How are you, the First Family and the First Mistresses doing? It has been a while since I last wasted my calories on the The Gambian politics.

Rather than waste my time over “Jamehcracy”, I am focusing on the broader picture of The Gambian Society. Your Administration will be history but the Gambian Society will remain with all its challenges. Besides, Africa needs me more than Mother Gambia. I am therefore leaving the front row of Gambian politics to my fellow capable compatriots at home and in the Diaspora.

I would love to play an avant-garde role in the socio-political life of our country but not at every cost. Your government is like a devil's kitchen and I would not like to stain my personality by joining you. I would also not jump into the bandwagons of any opposition or alternative group without serious reflection. I would therefore, remain independent or centrist until further notice.

Mr. President, I have decided to replace the “G” on the name of our dear country with ”J” as part my diplomatic protest over the state of general human development in our sweet Motherland. What we have is The Gambia according to Jammeh and not according to the original 1997 Constitution endorsed by the Gambians. Hence my coinage of “Jambia.”

You are however the legitimate reflection of the Gambian Society. As the saying goes show me your wife and tell you who you are. A wife is the mirror of a man's character. In politics it is not different. The leader is the visible exhibit of the attitude of the people. President Obama is the reflection of the desire of the U.S. American voters to regain the eroded values of their Land of the Free following the Bible Belt Jihadism of George W. Bush. You are a product of the Gambian attitude. The bitter truth of democracy is that not the most competent politicians are always elected. If it were not for democracy, incompetent populists like Nicholas Sarkori of France, Silvio Berlusconi of France or Asif Zadari of Pakistan would never have been elected into the highest office of their respective countries.

Therefore, what ever crimes your Government committed and continues to commit against Gambians, they asked for it by voting you into office consecutively. No Gambian voter can tell me that he or she has had no electoral choice during previous elections.

The simple fact is that your Jammeh Administration is currently on life-support. The pro-government fanatics would like to keep the respiratory machines on while the anti-government agitators would like to unplug them. In this case of passive push and pull, an accident would happen that could sink The Gambia into chaos. In the pre-July 1994 days, Gambians were complaining about corruption and nepotism of the Jawara Administration but spent their time idling until the July 22 accidental crash.

Mr. President, you can hate me, declare me wanted or persona non-grata, it wouldn't affect my progress but the bitter truth is that the July 22 1994 coup was neither a revolution nor an evolution. It was an historic accident that followed the incompetence of the Gambian elites of the time in instituting constitutional transition from the exhausted Jawara regime to a fresh democratic leadership.

If any other thing, the July 22nd 1994, unconstitutional change of power was a learning curve. If the Gambians of year 2010 behave like castrated cowards, they should not be surprised when they are treated like slaves.

The situation of the Gambia in year 2010 is just like the countdown to the July 22, 1994. I am not praying for a military coup as I see unconstitutional change of power as the last resort. Gambians, it seems, are waiting for a miracle to free them from 16 years of Jammeh but they are not ready to free themselves. They sing your praise openly while in private they pray for change.

My brother if you still insist that your coup was a revolution, then it was a revolution from bad to worse. For get the numbers of your prestigious projects. In Jawara's time, there were only few media houses. Today we can count over a dozen media outlets but no freedom of expression. We have more school buildings today but less quality education. Corruption was bad under Jawara and today it is worse. Personality cult of Jawara's “Kariaba” was bad but your own “Jilanka” personality cult nears blasphemy with psychopaths fooling you that you are god-send and immortal.

We have more women visible today in positions of influence but the reality is that women do not have the freedom to define their own destinies. So called empowered women in your inner circles are only reduced to “yai compins,” doves and cheerleaders. The list goes on.

Whatever, in this is a year of anniversaries and I would like to reflect on some of the key issues of the day.

Hiring and firing

The most successful policy of your government has been hiring and firing. This success is also the biggest failure of your government. With hiring and firing, you have created a condition where no one will be ready to work for you or our Gambian State with sincerity. The lack of security of tenure means people will only be working for their own pockets. Your continuous interference into the Judiciary, Legislature and the Executive has paralysed the State and the process of sustainable nation-building. You should blame yourself for destroying and undermining the growth of the institutions of our State.

Anyway your government has already reached its peak and it now spiralling downwards. The economists would call it diminishing returns and others will say dwindling fortunes. For the remain period of your tenure, you will not deliver any major programme that will have positive impacts on the living standards of 80% of the Gambian population. It does not matter how long you stay in office or should I say on life support, you will not uplift even a fraction of the Gambian population out of poverty. The momentum has long evaporated.

Mr. President, I also blame the people who allow themselves to be used and dumped by you. I do not think their attitudes have anything to do with patriotism. The real patriots are the essential staff who are keeping the machinery of state working independent of who occupies the Office of The Gambian President. I mean the nurses and midwives, public defenders, waste collectors, fire fighters, the constables of the police force, non-commissioned officers of the armed forces, secretaries, clerks, the farmers, market women, the “bechek” wandering petty traders, “lumo” farm produce traders and all other unsung heroes between Kartong and Koina.

