By Plarke M. Caneckouteh: London, UK
Going by Associate Editor Mathew K. Jallow’s statistical analysis of the both the Presidential and recently concluded parliamentary elections one can deduce so many lessons, which could be discussed in volumes. I do not intend to go into such lengthy and voluminous discussion but just to raise some important issues based on Jallow’s statistical presentation and comments from party leaders. Of course, I am not saying anything new but just elaborating on what has been lamented by many. It is quite an interesting piece of work from a seasoned journalist like him to present a simple but valuable and informative analysis of the election results. A lot of lessons can be learnt from Mathew’s scintillating and thorough statistical analysis.
First of all I do agree with Jallow that Gambians have sent a signal of displeasure to Jammeh on the way he handles the affairs of the nations. If sixty percent of electorates in a country should refuse to vote for a President either by voting for the opposition or abstaining from voting, then that person should know that he/she is no longer popular and the best option is to leave office in peace. It is an indication that the person is no longer the people’s choice. He is no longer popular within the community and there is no point forcing his/her rules onto them. A democratic nation is governed by the will of the majority so whenever the majority turned their backs against the leader, it is wiser for that leader to call it off before he/she is booted out unceremoniously. The election results serve as evaluative indicators that measure feelings of the electorates about their leaders and their leadership performances. So what the results of the two elections have shown is that the minority, who are less than 40 percent, likes Jammeh. More than 60 percent of those registered to vote do not like TONI DABAA’s REGIME. He should just leave now!!! His regime is criminal and brutal. Many innocent lives have gone leaving many families in agony, constant pain and always with broken hearts. I think he had killed enough and if he is allowed to continue he will soon finish the small population of lesser than two million in that small and peaceful country, which hitherto to his coming was West Africa’s Heaven on earth.
But the fool never learns lessons. In fact, he does not possess Mathew Jallow’s analytical talents to critically review the results and deduce some meanings from them. Instead, he and his criminal gangs are on beachfront parties celebrating an undeserved victory. Pathetic and unfortunate for the poor beloved nation, isn’t it? I remembered when Tony Blair won the last election with reduced majority, he reflected and said “the people of Great Britain have spoken and I understand what they are talking about”. He then promised to work towards their desires and expectations. This is a sensible leader who reflects and responds to the wishes of his people. This is true democracy. Blair never threw a party because he won; instead he used the moment to reflect on his government policies and the way they are implemented. It is a government that is people-centred and it is operating according to policies that are drawn on national interest. Does Toni Dabaa know that? Does he even have senses to carefully scrutinise those results? I doubt it very much. At the moment he is busy being a witch doctor of HIV/AIDS and Asthma. He is an embarrassment, isn’t he? You can take a monkey from the bush but you cannot take the bush from the money. Yahya Jammeh is a bushman no matter where you take him he will behave like a bushman. The man is far away from modern civilization and all what it entails. So it should not surprise Gambians that the man will behave in the manner he behaves now. Toni Dabaa, as he is famously called, knows nothing apart from wrestling and taking herbal concoctions. He is accustomed to it and no doubt he will always want to practise it anywhere he is. Shame and shocking for the nation!!!! I can imagine how he sleeps with his Moroccan lady.
Secondly the results indicate the effects of tampering with the National Constitution by changing to rule to simple majority win. I know so many clauses and sections of the Constitution and other national documents have been tampered with by our disgraceful rubber-stamped National Assembly members just to satisfy the Kanilai monster and to enable him imprison, butcher our people and loot our national coffer to invest in Morocco and beyond while pretending to be investing in Kanilai. Although a lot of national finances have been wasted in Kanilai and other parts of Foni in the form of gardens and orchard development, the bulk of the money he looted is invested in Morocco and Guinea. I think he is more worried now by the present political turmoil in Guinea Conakry than Guineans themselves for fear of losing all his investments there if a radical government should replace comrade despot Lansana Conte. Our Constitution has been tampered with so badly that it is just like toilet roll good for nothing except cleaning the toilet. In a real democracy, a President should be elected by two-thirds of the electorates. A good democrat should be boasting of being elected by a reasonable proportion of the people but not such an insignificant percentage. This is why when such percentage is not attained in the first round of elections a second round is desirable. The beast knows that if he should allow the second round of election to be conducted he will surely lose so he used his useless NAMs to change the Constitution to suit him. Imagine the type of NAMs we have in the country. They are good for nothing except for attending naming ceremonies and worshipping Baba Jobe for loans in his money shop. Unfortunately for this once powerful leader of the National Assembly, Mile Two is his new home and ironically, President Jammeh has sadistically, renamed the infamous State Prisons, Baba Jobe’s Hotel. Good for him; those who live by criminality shall end up in jails. Anyway, he is just waiting for others like Jammeh who will sooner or later find him there.
