The Verdict
By Adama Hawa
The arrests and subsequent charging of Mam Sait Ceesay and Malick Jones, two pro-government journalists with some bogus offences under the Official Secrets Act, is yet another clear manifestation of how rotten the system has become. The very fact that these two so-called journalists were among the most apologetic in the country, is another indication that no one in the administration is safe from Yahya Jammeh’s delirium.
Therefore, while hardly anyone in this country has any sympathies for the two journalists because of their blind loyalty and unjustified defense of the rotten system, everyone is no doubt, surprised by the flimsy charges brought against them. It is hard for any reasonable person to imagine that reporting about the removal of Ebrima J. T. Kujabi as Director of Press and Public Relations at State House, even if it is not correct should warrant such harassment and humiliation of anyone, let alone people who had been so loyal to the system. It is once again another manifestation of how paranoid Yahya Jammeh has become and how far he is ready to go to harass and intimidate anyone who challenges his hegemony.
Coming back to Mam Sait and Malick, obviously, it is hard for any decent Gambian or anyone else who had been familiar with their blind loyalty to this rotten system, to sympathise with them on their predicament. We all know how Mam Sait, for instance, had allowed himself to be used while he was Editor -in- Chief of the Daily Observer (President Jammeh’s own paper) to intimidate and harass members of the opposition and all those who held different viewpoints to the regime. Even as press officer at State House, he was always ready to humiliate his colleagues from the private media and anyone who did not fall in line with the system.
As for Malick Jones, he was even worse. We have all been hearing how he was using his Weekend Spectrum programme on Radio Gambia as well as all his other programmes on both radio and TV to mock and caricature members of the opposition and anyone else who did not support the system. He no doubt felt so secure with the system that he thought he could harass and intimidate anyone with impunity. I have no doubt that he never in his wildest dreams ever thought that such a day would come when he would require the sympathies of the ordinary people of this country against those whose interests he was serving and whose praises he was constantly singing.
Of course, we all know why and how far Yahya Jammeh and his ethno-centric system is prepared to go to defend Ebrima J. T. Kujabi against people like Mama Sait and Malick, who no doubt are interested in taking his place. It is quite clear that both Mam Sait and Malick would love to see J. T. Kujabi removed. Mam Sait, for instance, had been press officer at State House as long as anyone would care to remember, and yet a nonentity like J. T. Kujabi, for obvious reasons, was brought from the Ports Authority to be made his boss, even though everyone knows that Mam Sait is much more experienced than Kujabi. Therefore, it is obvious that Mam Sait would capitalise on anything that would help get rid of Kujabi, even if it means lying against him.
In the case of Malick, he thinks that he has done so much for Yahya Jammeh and his regime that he deserves much more than remaining as a lousy producer at the dilapidated studios of Radio Gambia. Therefore, he just would not understand how Yahya would take someone like Kujabi and appoint him to such a prestigious position like DPPR while someone like him had spent all his time not only covering all state functions but also using such occasions to praise sing Yahya Jammeh. Therefore, he thought this was an opportunity to lie against Kujabi and hope that it will eventually lead to his removal and may be his own appointment to the position.
Therefore, while there is no iota of justification for the sort of humiliation being meted on Mam Sait and Malick for merely reporting, whether erroneously or deliberately, about the removal of Kujabi as DPPR, yet everyone feels that they deserved whatever treatment they get.
However, if these and numerous other actions by the regime were not enough lessons for these fools and all others who allow themselves to be used to harass and intimidate innocent Gambians in order to satisfy Yahya Jammeh, then one would wonder whether Gambians would ever learn any lessons.