficiaries.
- Never encourage presidential billboards in all corners
- Never encourage cash display to people in a manner done by Yahya Jammeh
- Never engage in the abuse of our security forces as herdsmen, farmers or objects;
- List goes on………! We Gambians believe that from January 19th going forward, decency will prevail in all sectors!