The rest be they Ministers, Ambassadors, Permanent Secretaries, Managing Directors, Deputy Directors or Commanders cannot justify their acceptance of your jobs with patriotism. Those who allow themselves to be hired and fired do not have what the Wollofs called “jom”. A person with dignity and self-pride will never allow him/ herself to be used and dumped like the way you do to people.

This working class self-insult makes me angry any time I hear that someone has been hired, fired or recycled. Perhaps it has to do with my background and training. Working for salary has never been part of my merchant-marabout heritage. So even if I am offered a million dollars a month for a job, I will not go for it as long as I have to compromise my liberty, dignity and self-worth. Besides, I was drilled into internalising the principle that “death is better than shame.” I will prefer to die than live in shame like Lie Conteh, Baba Jobe, Musa Susso, Lang Tombong Tamba and all those countless people you disgrace day in and day out.

I am appealing to all those lazy people to stop musing patriotism in explaining their desire to be disgraced by Yahya Jammeh. No one should tell me that he or she needs Jammeh's job to survive. Are the self-employed market women not surviving on their farm produce without Jammeh? One does not need to be in government to be a patriotic and productive citizen of a nation. Many nations were developed through the creative freedom, civil liberties and patriotism of their citizens out of the state machinery. The United States are a wonderful example. CNN, Microsoft, Boeing, the Waldorf-Astoria, Kodak, Hearst Corporation, Apple Computer, Facebook, Twitter & Co. where no products of the bureaucrats of the United States Federal or State Governments. They are products of ordinary people who were ready to challenge the status quo by putting their potentials to common good.

In Jammeh's Jambia one has to dance to Jamehcracy or face the music. Many highly qualified Gambians who love their country try to contribute their quota to national development within the State machinery only to be used and dumped like tissue papers. Mr. President you have no respect for human creativity and self-worth.

No value for taxes

Mr. President, Gambians tax payers are not getting value for their money. The public administration has become as parasitic monster shredding away tax money as public servants are more concerned about chasing out before they are sacked than performing their duties.

In the news you hear “Jammeh donated this”, “Jammeh donated that.” At one point I curiously asked myself what are Gambians getting from Jammeh for their taxes? If Jammeh is donating everything, does it makes sense for them to waste their taxes on the government?

Mr. President, I do not want to give you sleepless nights by telling Gambians to suspend paying taxes since you will “donate” them everything they need. But I appeal to your sense of maturity to keep your promise of transparency and accountability by telling Gambians the sources of the donated essential services and the direction of their taxes. They have the right to know what they are getting for their taxes beyond your charities.

No country for young men

Mr. President you will agree with me that The Gambia has turned into a hostile environment for young men bubbling up with energy and ambitions. You government has over the years proven to be anti-young men. When young men risk their lives to cross the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to enter Europe, you cooperate with the intolerant European governments to deport them even though the monies they send (remittances) to their families indirectly benefit your Government.

Remember that young men are among the most dangerous species on the planet. They way those boys defy the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea to brake into Fortress Europe, in the same manner they can challenge your Government without fear since they have nothing to loose.

You should also thank you soul that young Gambian men are not being radicalised despite the absence of opportunities and pressure valves. They are not like their brothers in Niger Delta who challenge the almighty Nigerian state machinery and the powerful the multinational oil corporations. But the April 2000 massacre of school children in The Gambia should remind you of what the youths are capable of doing when pushed against the wall.

Your are equally lucky that parental control is still very strong in the Gambia. Young men could disagree with   their parents over the choice of their wives, but when it to politics and communal harmony, they are ready to compromise and toe the lines of the elders. Parents are doing everything to keep their children away from any activity that could shake your Government. Gambia being a small country, young men cannot go far way to get the motivation to challenge the authorities without the knowledge of the extended family that can easily disown them just to appease you.

Young men are doing everything to avoid your politics and are finding ways to pursue their dream but your government always plays the spoiler. The “bumsters” who see the beach as their only source of revenue are being harassed but the sex tourists are given VIP protection. Our Western education system is producing unemployable school leavers with no hope for the future. The Quranic madrassas and Islamic schools are producing “almudo” beggars and wannabe Talibans who could become easy targets of religious indoctrination.

Tell me what do you want young Gambian men to be doing? Waste their time drinking “attaya” and enjoying the wobbling buttocks of women passing by?

Not all young men are interested in party politics. Therefore forcing them to join the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) or the green boys and girls militia is not a solution. There are countless young men who are striving to build their lives without politics. They should be supported without political pre-conditions.

Even within your ruling party, young men are not spared. Any young man who shows charisma and leadership qualities is destroyed. The main crimes of your APRC stalwarts like Musa Susso, Pa Sallah Jagne, Baba Jobe, Major Abdoule Conteh and the likes are that they have those ladies-man qualities you envied. They attracted women like Casanova and you were jealous of them.

