Yahya Jammeh’s Incredulous Witch-hunting Exercise

By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor

Yahya Jammeh, Gambian Head of state

The stories that were circulating around the country and beyond early last week sounded too bizarre to be true, but they were true. The clearly paranoid and apparently unstable Yahya Jammeh, reportedly sent witch-hunters to ferret out individuals in the civil service whom they identified as witches possessed by the evil spirits. Yahya Jammeh’s party of witch-hunters, accompanied by armed military escorts, as expected, targeted government institutions, and the sight of the weirdly dressed witch-hunters prowling the streets was a surreal sight to behold; a throwback to the dark days of our African cultural history. But, as the stories of how Jammeh’s witch-hunters were terrorizing officials began to leak, the character of these episodes generated much anxiety and humiliation fit for a documentary of the incredible. The way in which the witch-hunting party confronted government staff, and the incredible stories of sorcery and witch-exorcising practices bore a resemblance to a tragic Shakespearian cult narrative set in a haunted mediaeval English castle. But, this was not a work of fiction. It was very real. For, almost overnight, Gambians had ceased to be dumbfounded by Jammeh’s brutality, and instead, the awesomeness of what he was capable of doing once again overwhelmed the psyche of our nation. Just when we began to believe that we had seen the worst and the darkest side of Jammeh, he is manifesting another mindset that is rooted in our primitive cultural past. This permeation of his tribal superstitions into public policy and in the corridors of our public institutions is a recent development that we cannot afford to ignore as merely inconsequential, for this could be a precursor to a new and dangerous relationship between the sadistic regime and people of our country. By hanging on to the distant relics of our past, Yahya Jammeh is running our government based on superstitious beliefs. Given these circumstances, the dictation of unscrupulous witch doctors bent on exploiting Yahya Jammeh’s nagging ignorance and stultifying vulnerability, ought to concern us all. But, as Jammeh begins to venture into a dark, murky and uncharted wilderness to begin another chapter of our country’s pathetic history under his regime, we as a nation are plunging head first into a new dimension of reality. Like the murders, tortures, disappearances and the incarceration of fellow citizens, the emerging new chapter of Jammeh’s autocratic rule is both horrifying and humiliating to say the least. The experience of those traumatized by this round of witch-exorcising exercise is likely only a snapshot and possibly also only a prelude to what Yahya Jammeh’s evil mind has coming to us. His fake crusade to eradicate the venal corruption from our Civil Service, and the campaign to rid it of the demons that exist only in his own head, is a manifestation of his paranoid fear. His is so paralyzed by fear that this condition now has him crossing the blurred boundary between delusion and insanity. His witch-hunting exercise is a projection of the fear that is eating him from the inside out. This is probably Jammeh’s last battle stand, because even his demons are turning back on him. Our countrymen have a clear mission to help end the nightmare that has consumed us and sapped our resolve to fight back against this esoteric reign of fear and terror? In addition to the murders, disappearances, tortures, jails and mindless incarcerations, Jammeh’s orders for innocent citizens to be stripped naked in public and to force them to ingest dirty portions of his witch doctor’s medicines, is far beyond anyone’s imagination. This is truly an achievement, particularly for a person who is known as the biggest coward ever to wear the military uniform of our armed forces. The recent victimization of Sgt. Kumba, a harmless patriot who has served our country well for so many years, and those who fell victims to Jammeh’s senseless and shameful acts of barbarism, did not deserve the humiliating treatments visited on them by the mere intimidating presence of our armed military personnel on Jammeh’s behest. The sole responsibility of the armed forces of our country is to protect citizens from external and internal danger, but more specifically, from the over-reaching arm of government. With so many people dead, and still far many more dying silently in our notorious prisons, out of public view and out of the reach of any civil society institutional scrutiny, both our armed forces and our judiciary have failed their most fundamental and most important responsibility of protecting citizens. It is the height of patriotism to refuse carrying out any illegal or unconstitutional command ordered by Yahya Jammeh. It is constitutional for our armed forces in the fulfillment of their most sacred covenant, the protection of fellow citizens, to engage in brutal and merciless force to dislodge our brutal regime from power and stop and for all time the abuse of the very citizens the regime is “supposed to serve.” In our frustration and insatiable desire for revenge, we stand in support of these new victims of Jammeh’s highhandedness, because what Jammeh has done, is an affront to the entire nation. But, we are more determined than ever before to topple this corrupt and brutal regime masquerading as a democratic government. We will not rest until we can find a way to puncture a one-inch wide hole right in the middle of this murderous and evil regime’s forehead. We have been pushed around for far too long, and now there are no more places to move. Our backs are against the wall, and the only options left are for us to begin resisting. We must return the terror to Jammeh and his henchmen. If fellow citizens cannot be safe in our country, then members of the regime who are at the root of this terror must also be made to pay a heavy price for terrorizing our countrymen. The representatives, responsible for aiding and abetting in the murders, tortures and jailing of innocent citizens must not enjoy safety wherever they are. The objective must be the total freedom of our countrymen. Sooner rather than later, Diaspora dissidents must establish a command presence in friendly countries in the region from where the liberation of our country will be spearheaded. The Jammeh tragedy must end. We have had enough of the murderous reign of this evil animal.