Journalist Mathew K. Jallow reflects on the Gambian situation.

Shake up at the NIA

What happened last week at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) could only be described as an earthquake in terms of its gravity and social ramifications. With a single spell of emotion and unreasonable judgment, thirty-four employees of The Gambia's equivalent of the notoriously deadly and feared East German Stazi were shown the door and left to their own devices. A few strokes of his pen is all it took for the emotionally unstable Yahya Jammeh to sent thirty-four of his former enforcers to face a public that they so gleefully terrorized over the past months and years. Out of the blue, officers who once wore their arrogance on their sleeves for all to see were confronted by their own demons and exposed to all the human vulnerabilities and an uncertainty they never thought they would ever face. It is undoubtedly a terrible thing anytime someone loses his or her means of livelihood, yet sometimes, however, we wonder whether we ought to rejoice or be saddened by someone else's sudden demise. In the latest firing of these NIA officers, many of us are caught right in the middle; with some saying the NIA officers deserve what they got, while others are not so sanguine. On the one hand, we feel bad that these compatriots at least temporarily, lost the abilities to put food on the table for their families, but on the other hand, the NIA is an unnecessary institution that exists only to waste our limited national resources. There is only one individual who stands to benefit from the existence of the NIA, and that is Yahya Jammeh, consequently, that institution should be shut down, disbanded and its staff moved over to the police and the military. Like the state guards, the NIA is a severe drain on our limited resources; resources that can be invested in providing free universal education and clean running water in every single Gambian community within the next decade. In economics, when a sizable portion of our nation’s budget is allocated for the sole purpose of protecting one individual, a cost benefit analysis will show a very marginal or zero return on the dollar, making it a colossal waste of our scarce resources. The NIA provides no benefit, whatsoever, to the Gambian public, rather, and paradoxically, the institution has become synonymous with terror and violence against the very citizens they are supposed to protect. What an irony?

Jallow to the Rescue?

The tapping of Pa Momodou Jallow for the NIA's top job is, as far as we Gambians are concerned, “too little and too late” to make any difference. At this juncture in Yahya Jammeh’s twelve year reign of terror, not even Pa Jallow, no matter how well intentioned he is in cleaning years of NIA’s ugly legacy, can help Jammeh turn the corner. The damage is already done, and Gambians are not about to forgive or forget all of Jammeh's atrocities without any public accountability. Ironically, the primary reason given for the mass firing at the NIA according to reports has supposedly to do with inefficiency. By any standard of measure, the most inefficient individual in The Gambia has to be Yahya Jammeh himself, yet he has to-date always succeeded in deflecting blame from himself, and instead made others take the fall for his utter incompetence and naked corruption. Jammeh’s victimization of others for his own ineptitude is an integral part of his method of governing, and there is nothing Pa Jallow can do to change that learnt behavior. At this early stage, it will be naïve for Pa Jallow to feel too comfortable in his position, because Jammeh is not swayed or motivated by common sense, rather he is driven by impulse and a fantasy that grows out of a paranoia, which has become almost a psychotic condition for him. Besides, there is absolutely nothing that makes Pa Jallow any different or more favorable to Yahya Jammeh than anyone of the others who have served or are wasting away in Mile II Prisons. Clearly, Yahya Jammeh's acquired Machiavellian disposition makes him unable to function like a real human being any more. He has tasted power and consequently, has long ago lost his humane touch; stripped off any of the human emotions that separate us human beings from the animals. Jammeh’s grand designs are to remain in power for as long as he can, and in the true Machiavellian tradition, he will try to torpedo anyone who stands in his way. Without the military to prop him up, he is scared and cowardly, but with the help and protection of our security forces, he puts on a brave face for the world. Now that Pa Jallow has entered the inner sanctums of the caged lion’s den, his chances of escaping Jammeh's orbit unscarred are minimal to zero. He just has to look around Jammeh’s graveyard of discarded bodies; the lucky ones languishing in Mile II Prisons and the unlucky ones are long dead and turned into food for the maggots. For you too Mr. Jallow, it is only a matter of time.