Mr. President, it is high time you learn to live with the realities of life. Other Gambian mothers too have given birth to handsome, charismatic, brilliant and smart sons who have every right to pursue their dreams. They have the right to become household names in and out of The Gambia. Flirting with the ladies whether you like it not is also part of their masculine rights. Trapping them with weak allegations of corruption, theft or ant-government activities is a show of weakness on your side.

You government is so obsessed with scoring high marks on the global women empowerment show that you openly marginalise young men. You have a presidential scholarship programme for girls but no a similar programme for capable young men. You should promote gender balance not gender division. Those girls will have to later fulfil their social responsibilities of becoming wives or producing babies to secure the future of our country. Don't turn them into anti-men rebels in skirts and nikabs (ibadullah).

If you seriously believe that women are working harder than men as you claim, why are you not sacking all the men in your Government and replacing them with women only? At least you will go down in history as the first President of the 21^st Century to lead a 100% women government!

Women empowerment joke

Sir, I strongly believe that women should have the right to pursue their life dreams without reducing them to doves, decorations and quota ladies of political correctness. With all the noise about women empowerment, the status of the average Gambian woman is still miserable. Making women ministers and ambassadors does not automatically mean more opportunities for say, the market women of Serekunda.

If we therefore separate facts from fiction, we will see that your Government has not gone anywhere in gender balance. Women empowerment has proven to be a cosmetic charade. Women who make good use of their political rights are sent to jail. Remember Mariama Denton of the United Democratic Party. Women who enjoy their freedom of expression are dragged to court. Remember Fatou Jaw Manneh of Maafanta.com. Even women who defy common sense by shamelessly defending you before the whole world are not spared the embarrassment. Remember Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay. The current Vice-President Isatou Njie-Saidy is being keep so long to compensate her for the national respect she lost following the April 10/11 2000 massacre of unarmed children. It is left to be seen whether the parents of those little kids would forgive her or drag your Government before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Your Rwandan colleague Paul Kagame was praised for having the heights number of women in his government but as women are beginning to challenge his authority, he is going on a rampage against them.

At the time of drafting this piece, the new online women medium Maafanta.com newspaper reported about the passing of the Womens' Bill by our National Assembly. It summarized it as follows:

Part one deals with Interpretation;
Part two Specific Rights for Women in the 1997 Constitution;
Part three deals with Government Commitment;
Part four deals with Temporary Special Measures;
Part five Prohibits Discrimination in Employment, Family Responsibilities and Work;
Part six deals with Education and Training of Women and Girls; Part seven deals with Health and Reproductive Rights of Women; Part eight deals with the plight of Rural Women e.g. land, credit etc for empowerment; Part nine deals with the sanctity of Marriage and FAMILY Life e.g. Monogamy, Polygamy, Inheritance etc; Part ten deals with Additional Rights e.g Participation in Peace Processes, Food Security, Sustainable Development, Positive Cultural Participation, Rights for Elderly Women, Women with Disability, Women in Distress etc; Part eleven deals with

Women and Institutional Mechanism e.g. strengthening the Bureau and Council through Capacity Building, Providing Resources and Identifying Sources of Funding, Procedures and Practices for Proper Administration and Part twelve deals with Miscellaneous Procedures, Periodic Reviews, and Penalty for Offences etc.
”

Mr. President, as you can see something very decisive is missing from this bill. If not, then it is ambiguously hidden somewhere since I do not have a detailed copy of the bill. The missing matter is called RELIGION. Women empowerment will not succeed until and unless we re-examine the role of religion in women's affairs. Even if Islam gives women fantastic rights in theory, the reality is that the lousy fanatic propagandists of Islam are doing everything possible to suppress women. I need not mention the catholic Churches hatred of women.

Ironically women are more attracted to religion like honey bees despite the religious suppression of the feminine gender. You go to the “gamos,” the Sunday masses and all other relaxed mixed religion gatherings, you will fine women wasting their hard earned monies on people who promise them miracles. We must free the women mentally from the religious despots. Women who understand the religious scripts should step forward to educate their sisters on their rights.

Alas women in African have more freedom than their sisters in Iran, Saudi Arabia and even the West (Europe, North America). Between Dakar and Cape Town, African women can drive cars and motor bikes, start their informal business without red tape, quarrel with each other and live harmony, share husbands and learn how to compromise, dance to keep their hips and curves in shape and, gossip in peace at their own choosing. Such liberties are not readily available on the streets of Tehran and Riyadh.

In Africa, child bearing would not necessarily be a big hindrance to educated women who are determined to balance career and family. If they want to go to work in their home countries or study abroad, they can leave their children under the cares of their mothers, aunts, sisters, co-wives and other members of their extended families. Career women in Europe and North America do not readily enjoy this social safety net and luxury, despite emancipation, state-funded social welfare and legal security. Sadly some educated African women are down-grading their native liberty and blindly copying some of their idle Western sisters. I followed the interviews of some powerful career women in Europe and North America. When they are asked about regrets, they said they would have loved to have more time with their children who were either left with nannies or dumped in boarding schools. They succeeded as jet-setting career women but failed as mothers.

