Commentary

Whither heads The Gambia?Part II


By D. A. Jawo

D.A.Jawo

The state-controlled Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS) is by any yardstick the most boring broadcast station in the entire sub-region. Virtually every aspect of its broadcasts is geared towards extolling President Jammeh's image as the most benevolent leader the world has ever seen. And yet it has flatly refused to cover any function of the opposition, or even announcements of their meetings, as if there is no opposition in the country. Instead it would only cover activities of the ruling APRC party, and only mention the official opposition in a bad light, thus behaving as if GRTS is the personal property of President Jammeh instead of a national property sustained from public funds.

This is therefore the reason why all those who can afford it now have satellite dishes to watch alternative stations, while those who cannot afford satellite dishes try to get powerful television antennas in order to watch the Senegalese TV stations from which they at least get the satisfaction of getting genuine entertainment and professionalism at work. Anything for them is much preferable to the daily propaganda churned out by GRTS.

It is indeed a shame that those working at the GRTS have abdicated their professional responsibilities and allowed themselves to be used as mere tools for propaganda by the ruling political clique, completely disregarding their professional ethics. While the Gambian Constitution in Section 208 states that; “All state owned newspapers, journals, radio and television shall afford fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinion”, the GRTS seems to have completely contravened such provisions and the staff continue to behave as if they are not accountable to the Gambian public but only to President Jammeh and his regime. It has virtually been transformed into a propaganda organ of the ruling party, completely excluding divergent views and opinions. This is definitely not what Gambians bargained for when they fully embraced the advent of Gambia Television in 1995.

Another area where the GRTS has failed the Gambian people is its insistence on featuring only music which gives lofty praises to President Jammeh. As a result therefore, all the musicians are now shamelessly competing each other in singing the most flattering praises to him, knowing fully well that it is the only chance they have for being featured on GRTS television, which is the only TV station in the country. This untenable situation has resulted in indigenous Gambian music becoming so dull and boring that hardly any serious-minded person would ever want to listen to it, let alone patronize our musicians. As such, most music lovers have now switched over to listening to foreign music, particularly Senegalese Mbalax, which has virtually taken over the country's musical terrain. It is quite obvious that if such a trend continues, whatever is left of indigenous Gambian music will soon disappear and all that we will be left with will be praises of President Jammeh and members of his family.

Indeed, just like the music, every other aspect of Gambian life seems to have become so dull and monotonous because everything seems to centre on President Jammeh and his daily activities, as if no one else matters in the country.

While the rest of Africa is becoming more democratic and liberal, The Gambia seems to be sailing on the opposite direction, virtually transforming the country into an international pariah state and the laughing stock of the sub-region. The whole system has become so autocratic, while at the same time everyone is busy creating a cult syndrome around President Jammeh which is unparalleled in the history of the continent. The situation is such that he can only now be compared to the late Kim Il Sung of North Korea or the late Saparmurat Niyazov of the ex-Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan, who went as far as renaming the months of the year after members of his family.

With President Jammeh now holding the record of having the longest name and titles among African leaders; President Sheikh Professor Dr. Colonel Alhaji Yahya Abdul Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh, it is now hard to guess what next he would do to further mystify himself.

Another shameful aspect of life in The Gambia is the resurgence of superstition, which now seems to pervade every aspect of the Gambian psyche. We can all recall the embarrassment of the witch craft saga when a few months ago several innocent Gambians were subjected to harrowing tales of barbaric exorcism by so-called "witch hunters" imported from Guinea to help cleanse our society of witch craft. As a result, some innocent people were reported to have died from the cruel form of exorcism, and several others developed complicated medical problems when they were forced by the exorcists to drink some dirty concoctions to compel them to confess that they were indeed witches.

We have heard stories of how those so-called exorcists were going from one government department to another, accompanied by heavily armed soldiers and senior police officers in order to cleanse those places of evil and witches.

