The Gambia: Political unanimity and Gambians’ crime of apathy and indifference By Mathew K Jallow It was truly the nexus of patriotism and an unblinded recognition of the Constitutional rights of Gambia’s political parties; a seminal moment driven by a sheer sense of urgency and necessity. The crippling fear and pitiful surrender to Yahya Jammeh’s lawless regime, which has haunted Gambia for so long, finally hit the ceiling as Gambians coalesce around the compelling need for political change. Last week’s joint UDP, PPP, NRP and GMC communique, an unprecedented rejection of Yahya Jammeh’s rash smudging of the character and integrity of the Gambia’s long-standing benefactors; Great Britain, United States, European Union and the Commonwealth, was a remarkable departure from the norm. It was the breath of fresh air in a country where senseless fear and mindless terror have long trumped the moral compulsion to question the perennial state-sanctioned terrorism, murders, disappearances, kidnappings and incarcerations of countless innocent Gambians. And in the less than flattering Commonwealth pullout debacle last month, Yahya Jammeh’s vexing unilateralism took Gambians by surprise, but unsupported by the broader Gambian community, both at home and abroad, the sweeping rejection of his revolting fulmination was swift and unequivocal. Yahya Jammeh’s singular Commonwealth decision is significant; pointing specifically to the fact of the Gambia’s rule as an unmistakable gangland criminal enterprise of lawlessness, drug-dealers, murderers, terrorists, rapists, body part snatchers, and economic plunderers. As speechless as Gambians are over the inexpedient Commonwealth fiasco, the decision by the opposition parties and the implacable diaspora movement, reject the notion of Gambia outside the Commonwealth. More, Gambia’s relations with Great Britain, US and the EU can never be changed by the stupor of Yahya Jammeh But, even more surprising than Gambia’s unilateral withdrawal, throughout the Commonwealth catastrophic saga, Gambia’s pusillanimous rubber-stamp National Assembly, an embodiment of everything that went haywire in Gambia, offered no resistance to the incredible folly of unilateral Commonwealth withdrawal decision. And in customary fashion, the cowardly so-called National Assembly silently rolled-over to capitulate to Yahya Jammeh’s nescient singlehanded decision. The Gambian oligarchy under Yahya Jammeh, challenged by an unintimidated population that is witness to the most gruesome state-sanctioned crimes, can no longer expect the luxury of an ominously silent population. The child sacrifices, neck-breakings, the female breast-cutting, abductions and executions by firing squad, dumping in infested wells, and severing of human limbs, the cruel legacies of Yahya Jammeh’s regime, combined to smear Gambia’s character around the world. Yahya Jammeh and his AFPRC regime’s monikers are so shocking as to veer from normal human behavior to defy civilized imagination. The depth and breadth of Yahya Jammeh’s signature crimes against Gambians and non-Gambians are truly out of this world in sheer depravity. But now, with the curtains closing on West Africa’s most ruthless regime over the past two decades, Yahya Jammeh compounded the demise of his regime with his blistering attack on the Mandinkas; in effect formenting the ugly flames of tribalism and tribal strife. And nothing has encapsulated Gambians’ rejection of the singling out of the Mandinkas in ways that insult the intelligence of Gambia’s entire population. Gambians in complete support of the combined opposition in Gambia, repudiate Yahya Jammeh’s reckless and dangerous tribal bigotry against our innocent Mandinka brothers and sisters. But worth noting is that Yahya Jammeh’s cheap attack of the Mandinka tribe was met with the stiff resistance of the combined political force of Gambia’s opposition party establishment; UDP, PPP, NRP and GMC. The condemnation the political parties issued in addressing Yahya Jammeh’s fearful infatuation with the Mandinka majority also marked the historic beginning of a new chapter in Gambia’s political history. With support from the consequential Gambian diaspora, the political party establishment must seek to regain its voice as political parties with preordained right to dissent; to dissent loudly when Gambians are reduced to mere objects of indiscriminate human rights abuse and wanton killing, dissent when Gambians are senselessly fired from their jobs, dissent when the judiciary is occupied by mercenary judges who lack patriotic commitment to Gambia, dissent when prisons become a pipeline for Gambians marginalized for simply possessing views that counter the regime, dissent when sons and daughters of the Gambia are forced to flee to the safety and security of foreign lands, and dissent when Yahya Jammeh’s tribe, the Jola minority, is singled out for opportunity in multi-tribal Gambia. Yahya Jammeh’s ignorance is accentuated by the belief in blind subservience, rather than dissension, as the highest form of patriotism. With Gambia run as a one-man enterprise, and with the countless state-sanctioned murders, executions, forced disappearances and exodus from Gambia, Yahya Jammeh could never survived this long in most other countries. But, Yahya Jammeh is his worst enemy and the bend of history has discounted him as a lynchpin of how never to govern. Today, with political unanimity assured the crime of apathy and indifference may soon be history as Gambians across the board finally come to grips with the reality.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 19:38:47 +0000
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