I for one do not believe in emancipation in its current format. It is a nonsensical waste of time. Yes the feminists are free to call me a primitive chauvinist dog. I am not interested in being politically correct just to appease the socalled god-mothers of emancipation. Thanks to the feminist propaganda, men are now becoming engendered species! Men in the West who survived their divorce nightmares and child care troubles can confirm this. African men must be saved from this miserable fate by all means!

Someone has to break the taboo and start saving manhood from extinction and I believe I should take some of the arrows. When it comes to gender balance or women empowerment I prefer the full or partial return to the pre-Christian and pre-Islamic MATRILINEAL systems than dominated most of Africa. It is the only sensible way of liberating women. Anything else is wastage of valuable time. I have no problem with a female dominated political economy as along as the matriarchs and Amazons would not castrate me.

Mr. President, the Women's Act with all its shortcomings is better than nothing. I just hope it will not be applied or interpreted in way that will mess up our social harmony.  The Act must tackle violence against women, child marriages and female genital cutting are harmful traditional practices head on. But as long as it does not ban polygamy and the maintenance of harems by us me, I say long live the Women's Act! Polygamy is a status symbol and a successful man should maintain more than one woman in his lifetime. Ladies, we must compromise here. We will mobilize our energy to help eliminate violence against women and you should recognise our manly rights to marry or keep as many women as we can!

Developing our Gambian arts and culture industry

Mr. President, the recent modification of the Copyrights Act is good start. Gambia is a country of talents and the creative Gambians in areas of film, music, dance, literature, painting and other relevant arts should be given the chance proof themselves. The creative industry will create jobs and generate good revenue for our country while preserving our rich heritage.

Your Government should therefore designate areas similar to the Tourism Development Area, Kanifing Industrial Estate and the Export Processing Zone for the arts community. These areas should be called “GAMBIA CREATIVE VILLAGES with main locations on the urban area of Kombo and the rural area around Basse for national balance. The National Council for Arts & Culture (NCAA) should serve as the lead supervisory, regulatory and executing organisation and can cooperate with the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHC) to build workshop spaces, café, galleries, museums, depositories, arts market, schools, parks, hostels, multi-purposes recreational centres and residential facilities for musicians, actors, actresses, fashion designers, sculptors, textile printers, authors and other creative people. The main Creative Village should also have a NATIONAL THEATRE with annexes. We have a Gambian National Troupe if my memory serves me right. But we need a national theatre to match Senegal's Daniel Sorano and the Nigerian National Theatre in Lagos. It is a necessity. The money wasted on the African Union villas and Arch 22 would have built the creative village and national theatre.

The University of the Gambia should start thinking about creating a Faculty of Theatre Arts or Creative Arts to train young Gambians. A National Academy of Performing Arts should be created by the National Council for Arts & Culture (NCAC). The next time you contact the President of Nigeria or his Envoy to the Gambia, tell him apart from the mercenary judges and lawyers, Nigeria should sent us experts to help build our creative schools. The University of Ibadan, the Obafemi Awolowo University at the Holy City of Ile-Ife, the University of Lagos and the University of Calabar have Nigeria's best theatre arts faculties. Some of their professors could be sent to the Gambia to help build respected a Theatre Arts faculty at the University of The Gambia or any other concerned specialized school.

Mr. President if you want your Jammeh Administration to be remembered for one serious good thing, then you must give the establishment of the creative clusters for our Gambian arts and culture industry the same priority you gave the African Union villas. Please do not name the theatre after yourself or your family for reasons of sanity. We have enough facilities in The Gambia bearing the name “Jammeh” already. If it cannot be called “Gambia National Theatre”, then I recommend it be called “Lalo Kebba Drammeh National Theatre of The Gambia.” You spent the last 16 years insulting and marginalising the Mandikas. Therefore naming such a national institution after a great Manding music legend will help heal the tribal wounds you inflicted on them.

Since funding is one of the challenges facing Gambian artistes, I believe your Government through the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) should set up a GAMBIA NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS to support the creative talents. This National Endowment should derive its funds from the rents of the facilities at Creative Village, a budgetary allocation from the Treasury or Ministry of Culture, the national lottery, a modest tax from the sales of the products of the artistes and levies on banks, tobacco and alcohol.

However the National Endowment must separate praise-singers from genuine non-griot creative artistes. I am no fan of too much government involvement in the creative sector due to the politics and propaganda. Praise-singers could enjoy unfair advantages over their independent-minded colleagues who would be left out for refusing to compose songs, produce movies or make paintings praising the government blindly. The griots who want to keep their centuries-old family heritage of singing the praises of the rich and powerful must follow as a set of code of ethics of the National Endowment that will ensure fairness to all other stakeholders. Beside, the cultural specifics of the Gambian ethnic groups should be given priory to preserve our social cohesion. It makes no sense to use the Endowment Fund in promoting one language or culture at expense of the others. All the ethnic groups found on the SeneGambian Basin with strong ties to the jurisdiction of the Republic of The Gambia like the Mandinkas, Wollofs, Fulas, Jola, Sarahules, Manjagos, Serers, Balantas, Karonikas, and others should be considered in the funding process of the Gambia National Endowment.