This is the consequence of having dumb parliamentarians most of whom cannot read beyond primary six (now grade six) stuff. The problem with most Gambian parliamentarians is that they cannot read and understand government documents let alone policies. They cannot understand budget estimates and other international documents. They do not even know their terms of references as National Assembly Members in that supposedly August House. Some of them stopped at secondary fourth level in the defunct Secondary Technical Schools (Middle School). Since leaving school they had never read a newspaper. How on earth do you think such parliamentarians will be able to analyse and debate on national policies with all the inherent technicalities? How can they contribute in debates if they cannot absorb the stuff given to them? That is why they fear the opposition whom they constantly accused of being very radical and critical of government. Without proper thinking they brand the opposition as enemies of the state. The Kanilai beast goes on taunting the opposition and falsely accusing them of being paid by foreign governments to destabilize The Gambia. But those who know the truth know that Jammeh is desperately covering up his follies and stupid foreign policy. Anyway, it is only fools who will take Jammeh’s accusations seriously. People should be careful and genuinely analyse the actions of this evil man with his thugs. They should not be misled by his stupid rants on Western countries. It is a sheer jealousy. If he really hates the West and their policies, why did his wife go to USA to give birth? Some time ago, I read here that he was fighting for his only child to have American documents. Why is he doing it when he does not like anything Western? It would have been understood if he was trying to acquire Moroccan citizenship for his daughter. Why America? These are some of the things that we should observe to know that Yahya is a fake patriot.
The Gambia is very unfortunate to have such dumb parliamentarians who are just planks of logs with hands to clap. They are only there to clap and vote by raising hands. They only depend on very few better idiots among them who always spearhead the APRC terrible agenda, and then they follow. Imagine, if these parliamentarians were not stupid and dump, how can they allow Yahya Jammeh to continue his madness of treating HIV/ AIDS and Asthma? Don’t they know that they are also accountable for what the idiot is doing? They are accountable because they are elected by the people to represent them in building and developing the nation. It is part of their mandate to safeguard the country from calamities such as the one going on now. It is part of their roles as legislators to veto the fool out if he refuses to stop the rubbish he embarks on. Because the NAMs are equally ignorant of their duties the monster has the liberty to behave anyhow he likes. So was not surprised when one of the parliamentarians told me “we are also powerless and cannot stop Jammeh although we know that what he is doing is wrong.” Imagine the type of people we have as our representatives. They even don’t know they are more powerful than Jammeh if they act collectively to safeguard the nation’s dignity and honour. It is a catastrophe!! I therefore, challenge the new parliamentarians to fill their positions and defend the country irrespective of party affiliations. We are in the 21st century and not in the Stone Age. It is democracy which works and not dictatorship. Gambians want to live in peace and harmony in a dignified manner but not under threats and bullies of the evil regime. Democracy is beautiful and progressive. It entails a lot of positive things that can bring development. This is why we elect them as parliamentarians to ensure that democracy prevails. It is counter productive to have an elected legislative body that is ignorant of its functions and obligations.
Thirdly, the results reveal that the Gambian people lack trust and confidence in the opposition due to their personal greed and hunger for power. I know many may agree with me that the collapse of NADD as a coalition party has devastating impact on many electorates. This uncalled for behaviour by some party leaders have discouraged and left people completely disillusioned and hopeless for the change they yearned for. Our opposition parties are not but total failure and an embarrassment for the nation. They are so embarrassing and annoying to the point that one questions their integrity, sense of direction and responsibility. I think some of them should just hang their political jackets and match out of the political arena. Their behaviours indicate their lack of sincerity and faith to run for any public office. They did not stop behaving stupidly in the Presidential election but continued do the same thing during the Parliamentary elections, by filing two or more opposition candidates in a Constituency. This could have been avoided by forming a “tactical alliance” to increase the number of opposition parliamentarians and potentially, shift the balance of power in the House. Now we are going to live for five years with a National Assembly dominated by a bunch of fools from the APRC. You can imagine the damages that will be done during this period!!! So where are their “thinking caps”? What is wrong with them? What are they actually fighting for? It is hard to understand the garbage excuses some of them were making. Unbelievable!! And they call themselves intellectuals? What sort of knowledge or degrees do some of them have? It is not funny but completely ridiculous!! They are the only opposition I know of in recent times to have failed their people at the last minute. Even Senegalese opposition managed to form a strong alliance at the last minute to democratically unseat the incumbent President Abdou Diouf. They never thought of coming together at the initial stage before the first round; but after realising that without a credible coalition they would lose to President Diouf, they came together and did their homework. With this bright example at eyesight and many others, some of the greedy wolves just decided to withdraw at the crucial hour. I will not be surprised if it is revealed later that some of them were bribed by Jammeh to move out of the coalition. This is beyond surprise for mature and genuine opposition to behave in the manner they had behaved!!
