Commentary

The political implications of the GNOC elections

By D. A. JAWO, Banjul, The Gambia

One may find ridiculous any attempt to connect the recent Gambia National Olympics Committee (GNOC) elections with the general political scenario in the country, as the two seem to be quite distinct. But the truth is that there is quite a lot of connection between the two. The election of Momodou Dibba as the new GNOC president, which was preceded by the walk-out of his challenger Abdoulie 'Baks' Touray and his supporters, no doubt had quite a lot to do with the prevailing political system and an indication of the growing unpopularity of the APRC hegemony.

Let's see whether we can offer any further explanation on the connection between what appears like a simple sports issue and the general political environment.

We have seen the recent arrest and detention of the acting head of the GNOC Beatrice Allen and some of her officials, accused of being involved in financial fraud. This came right on the heels of some drama pertaining to the setting up of the ground rules for the GNOC elections which had to be postponed several times, and in which the National Assembly eventually got involved. We have seen how the National Assembly got infuriated with the challenge to its decision on the matter by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, resulting in the public humiliation of the Youth and Sports Minister Sheriff Gomez and his senior officials on the matter. Even though the National Assembly was also in turn publicly rebuked by President Jammeh for daring to humiliate his minister, and the Speaker was compelled to apologize to President Jammeh on the issue, it was too late for that to affect the elections, which was the last chance The Gambia had in order to avoid sanctions by the International Olympic Committee.

Therefore, even though it was quite clear that the administration was unhappy with the arrangements, there was hardly anything else they could do to further postpone the elections, and despite last minute attempts by the 'Baks' Touray camp, no doubt with the blessing of Minister Gomez to force a postponement, the elections still had to go ahead and Mr. Dibba was elected with a large majority of those eligible to vote.

In an interview after her release on bail, Beatrice Allen accused Minister Gomez, in cohort with the Attorney General Edward Gomez of being behind her arrest because of their support to 'Baks' Touray with whom they were alleged to have reached a deal with after his election to re-instate the former long time Secretary General of the GNOC, George Gomez, who is a relative to both Minister Gomez and Attorney General Gomez, whose removal from the GNOC they had accused Ms Allen of master-minding.

Therefore, more people voted for Mr. Dibba because of the apparent connection they seem to have seen in 'Baks' Touray's candidature and the Jammeh administration, thanks to the allegations of behind-the-scenes manipulations by the Youth and Sports Minister and the Attorney General in support of a relative, and no doubt, the shameful apology to President Jammeh by the National Assembly for their role in settling the matter which seems to favour the 'Beatrice Allen camp'.
It is therefore very apparent that Mr. Dibba's election is a clear indication of the general frustration and disenchantment of anything connected with the Jammeh administration, and the people are ready at any given opportunity to demonstrate it. Of course, the administration is quite aware of this fact and they would no doubt intensify their attempts to convict Ms Allen and her team because they blame her for this humiliation. They will also no doubt try as hard as they could not to cooperate with Mr. Dibba's administration in order to frustrate them to the point of ineffectiveness so that their candidate would win the next election.

Therefore, Ms Allen, Mr. Dibba and the in-coming GNOC administration should get ready for tough time ahead because they will be subjected to all sorts of pressure and sabotage from the regime and its institutions in order to ensure their failure.