Religious extremism should be kept out of it. Our multi-cultural harmony must at all times be placed above religious zealotry. Already the religious groups have the means to carry on their propaganda. They can get funding from the Bible Belt in the United States, the Vatican, Iran and Saudi Arabia to sell their messages.  The Nigerian film industry is currently suffering from the massive propaganda of the religious groups who are flooding the market with video discs full of born-again junk. Any Nigerian movie you watch ends with “to God be glory” or the victory of the Christian or Muslim message came from the religious corner. This has plunged the Nigerian movie sector into a serious creativity crisis and we are all working carefully behind the scenes to find a way out of the Halleluja and Allahuakbar onslaught. Unlike the genuine filmmakers of Nigeria, the religious groups are exempted from taxes that give them unfair competitive advantages. They can also use the charities of their congregations to offset costs incurred on movie projects.

The Gambian National Endowment should avoid this mistake. It should only fund religious content that promote social cohesion, moderation and the all inclusive Sufi-Islam and progressive Christianity messages without marginalising the followers of the African Traditional Religion. The Gambia is a secular state not a theocratic state and must remain secular.

Alternately, patronage by wealthy Gambians especially in the private sector should be encouraged to continue supporting local artistes. Manding Kora maestro Jaliba Kuyateh and some of his fellows owe their careers not to government funding but to the initial patronage of businessmen likes of Salif K. Jaiteh, the countless women and their never-ending ceremonies and, the notorious “terri kafo” old boys social network. The showy Banjul “ndongos” on the other hand chose to patronise Senegalese talents at the expense of Gambian artistes. This self-demotion continues. A Gambian concert without a lead Senegalese musician if often undervalued. I have nothing against Senegalese artistes. I am like most Gambians, a Senegalese by extension. Sembene Ousmane is my role model who indirectly inspired me into joining the film trade. I am open to Senegalo-Gambian cooperation as I am open to Gambian-Nigerian cooperation in the creative industries.

Though I am happy with the young Gambian Film Industry, we should be careful not to repeat the mistakes of the Gambian music industry. As hinted above, many Gambians musicians lost their home market to the Senegalese and other foreign artistes for reasons haudegens like Oko Drammeh of the “Ifangbondi” fame can best elaborate. As we work to set up a productive Gambian film industry we should try not to marginalise Gambian actors, actress and producers just to please foreign artistes. Of course we need cooperation and know-how transfer. It must however be done it way that will sustain Gambian talents of all ethnic groups.

Diaspora Gambians

Mr. President, it is encouraging to hear that you remained the foreign affairs portfolio “Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Gambians Abroad.” However, transparency and communication remain  absent. Where is the website of the ministry and what are the names of the officers in charge of Gambians Abroad at the Foreign Ministry? If a Gambian in say, the United States wants to get information on government policies, land issues, investment opportunities and other programmes that affect him, who can he contact at the Gambians Abroad Department of the Foreign Ministry for a one-stop service?

Even though your Finance Ministry is still reluctant to detail the remittances from Gambians abroad during the budget speeches, you will agree that the remittances from abroad are the most important factor in national stability. Many Gambians depend on the remittance as alternative to your government services. If someone cannot get good medical care at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital, he or she can rely on the relatives aboard. In the absence of scholarships, remittances from abroad cover the school fees. When prices of commodities sky-rocket, the people with families abroad can count on the remittance for relief.

These Diaspora pressure valves are helping stabilise the Gambia. Without it, Gambians would have long taken to the streets.

I do not know why your Government is still reluctant to openly recognise the value of Gambians in the Diaspora. You treat them with contempt simply because they can criticise you from abroad. Mr. President, in the absence of checks and balances at home you need the spankings from revolutionary intellectuals like Mawdo Mathew K. Jallow of The Gambia Echo to keep you angry.

In dealing with the Diaspora Gambians you should learn from your colleagues of the other African countries. The Malian government is refusing to cooperate with France in deporting its citizen. An illegal Malian who sends fifty Euros to his family in Kayes or Bambako is better than a deported Malian who joins the long list of unemployed citizens adding pressure to the country's meagre resources. During election campaigns, Malian politicians scramble all over France to lobby the support of Malians there.

Any time I take a flight to West Africa, I am impressed by the number of Ghanaians who are very proud about their contributions to the Ghanaian political and economic life alongside those of their host countries in Europe and USA. Millions of Nigerians aboard, despite the battered image of their great country, are challenging the gods. Every country has good and bad citizens anyway. The Nigerian Government has recognised their importance to the domestic economy and is working to form a Nigerian Diaspora Commission. The Nigerian National Assembly already has a Diaspora Committee.

Wake up Mr. President. The remittance of Diaspora Africa has surpassed the official development assistance of foreign countries. If we are to join young anti-aid intellectuals like Dambisa Moyo of Zambia and James Shikwati  of Kenya by gradually liberating Africa from the foreign aid dependence, we must fully integrate the Diaspora communities into our various national development process as a true alternative.

Halifa Sallah of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) made a excellent point when he wrote about a Diaspora Investment and Settlement programme.