Deyda’s Martyrdom

When my friend, Deyda Hydara, was gunned down two years ago, it marked the opening of a new chapter in our history, yet it would not be the first or the last time that Jammeh and his thugs would take the lives of innocent Gambians. To all of us who worked in the media, the loss of Deyda was particularly disheartening, given his station in the emergence and growth of The Gambian media. Deyda was a soft-spoken, quiete and benevolent individual, who was hard to dislike, but more importantly, many of us gravitated towards him for a little piece of his wisdom. It was also around him that the Gambia Press Union revolved, and the existence of the Gambia Press Union and the proliferation of the media in The Gambia could not have happened without the foresight and perseverance of Deyda Hydara and another unsung hero, his friend, Demba A. Jawo. But, the murder of Deyda has dealt a severe blow to the credibility of the Jammeh government, and its continued failure to conduct a robust investigation into the murder is not helping to deflect conspiracy theories implicating the government. If anything, the government by its inaction and carefree attitude has shown that it cares less when its citizens are killed. Having worked with Deyda, I can vouch for the fact that he has no political biases, and he rarely saw anything through the prism of party politics. His level of maturity transcended the narrowly defined limits of party politics and personality worship. To him, Jammeh was no different from Jawara. As the heads of our government, he accorded the same amount of respect to both, but he had little use for their self-serving political treachery and the egomaniacal disposition that perverted and depraved their politics. Deyda did not have any traits of tribal and social prejudices that would make him look down on Yahya Jammeh or Jawara for that matter. But now, as we mark the anniversary of Deyda’s death, we renew and reinforce our resolves to bring Deyda’s murderers to face justice. His death, like other deaths, will be fully investigated until the truth is revealed, no matter how long it takes to get there. Even if Yahya Jammeh some day escapes into the jungles of his native Cassamance, he will be brought back to face justice that he is denying others. By his ultimate sacrifice, Deyda will never be a footnote in our history; rather, he has earned a monument to honor his sacrifice of giving his life that we may enjoy freedom. We don’t have the freedom yet, but the fight that Deyda led, will continue until our people are free from the clutches of this rapacious monster we call, Yahya Jammeh.

Death in a Strange Land

They faced their brutal deaths undercover of darkness, these strangers in a strange land with nowhere to turn and run. The massacre of so many Ghanaians on our soil is another blatant abuse of the United Nations' Charter, which provides for the protection of all human beings no matter in what foreign land they may find themselves. One can almost sense the fear and the terror faced by the dozens of Ghanaian citizens as they saw their compatriots being slaughtered one after another, and knowing that soon it would be their turns to die.Ironically, it is the Commonwealth Secretariat, and not the Ghanaian Government that is taking the steps to force the government of Yahya Jammeh to explain these mysterious deaths. Like the murders of Deyda, Koro and the others, some people in our country know the answer to the deaths of dozens of Ghanaians, and it is in their best interest to tell the world even if doing so means fleeing the country to a safe haven. The silence of the Ghanaian authorities with respect to the killings of innocent Ghanaian civilians is troubling. Ghanaian President John Kufour should hold a press conference and explain to the World Press what steps he has taken to get answers for the brutal murder of Ghanaian nationals on Gambian soil. What we in The Gambia know with absolute certainty is that only Yahya Jammeh’s security forces have the firearms and organizational ability to carry out such blatant massacre of innocent civilians. The massacres are a crime against humanity, which elevates it to qualify for The Hague type trial for Jammeh and his accomplices. The Commonwealth Secretariat is right in pursuing this matter in the face of the apparent failure of President Kufour to fulfill his most important mandate of seeking justice for the citizens of his country. In the event the Gambian authorities fail to cooperate fully, The Commonwealth Secretariat should spearhead a global campaign to deny Jammeh’s government any loan, grants and other bilateral and multilateral aid. There is no way around this despicable and wanton act of brutality against innocent nationals of another country.

Banjul’s Embattled Mayor.