Some of opposition behave like prostitutes jumping from one bed to another. What type of politics is that? Some of them are NADD today, tomorrow they are UDP while others moved from UDP to form NDAM, then joined NADD and now APRC. Can we call these political prostitutes and opportunists instead of political veterans and fearless or firebrand politicians? They are certainly not at all. They are nothing but wolves looking for fat and juicy bones to lick. They cannot be trusted with national responsibilities because the manner they manifested their greed may be worst than Jammeh and his gang. They are hypocrites and self-centred and cannot run that country with principles of democracy, accountability and transparency. No sooner they rise to power than they will adopt styles of administration similar to the Kanilai beast. We want someone who is selfless and willing to sacrifice for the development of the nation. The person must have the nation’s interest at heart.
With this type of opposition, it is clear that the electorate would not be enthusiastic to vote. Some of them will prefer to stay home and do something more progressive. So our divided opposition have, in a sense, handed victory to Jammeh. NADD was already a political force on its way to defeat Jammeh but greed and selfishness had blocked its way to victory and glory. Hope it won’t be repeated next time. Let’s unite for a common course and save the nation before it is too late!!! Let us face the reality in our political struggle. All what we want is a faithful, sincere and selfless leader to can lead the nation and save it from the present mess. We should put all the rubbish about tribes or whatever nonsense that are hindering our struggle. It is not where you come from that matters, it is what you can do or doing to develop the nation. People hate Jammeh not because he is a Jola but what he is doing to the people and the nation is cruel and bad. This is the point. After all, there is no tribalism in the Gambia compare to other countries. We inter-marry in the Gambia irrespective of ethnic groupings. Even sometimes people from different religion get marry to each other. So where is the tribalism coming from? The present regime is just using it as tool to stay in power. Tribalism is not an issue in the Gambia unless we want to grow its seeds now. Ethnicity has never been a problem for us Gambians. We should not allow some fools to push us to believe that one tribe always want to be leaders of the country all the time. If anyone thinks in that line, too, then he/she is fooling him/herself. Gambia is for everyone who is born and brought up there. It has always been like that and it would be a folly to believe one ethnic group owns the Gambia. Let’s us put that thing out of us, especially in this 21st century. All what we want is good leadership to lead the nation in peace progress and prosperity.
The final point is that the results reveal the ignorance of the Gambian voters on the importance of voting in national elections, a gap that can only be filled by civic education. It is not only naïve to stay away from voting in national elections but a catastrophe for national development. Voting is an exercise of one’s human rights and it measures one’s ability to judiciously make an informed decision on issues affecting his/her well-being. Apart from failure to exercise the human rights aspect, refusing to vote means creating an opportunity for the brutal beast to continue his cruel regime. Voting is not festive, contrary to the beliefs of many in The Gambia; it is a national responsibility that all citizens eligible to vote should do. Refusing to vote is the same as seeing and ignoring national properties/assets being vandalised. It measures the level of patriotism we have for our country. This is why in developed countries and other parts of the world people go out to vote en masse even in times of difficulties. We cannot change the system without voting. I may further ask the question: Why are people not voting? The simple answer I can give is that they lack awareness of the importance of elections. They are not properly sensitized. They see politicians as demi-gods that they have to worship in order to get what they want. This is a sad mistake. The people who ironically worship them pay all our parliamentarians and government officials and Yahya Jammeh and his incompetent Cabinet. A master worshipping a servant!! It is always upside down when it comes to politics in Africa! You cannot believe it! The electorates should know that they are more powerful than politicians and governments and that they can dictate what type of government they want in the country. So what we need is Civic Education in both formal schools and in non-formal educational institutions within communities. I know UN will be willing to support such projects and other human rights-based organisations. We in the Diaspora can even fund those projects. People at the grassroots should be aware of their basic rights and responsibilities.
Editor's Note: The Jallow statistical analysis that Mr. Caneckouteh alludes to are preserved in our Echo January archives and could also be accessed from Allafrica.com's Archives.