Vision 2020 or Illusion 2020?

Mr. President, we have nine years left for your vision. Do you honestly think you will realise your stipulated  mission "to transform The Gambia into a financial centre, a tourist paradise, a trading, export-oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, thriving on free market policies and a vibrant private sector, sustained by a well-educated, trained, skilled, healthy, self-reliant and enterprising population and guaranteeing a well-balanced eco- system and a decent standard of living for one and all under a system of government based on the consent of the citizenry?"

It is nice to have a vision. But the reality is that the count down to year 2020 is on and what you have not done in 16 years, you can only do in 9 years if you had laid the foundation very well.

The Vision 2020 had a false start since the brains behind it were sacked and your continuous meddling into state machinery frustrated serious commitment. The National Planning Commission, which is the ideal institution to lead and coordinate the Vision 2020 project started its work very late.

If one looks at the United Nations Human Development report for The Gambia, it becomes clear that Vision 2020 could just end up as Illusion 2020. Another handicap of the Vision 2020 is the lack of focus. Today you talk about making the Gambia the Dubai of West Africa and tomorrow you talk about Gambia Silicon Valley.

There is nothing wrong with copying tested development models as long as they suit the local socio-cultural fabric. Countries are copying each other already. Cuba is gradually copying the Chinese model of economic freedom without political freedom. Nigeria, as a multi-ethnic conglomerate of 250 native languages is borrowing the U.S. American and Indian models of balancing political freedom and economic participation with regional geopolitical leadership. Ghana is working to perfect the U.S. American, South African and Botswana models of participator democracy with economic freedom.

In the Middle East, the Dubai model has motivated the Arabs who until September 11, 2001 were bunkering their petro-Dollars in Europe and America to invest in their own countries. However not all are copying the Dubai Las Vegas model blindly. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is more into sustainable development with emphasis on Arabian heritage than monotonous concrete jungle. The Sultanate of Oman rejected skyscrapers and chose a building code that integrates the Omani landscape into the modern infrastructure.

You want to make Gambia the Dubai of West Africa? We do not need to be the Dubai of West Africa. We should develop as The Gambia of West Africa. My main worry remains the size of our territory and the growth of our population. Any development plan that does not balance economy and ecology will destroy our country.

The Gambia has around 6000 (six thousand) villages, towns and settlements on a territorial size of 11,000 square kilometres. As the population increases, conflicts between communities over land and other scare resources are shooting up. You do not care as long as the communities donate you land for your presidential farms. So far your politics has been that of divide and rule. When communities approach your government for litigation over land disputes, the parties that sing your praise often win. Your decision to hire and fire alkalou (village chiefs) is having a negative impact on social cohesion at community level. Communities that over centuries perfected customary arbitration mechanisms now have to engage in dirty politics while waiting in penury for the final stay from the Office of the President in far away Banjul. Please bring back the decentralization for the sake of all-inclusive development and national harmony.

You also talked of Silicon Valley but are you ready to accept Gambians who use their brains very well?

Mr. President, in Israel while Muslims and Jews are killing each other over Jerusalem, the liberal Israelis in Tel Aviv are busy shaping the 21^st century. Apart from the Californian Silicon Valley, the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is the most successful innovation cluster out the. U.S. The USB stick and other silent technological wonders are Israeli innovations. But instead of adapting the Israeli method of creative freedom to their development needs, religion fanatics and lazy politicians would go around spreading lies that the Jews are controlling the world. The Jews are simply using their brain to make things that the world needs. Period! No one is stopping anyone from leaving his or her finger print on humanity.

In Jammeh's “Jambia” however there is no room for creative freedom and civil liberties. How far are the Gambia Silicon Valley and the Kanilai Science Academy moving on? How many Gambians have so far registered patents for their inventions? However many “Made in Gambia” products are on the market? One cannot call the telecommunications companies local Gambian Silicon Valley products. For they are just marketing products and services (notebooks, top-up card, mobile phones, accessories, flat rate, internet, etc) made abroad. Everything is imported. Where is the mobile phone that was created and marketed by a Gambian under Yahya Jammeh? We need “Created in The Gambia” and not “Imported to The Gambia” brands! We need blue collar workers and engineers not pen-pushers.

Vision 2020 will remain an illusion as long as Gambians continue to consume what they do not produce and produce what they do not consume.

Inhuman and unconstitutional witch hunting

I could not control my laughter when I heard of your “government policy to screen witches.” This reminds me of the Inquisition of the church and the current hate propaganda of the new evangelical movement scavenging in Africa.

Is there any section of our secular constitution that says your Government should have a witch-screening policy? What you did with your “Jammeh witch project” was illegal and it violates human dignity. You should therefore compensate and rehabilitate the people who have been stigmatized by your irrational project.

Though I am student of Sufi-Islam mysticism, I do not believe in witches and sorcery. Witchcraft does not exist. It is fantasy. Since human beings are afraid of taking responsibilities for their actions, they blame the witches. If they cannot find cure to a disease or calamity, they blame it on a witch. They always target the vulnerable groups like older women and smaller children who cannot defend themselves. The reports of witch-hunting by extreme religious groups across Africa are a testimony to this fact.