We can also recall how Halifa Sallah, the coordinator of the opposition National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) was arrested and detained and eventually charged with "challenging the government's policy of screening witches", just because he dared to stand up and speak against that most shameful and despicable episode in our nation's history.

Another embarrassing episode was the mumbo-jumbo scenario that was recently displayed on television when the Under-17 National soccer team, while preparing to leave for the Junior World Cup in Nigeria, called on President Jammeh at State House. Despite the superstition however, the team performed so dismally at the tournament that they got only one point before exiting in the first round. If that was not enough indication that such Stone Age antics do not make us achieve anything as a nation, then I wonder what else would. Indeed, such superstitious antics do not only serve to retard our society's progress, but they would only further erode our image and credibility as a nation.

It is indeed hard to imagine how The Gambia has degenerated to this level and yet those we expect to speak against it, especially our religious leaders, seem to not only condone it, but they have themselves become accomplices to such nefarious escapades. Virtually everyone of them seems to join in the praise singing spree, not only always heaping praises on President Jammeh and his regime, no doubt because of the crumbs he gives them, but they have even gone as far as making him Sheikh (venerable religious leader), virtually endorsing all the things his regime has been doing, no doubt including the witch craft saga and other superstitious antics that clearly contradict all religious values and norms. The few religious leaders like Imam Baba Leigh of the Kanifing East Mosque who refuse to subscribe to the praise singing are publicly castigated and threatened, and even banned from appearing on both the public and private media.

On the governance aspect, we have seen how the opposition is being continuously harassed and intimidated, being constantly denied police permits to hold meetings without any genuine reason. This is despite the fact that the Constitution in Section 25 gives everyone, including members of the opposition the freedom of assembly. And yet we all know that the ruling APRC party does not even need to apply for permits to hold meetings and other functions, as no member of the police force would ever have the guts to even insist on them seeking police permit to hold such functions even as a legal formality. Yet, the police would do anything to prevent the opposition from holding meetings, just in order to demonstrate their blind loyalty to President Jammeh.

This unwarranted harassment and intimidation of the opposition is no doubt only further denting the already battered image of The Gambia Police Force, which is now seen as a mere appendix of the ruling party rather than a professional force concerned about the security and welfare of all Gambians, regardless of their ethnic or political affiliation. It is indeed a shame that the police hierarchy have allowed themselves to be reduced to mere puppets of the ruling clique, allowing the force to be transformed into an instrument of suppression and intimidation rather than a symbol of national unity and cohesion. Even the very fact that all police stations, like virtually all other government premises, display huge portraits of President Jammeh and flags of the ruling APRC party, is enough indictment of the system. It is a complete comprise of the professionalism and neutrality that are expected from the police force in any civilized state.

While the intolerance of the regime against any form of opposition is quite obvious, the opposition itself carries some of the blame for the prevalence of such a situation, for being their own worst enemies. Indeed, the abysmal failure of the opposition to not only come together against a common enemy, but their own inherent weakness makes them quite vulnerable to the machinations of the regime and its agents of suppression to marginalize them even further. There is no doubt that if the opposition had remained united under the umbrella of NADD, rather than allow their narrow personal differences to divide them, the situation today would have been quite different.

Here we are, barely 18 months to the next presidential elections, and yet the opposition seems to be in hibernation, with no visible signs that they are even discussing any joint strategy for the elections. While it is quite obvious to anyone who cares for the truth that the Jammeh regime has become very unpopular because of its appalling human rights record and almost complete disregard for the rule of law, the lack of a credible alternative is also quite evident. Therefore, what is likely to happen is that very few Gambians would even turn out to vote in the next elections and with the use of money and other incentives, as well as the obvious registration of non-Gambians, the APRC will mobilize those few voters and once again sweep the polls, giving the false impression of another landslide victory for President Jammeh. ENDS!

Editor’s Note: Brother Demba, thank you so very much for once again saying it as it is. Your  lucid commentary is really illuminating and you have raised germane issues that will surely spark the campfire of debate as we inch towards the next elections.