Jammeh’s indifference and objectification of Gambians; copy of a character of world wide notoriety

By Mathew K Jallow

 

It was a time of great upheaval; an era fraught with conflict, danger, but of a promise too. Even more important, it was a world deeply divided by political chicanery, and desperate ambitions, and Africa, not surprisingly, was home base of some of the worst excesses of this political imperiousness. In Oslo, groups of Asians of Indian origin descended on the city late one summer, courting unsolicited attention and leery looks, even as their uneasy smiles provoked sympathy and nonchalance from a largely discombobulated public. But, that is not the story. Their expulsion from Uganda, by Dictator Idi Amin Dada, was what made the international news headlines around the globe, and this morning, the experience of being an acquaintance of one of those Indians, brought back the haunting memories of that long gone era. And as I watched a YouTube clip someone posted on one of the blogs, I was mesmerized by how eerily similar in behavior and comportment, Yahya Jammeh is to Idi Amin; Africa’s inarguably most savage dictator in memory. Their similarities are not mere coincidences. It is evident from the anecdotal evidence, that Yahya Jammeh consciously modeled himself on many levels along Idi Amin Dada’s rude eccentricity and nauseating misogyny. Jammeh’s indifferent attitude and objectification of Gambians, is a carbon copy of the character of world wide notoriety, who once ruled Uganda with an abominable fanfare, so long ago; Idi Amin Dada. Like idiot Idi Amin, Jammeh decided to transform his home village, Kanilai, into the de facto seat of government, where over the next two weeks, he will compel the entire civil service, and a cross section of the nation’s population to join what is developing into an extravagant tradition of self-celebration, so typical of all dictators. Yahya Jammeh’s narcissistic impulses, and predatory instincts, are the manifest preambles of a character decidedly determined to dishonor his covenant with The Gambian people. This week, The Gambia’s public sector has virtually grounded to a halt, because Jammeh’s confounding indifference to reason, and malicious disregard for the interest of our people, has dampened his abilities to empathize with the wider political interest of our country. Instead, rather slowly but decidedly, he continues to methodically and deliberately cultivate a cult-like following in The Gambia, purely as the instrument of repression and domination, and his political calculations mirror the sad modus operandi of past and existing totalitarian dictatorships. And, equally important, is Jammeh’s claim to supernatural powers; in a country where superstitions and the ancient practices of our forbearers still remain stronger belief systems than both Christianity and Islam. In our cultures, where supernatural power is equated with the deity, Jammeh, is in effect, seeking the worship of Gambians; not unlike the dictatorship in North Korea, where the rulers are worshipped as gods. Nothing represents the outward manifestation of contempt that Jammeh holds towards Gambians as the abominable practice of throwing biscuits at the population lining the streets, in fear and rapt attention, as his extravagant motorcades drive by at high rate of deliberation speed and arrogant stupidity. As Jammeh sits restive on the celestial throne created in his mind, and comforted by an imperial sense of invincibility, he knows he is merely putting up a front to mask the fear eating his mind. The next two weeks of waste in Kanilai village, is merely a platform to give Jammeh the means to embellish the degree of his hold on power, while he psychologically overwhelms Gambians' pride, in an effort to exposition their inherent human weaknesses, for the purpose of reducing them to serve only his singular interests. But, make no mistake about it, Yahya Jammeh will go; either by the Idi Amin way or the Nino Vierra way. The choice is his. But, go he must, and that much is certain.

 

Mentally deranged Jammeh healing

an AIDs patient?

But, even as the serious issue of Yahya Jammeh’s quackery and megalomania is smudging the good image of our country, and turning us into another failed African state, Chongan’s book, The Price of Duty, has opened up a new front of attention, when it is clear from the public's view that dealing with Jammeh’s erratic regime, is the issue that is of overriding interest to our country. The reactions, which are emanating from both side of this pungent divide, between the protagonists and their supporters, has generated undue attention, at the time when we should be preoccupied with the most important challenge of overthrowing Jammeh’s regime, and bringing him before the Hague Court. Should we care about who did what and to whom in The Gambia? Certainly! Is it the right time to revisit history and draw our precious attention away from Jammeh’s deadly reign? I think not.

But, this acrimony aside, this week saw the re-launch of yet another website by Jammeh’s regime in an effort at damage control. To that we say, bring it on. The efforts at white-washing the image and actions of the regime is not going to work. If it could, we would have seen it happen from the efforts of The Daily Observer newspaper, the other mouthpiece of the regime. The Jammeh regime is inclined to believe they can hoodwink the Gambian people with what they splash on a new website created purposely to misrepresent the truth and distort facts. Well, they are in for a rude surprise. Today, only Gambian lacking in objective judgment will take the propaganda their new website will exhibit seriously. The regime's desire to cover up it's banditry, its crimes, its narco trafficking, and the insufferable corruption and drug dealing of Yahya Jammeh and his entire totalitarian regime will never succeed. When Jammeh is leading a drug dealing cartel, that passes for a government, and using the port of Banjul as a transshipment of crack cocaine for drug barons in South America, and with a significant number of civil service employees working in cohort with drug barons in the lucrative transatlantic drug trade, and when Yahya Jammeh continues to intimidate and murder citizens, no amount of websites can help him and his regime hide the stain they have created from the Gambian public and international scrutiny. There are Gambians fed up with the criminality of Yahya Jammeh and his regime, who are mad enough to want to report Jammeh’s transgressions to the online papers operating from overseas. When the previous website made absolutely no difference in promoting a good image of this nihilistic regime, it is foolharded to think designing of a new one and expect different results is going to work. It is all a waste of time and resources. Clearly, Jammeh’s regime is exhibiting paranoia, while his deranged, toady supporters abroad are engaged in futile efforts to insulate him from his nauseating crimes and criminal abuse of power. That too is bound for failure.