Mr. President I am an advocate indigenous knowledge and heritage but I reject such barbaric harmful traditions that are stifling prosperity.  The Chinese are developing without dumping their Fengsui tradition and Confucian socio-political philosophy. The Japanese embraced cutting edge technology without dumping their Shintu heritage. The Indians are claiming their places on the global stage without demoting their Hindu Gods as fetish idols. From the stock exchange in Mumbai to the high technology campuses of Bangalore, Indian deal makers and computer wiz-kids proudly celebrate the positive values of their Hindu heritage with a modern face.

In Africa the story is different. Since the arrival of Christianity and Islam on the African soil, Africans have been brainwashed into believing their their ancestral heritages and health practices are evil and inferior to the foreign Gods. It is not surprising that today Africans are ready to kill each other to appease the foreign Gods.

This centuries-old discrimination of African traditional health practices has resulted in widespread abuse and misconception. In this chaos, many quakes and charlatans emerge claiming super-national prowess.

Mr. President your HIV/AIDS herbal programme had the positive effect of de-stigmatising the disease but it stopped short of modifying traditional health practice. You can learn from the example of South Africa which recognised traditional health practice as a legitimate profession and developed a filtering system that names, shames and punishes quarks. It also placed medicinal plants and related natural products under protection from bio-pirates and foreign medical firms that still indigenous knowledge and patent them abroad. Recently, a German court nullified the patent of a big pharmaceutical company that stole South African native medical plants and knowledge. Nigeria has African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and a Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA). The country expects to earn latest one billion US Dollars annually from traditional medicine.

Leave the so called witches alone and spend your energy institutionalising traditional medicine. The ministry of health can promote a National Traditional Health Research and Development Agency (NTHRDA) or set up an interest group similar to Senegal's Association for the Promotion of Traditional Medicine (PROMETRA). I hope one day the University of The Gambia will establish a faculty of traditional health practice or offer training programmes in medical anthropology and indigenous knowledge.

I cannot proceed without thanking Halifa Sallah for standing up of the right of the innocent people branded as witches. He is a genuine advocate of human dignity and may the ancestors continue to bless him.

Long Live The ICC

The decision of African leaders to suspend cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) is embarrassing to the people of Africa. By refusing to cooperate in arresting President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, African leaders sent the message that the racist Arabised light-skinned Sudanese and their marauding Janaweed thugs are more important than their non-Arab black victims of the Darfur region.

I understand like Ghadaffi of Libya, General Al-Bashir engaged in cheque book diplomacy by bribing Africans leaders to buy him influence and time.

Those who claim that the ICC is targeting only Africans need mental examination. African leaders should blame themselves if they are indicted. It is an open secret that African leaders do not respect the rule of law in their respective jurisdictions. They hardly honour their own agreements.

Mr. President did you respect the verdict of the ECOWAS Court of Justice on the disappearance of journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh? Did you allow the rule of law to take its course in the matters of the April 2000 massacre of innocent students, the cold-blooded murders of Ousman Koro Cessay, Deyda Hydara and others? Every life counts and the most important job of a President is to protect the lives and properties of all citizens and non-citizens within his jurisdiction.

The International Criminal Court comes in when you and your fellow leaders fail to deliver justice. So if the cases of April 2000 massacre are referred to the ICC by the parents of the killed students or human rights groups, you must not blame anyone but yourself. You reluctantly cooperated in the case of the murdered Ghanaians after realising that the matter could end before the ICC and the Ghanaian Government would not risk domestic voter punishment by stopping that litigation process.

The fact that the ICC is currently dominated by cases from Africa has nothing to do with anti-African conspiracy. It is matter of pure coincidence. The ICC started working at a time when Africa happens to be the top crime scene of the day with African jurisdictions either reluctant or incapable of delivering justice to victims of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Unlike the ad-hoc courts of the Nuremberg over Nazi Germany, ex-Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, the ICC is permanent global body relevant in any globalizing world. It is not targeting Africa or any selected region. Over time, crimes committed in other regions will be brought before it.

The decision of President Obama to cooperate with ICC is a wonderful move. The next thing Obama should do is to issue a secret executive order for the U.S. Marines or other special forces to arrest Al-Bashir of  Sudan and other wanting leaders. I am confident that this will happened sooner or later, if not under Obama, then under the next U.S. President. Even the countries that refuse to cooperate with the ICC will arrest Al-Bashir once Obama requests it. Their good relationships with the United States are more in their own national interests than the cheque books of Al-Bashir.

The experience with Charles Taylor of Liberia and Saddam Hussein of Iraq has proven that it is easier to arrest a sitting or fugitive head of state than a ragtag terrorist hiding in the mountains of Hindukush.

I am a fan of the ICC and I back it 100%. A world with ICC is better than a world without it. At least the ICC will serve as as Sword of Damocles for the next generation of leaders who want to misbehave while in power. The current generation of African leaders who have blood in their hands will prefer to die in power or hand over to their children with the hope of escaping justice.

