The Verdict
By Adama Hawa
What is presently happening in The Gambia is not only enough to make all genuine Gambians embarrassed, it also seems reminiscent of what used to happen in this country back during the dark ages when the colonialists used to employ forced labour to construct roads and bridges. Then the colonialists used to ask the chiefs to mobilize all able-bodied young men to do some community work. However, the only difference is that such work was to benefit the whole community while what is happening now is for the benefit of President Yahya Jammeh alone. From the proceeds of those farms, he will then turn and provide token gifts to some people and institutions and then take the credit for it.
It is quite hard to imagine that in 21st century Gambia, the people are being organized into gangs by unscrupulous sycophants and compelled against their will to go and work on Yahya Jammeh’s numerous farms all over the country, exactly like what the colonialists did. Virtually on a daily basis, there are announcements on radio and television urging people from all walks of life, from the security forces, women’s groups, employees of government departments and Para-statals and ordinary housewives to go and labour on President Jammeh’s farms. In order to ensure that people all over the country are given the chance to work for him, his sycophants have compelled the various local authorities all over the country to allocate large tracks of land to him in the different parts of the country and from where they would mobilize the different communities to work in turns in those farms.
This is slavery, pure and simple and it is quite reminiscent of what King Leopold of Belgium used to do in the Congo in the nineteenth century. It is quite inconceivable that an African leader in this era would subject his people to such slavery while the United Nations and the whole international community is watching and saying nothing. It has certainly come to a point when Gambians should be rescued from this megalomaniac of a President before he destroys the very fabric of our country.
There is absolutely no doubt that 99 per cent of those who are compelled to provide free labour on his numerous farms are not doing so voluntarily, they dare not refuse to go, otherwise, they risk being summarily dismissed from their jobs or being subjected to numerous other sanctions.
One of the government Departments, which recently mobilized to work on the President’s farm, was the Department of State for Works, Construction and Infrastructure. One of the junior clerks in one of the institutions under that Department of State told me how their Permanent Secretary Lamin Nyabally sent word to their work place that everyone was expected to go to work on President Jammeh’s farm and threatened to deal with anyone who fails to turn up. “Of course I would never have gone to work for President Jammeh or anyone else against my will, but I knew that if I did not go, I would have lost my job and then be reduced to a beggar in the streets,” he said.
This is exactly a similar situation to a great majority of those who on a daily basis work on his farms. While a few happily go there expecting to be rewarded with crumbs of food and money, I learnt from the gentleman at the Department of State for Works that they were not even provided with food let alone given money. Of course, slaves are supposed to provide free labour and the master is not expected to pay them anything in return for their labour. This is what is going on in The Gambia.
However, the most bizarre thing that happened last week was when President Jammeh had to compel those suffering from HIV AIDS and went to him in order to be cured to go and work on his farm in Kanilai. That was certainly the height of callousness. No one in his or her right frame of mind would have imagined that he would be so mean as to compel those sick people to provide free labour on his farm.
I am now convinced that President Jammeh has no advisers, otherwise, I cannot imagine how anyone would have allowed him to engage in such self-destructive agenda without telling him the truth. It was even a big shame, which also tantamount to professional misconduct for both the Secretary of State for Health Dr. Tamsir Mbowe and the Chief Medical Officer at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital Dr Pacha Njie publicly endorsing the free labour provided by the HIV AIDS patients. While our religious and community leaders would talk about anything else, you will never hear them condemn this forced labour being practiced by President Jammeh on innocent Gambians.
This is a strong indication that this country is drifting to a very dangerous level and unless something is done as soon as possible to keep check on this megalomaniac, the country will soon erupt into violence because it is hard to see how Gambians can continue to endure such humiliation forever. It is therefore, the role of the international community to do something about the situation before it is too late.