It will not work, and nor will the report Yahya Jammeh bribed IMF auditors to write in order that these corrupt officials will  prepare a favorable report on the economic performance of our country. In a country where the  economic performance indicators are not recorded, where the economy operates outside the ambit of the traditional market economy, where the GDP, the most important indicator of a country’s economic progress is not measured, where the informal economy, which cannot be recorded with any degree of accuracy, accounts for a significant amount of the in-country, cross border and regional trade, any report prepared by the IMF and other institutions, rather than do justice to Gambians, will instead give the regime an illusionary sense of accomplishment, when in reality our economy is going down the drain, due primarily to endemic corruption, waste and mismanagement. The financial records of our Central Bank indicate a different reality from that everyday Gambians are living. It is not a secret that every African with a little bit of common sense knows that African institutions and their governments are notorious for cooking their financial record books to fool international financial institutions into believing their countries are making economic progress, when the reality on the streets and countryside tell a very different story altogether. The Gambia is perhaps the most notorious fudger of its financial records among Africa's worst of the worst.

But, the dubious IMF report on The Gambian economy is not unlike the report investigators prepared for The Commonwealth Secretariat relating to the massacre of Ghanaian nationals in The Gambia. That report, on this most heinous act of cowardice committed on the behest of Yahya Jammeh, is incomplete, the investigation was a farce, and the conclusion makes a mockery of the justice systems of The Gambia and Ghana. It is clear Yahya Jammeh will give everything to make this story go away, but until the full accounting of this barbaric incident is provided to the satisfaction of civil society organizations at home and abroad, this chapter will remain open so long the regime's accountability falls short. The citizens of our two countries demand that The Gambian regime use its "infinite" power to bring this saga to a truthful conclusion by confessing its role in the massacre, and by finally bringing the guilty to account for their crimes.

While we are at it, the broke Jackson brothers, led by their self loathing sibling Jermaine need to be told that they are doing Gambians a disservice by associating with the criminal murderer, Yahya Jammeh, but more importantly, any dollar they take from Yahya Jammeh, is food taken out of the mouths of poor Gambian children. We are a poor country and the millions of dollars Yahya Jammeh will give them, is money our country owes to The World Bank and The IMF. We are already an impoverished country; and they should not make it any worst than it is for us.

But, I cannot reference the lack of dignity of the broke Jackson Brothers, without remembering Mr. Khan, the idiot that Jammeh recently appointed Ambassador to Sierra Leone. Not even Alieu Mboge, Lamin Sabi Sanyang, Famara Jallow, or Yankuba Drammeh's letters, can match Mr. Khan’s in unadulterated stupidity and disgraceful subservience. But, Mr. Khan’s reaction, like the rest, is typical of people who are psychologically abused and beaten down, but above all, who feel they don’t deserve what they get. The last time I checked every Gambian is entitled to work and make a living, and further no one owes Jammeh a darn thing for being hired to work for the country. It appears Mr. Khan has qualifications to be an ambassador only in a country where mediocrity reigns, and where placing square pegs in round holes is the standard practice.  Mr. Khan must remember that Famara Jallow was dismissed for the second time the very month he wrote his letter of gratitude to Yahya Jammeh. That is the same fate that awaits Mr. Khan and everyone serving under Yahya Jammeh. Within the next few months, everyone serving at the top of this crazy regime will be fired, arrested, and some will be tried and sent to prison. It just will never end.

Speaking of end, it is good to see my party coming alive once again. I mean the NRP. Mr. Hamat Bah is making waves once more, and that can only be a good thing for The Gambia’s struggle to democratize. Further comments will be reserved for my new proposals to Mr. Hamat Bah for a re-launching and possibly renaming the NRP, if funds permit, to be held outside The Gambia, but closer to home, where I will be present as keynote speaker.

And finally, I want to congratulate the PDOIS executive member who recently scaled the wall to join the UDP, and to welcome him to the real world outside the walls of in-doctrinaire politics and unhealthy propaganda; where one's sanity gets lost to indoctrination and mis-education, and where vulnerable young men are turned into zombies. In the real everyday normal politics, there is no need for saints or cult-like following, and every normal human being must think for themselves and act according to the dictates of their consciences. The exercise of politics is a human endeavor, and there is no expectation for anyone to behave like divine reincarnation. The freedom and the ability of the mind to wander freely in search of knowledge is what makes us all grow differentlly. When we can anticipate the actions of others, and the words they use in communicating, we would have become one in thinking and deed. Then what makes us special and individual humans will be in danger. We must never allow that to happen to us.