Pa Sallah Jeng, the embattled Mayor of Banjul, is being held hostage by our judiciary by unnecessarily dragging his case through the system for all these years. This is an absolutely denial of due process, and consequently, a travesty of his rights to a fair and timely judicial trial. As an elected official, the government has no business meddling in the affairs of a city government unless the mayor is guilty of committing something egregious. His removal as Mayor may even be illegal under our laws, yet we know we cannot expect our timid judiciary to do anything to stop the government from continuing to overstep its authority in this case. Pa Sallah Jeng’s election a few years ago over the establishment’s candidate was a direct threat to Yahya Jammeh’s efforts to consolidate power in every district in our country. For Mr. Jeng’s case to continue languishing in a state of limbo is plain injustice.

Observer’s Shameful Propaganda

With all the news that need to be covered and broadcast to our compatriots, it is disheartening that the best The Daily Observer can do is to continue publishing messages of congratulations sent to Yahya Jammeh months after the elections. The Daily Observer along with many other individuals is complicit in enabling and facilitating Jammeh’s reign of terror, and some of the higher echelon there has earned themselves a place in docket before our judges. Understandably, the paper dares not publish any piece or article that can be construed as presenting Jammeh and his government in a negative light.

Dr. Saja Taal, Manages the paper

But, the most troubling aspect of The Daily Observer’s coverage of news and events is the pure propaganda that the paper attempts to ram down the throats of our people. The name of Yahya Jammeh, and all his bogus titles he gave to himself, can almost fill a line on a piece of paper. Every title before and after Jammeh’s name is meaningless nonsense that has no business, whatsoever, being published anywhere

Jammeh’s Griots

It was very amusing the way Fatou Jahumpa-Ceesay and Nyimasata Sanneh-Bojang,

Yahya Jammeh’s two griots-in-chief, showered him with a lot of praise this past week. Praise singing is what griots in our cultures do, and these two excelled in both the level and intensity with which they attempt to create a deity out of Yahya Jammeh. I wonder what Nyima thinks of the disappearance some years ago, of Foday Makalo her former classmate at the Yundum Teachers' College. It seems plausible that some people have been changed by the politics in our country to a point where they accept the disposability of some of our fellow countrymen. Blatant propaganda and the quest for political power have a way of numbing people’s emotions and blunting their feelings to enable them look the other way when atrocities are being committed all around them. We in The Gambia have entered that phase of our political transformation, and sooner rather than later, a Rwanda type situation can explode to expose the worst of the animal instinct hidden deep inside each of us. Everything Jammeh has done or is doing, is driving us into the belly of the beast, and the sooner he wakes up from his deep stupor and realizes how we deplore his politics, the better it will be for our country. As for Nyima and FJC, we have no use for them. They can continue being Jammeh’s slaves. We can care less

The Lame National Assembly

Finally, I wish to impress on the National Assembly that Yahya Jammeh has no business bringing any Bill before that House. As elected officials, the country voted the members with the hope that they have the brains with which to think and enact the laws our country needs in order to operate as a democratic society. The separation of powers applies in our country and Yahya Jammeh must stay within the limits that our laws have assigned to the executive branch. The Assembly must not just sit there and accept orders from Yahya Jammeh. The Assembly should educate its members to obligations, responsibilities and duties of its elected officials so they can challenge Jammeh each time he encroaches in the rights and jurisdictions of members. Assembly members are not political appointees, and as a body, the Assembly has the power to kick Jammeh out of office. Rather than members being scared out of your wits of Yahya Jammeh, he is really the one who should be fearful of the power of the National Assembly as representatives of all the people of our country. Assembly members must have some courage in their hearts, because come to think of it, the Assembly can take away a President’s power in a heartbeat. The National Assembly has the ability and the obligation to stop this never ending cycle of hiring and firing, but more importantly, it can put an end to this brutal and murderous regime through a Vote of No Confidence. Something must be done to stop Jammeh’s insanity, and save our country from a possible future catastrophe. Yahya Jammeh should remember the haunting pictures

of Samuel Doe, or better still; our National Assembly should remember Rwanda. Remember?

posted @ Saturday, December 16, 2006 11:12 PM by egsankara