Jammeh Inc.

Mr. President, its makes me speechless seeing The Gambia become Jammeh Inc. To be honest your rise from rags to riches did not follow a natural organic process. I cracked my brain and realised that any time you take over a government portfolio, you emerge as the sole beneficiary. You took over the agriculture ministry and the result is presidential farms all over the country. You took over the transportation portfolio and the result is a transportation company linked to you. Same applies to petroleum, defence, constriction, imports or mining departments. You take over a ministry or department, turn it into your automatic cash cow before handing it over to one of your puppets. This is not what you promised Gambians.

Your be-rich-quick mentality has made your “operation clean the nation” a big joke. You were not born into a rich or merchant family with experience in money-making. With your fabulous bling-bling lifestyle, you have created a competition mentality especially among civil servants who see the State as everybody's honey pot. If you can turn the State coffers into your honey pot, they too feel it is their right to get their share of the national honey pot.

I do not know the use of the National Competition Commission in a country where everything is monopolised by Jammeh Inc. Every business student knows that your companies, Kanilai Family Farms and the others interests are enjoying unfair competitive advantage thanks to their links to your Office. They are not efficiently managed and will go burst is a real competitive environment. You bully your competitors just to impose your will on the Gambian market. The story of Sarahuleh tycoon M. Sumareh is a brilliant example. But since the man has business in his blood, he survived the showdown with you.

Patriotic Opposition

My brother, the opposition parties are not your enemies. They love The Gambia just like you and I. They just happen to love our country differently.

They have a lot of ideas that can be of good use to our national development. I mentioned Haila Sallah's proposal for a Diaspora investment and settlement programme. My brother Mai Fatty of the Gambia Moral Congress has an economic programme you reportedly copied without seeking his permission.

The opposition has something to offer. Their biggest challenges include speaking with a common voice, mobilising supporters and convincing Gambian voters. Make no mistakes, the opposition politicians are electable and your ruling APRC militants should stop going around insulting them as evil and unpatriotic. Times have changed and Gambians are not sleeping. Gambians heard about opposition victories in our neighbouring countries of Senegal, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Please tell me if those victorious opposition politicians plunged their countries into chaos.

If The Gambian opposition leaders learn their lessons from previous elections make amends and put The Gambia before personal egos, they would win. It is not just about financial resources; it is about passion and commitment. In Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo used the machinery of the then ruling New Patriotic Party for his campaign but lost to John Attah Mill's low-publicity platform.

Any Gambian opposition politician who gets elected can count on my respect just like the elected members of your APRC. As a liberal democrat, I will always respect the verdict of Gambian voters.

Sir, just stop hating the opposition. You need the opposition to give your government some basis for democratic legitimacy. If the opposition parties boycott the election you will loose creditably and legitimacy on the global stage.

The prosecution of Femi Peters of the United Democratic Party is counterproductive. In the name of fair-play the APRC should also be sued for organising rallies without permit. I challenge the APRC to publish it rally permits. The police records are public records and I invite all those brave Gambian whistle-blowers with contacts to the permits unit of The Gambia Police Force to copy, scan and send the permit applications of all political parties to the online newspapers so that the whole world can see which party has been respecting the rules or not.

Your Legacy

I will not lecture you on how you would like to be remembered and I don't care about your life out of power. But I believe my Mawdo Mathew K Jallow and other opinion leaders might have ideas on this.

One thing is certain Mr. President, even if you lock me in Mile 2 Central Prison and throw the keys into River Gambia, I will never wish you a tragic end like that of Nino Vera of Guinea Bissau and Samuel Doe of Liberia.

But I fear for you or as the Sierra Leoneans will say “my body de die for you.” You have over the last mad 16 years betrayed, disgraced and hurt so many people who are just waiting for an opportunity to make “afra” out of you. The way Gambians are reporting each other to win you favours, it is in the same matter they can hand you over to anyone who declares you wanted dead or alive. You cannot rule out the possibility of a military coup or regicide even if you continue to decapitate the Gambian security forces. Joseph Stalin of Russia maintained the policy of killing or jailing his generals and officers but was poised by some of his followers he wanted to betray. There is an African saying that you cannot see the stick that hurts your eyeballs.

Do not get carried away by the praise-signings. You are being respected or feared because of the privileges of The Office of The President of The Republic of The Gambia. Even the lowest paid cleaner on Gambia Government payroll has the constitutional right to be President of the Gambia and if he or she becomes President, he or she will enjoy the same presidential privileges you are now enjoying. So do not think that people love you so much and that you are indispensable.

In your own interest, it is better you start working on your democratic and constitutional exit strategy from power before it is late. The latest secret talk from Banjul is that you are planning to turn the Gambia into a monarchy or quasi-monarchy and you would like to handover power to your son Mohammed in order to impose your dynasty on Gambians.

Well if Gambians are stupid slaves, they will surely mortgage their civil liberties to you and your children.

Thanks for your attention.

Bubacarr A. Sankanu

princebubacarrasankanu@gmx.de