The Verdict

Yahya Jammeh & His Corruption Web

By Adama Hawa

Is President Yahya Jammeh corrupt? While the answer to such a question may not be quite obvious to the lay person in the street in Banjul or any other settlement in the country, there are several indications that some of his behaviours and comportments seem to point to him being not only corrupt but also quite easily corruptible.

In the first place, it is quite amazing to see President Jammeh being transformed overnight from a poor army lieutenant whose account at the then Continent Bank was in the red on July 22, 1994 when the army seized power from the democratically elected government of ex-President Sir Dawda Jawara, to become one of the richest Heads of State in the sub-region less than 13 years later. It is also hard to comprehend how he has suddenly been transformed from one whose family did not have a single plot of land as their own to become the richest landowner, owning several thousands of hectares of prime land all over the country, with numerous estates worth millions of dollars, together with his own personal aircraft, frequently dishing out money and other expensive gifts to his supporters and cronies.

There is also clear evidence that President Jammeh is easily corruptible, considering how frequently he has been receiving all kinds of moral and material gifts from private individuals and commercial ventures. We have all been witnesses to how he has established close relationships with some dubious rich individuals and other international swindlers, no doubt receiving millions of dollars worth of gifts from them. A good case in point had been his dubious relationship with the Malian business tycoon, Babanding Foutanka Cissokho, who, at the very beginning of the Jammeh regime, became his most trusted bedfellow, being accorded not only an official government resident but also being issued with a Gambian diplomatic passport as a 'Special Adviser to the President'. We were all witnesses to his vigorous diplomatic attempts to obtain Babanding's release from American custody when Babanding was detained in the United States for attempting to bribe US Customs in order to import some military helicopters from the US, apparently meant for Yahya Jammeh. We also saw how Yahya had to unashamedly write to the then US President Bill Clinton appealing for Babanding's release, describing Babanding as an African philanthropist who had done a lot of work for humanity.

However, we all eventually saw how Yahya and his regime had to unceremoniously dump Babanding when he (Babanding) became bankrupt and therefore, no longer useful to him. Therefore, Babanding had to eventually run away from this country, leaving millions of Dalasis in debt. That is no doubt one good example of President Jammeh being not only a partner in corruption but also being corrupt to the core as well.

Another vivid example of President Jammeh's involvement in dubious business deals had been his relationship with Baba Jobe, whom he had been using as a front to run his nefarious business escapades. However, true to his usual form, we all saw how he had to eventually use Baba Jobe as a scapegoat and later lock him up from some trumped-up charges, when Baba no longer had much use for him. However, everyone knew that Baba Jobe was doing everything on behalf of Yahya Jammeh, including gun-running and diamond smuggling during the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia in league with rogues like Charles Taylor and Foday Sankoh, using the New Millennium airline, which everyone knew was one hundred percent owned by Yahya Jammeh.

There are also his dubious business deals with other businessmen like Amadou Samba, Edi Jobe of Elton, Tarik Musa of TK Motors and several others, mostly corrupt Lebanese businessmen, whose sole interest in this country is to short change Gambians and make as much quick money as possible with little risk. They know that all they need to do that is to become friends with Yahya Jammeh, and the easiest way to do that is to fill his pocket, and then one is free to do anything and no one would dare to question them.

There have been numerous other examples of corruption and corruptible practices in which President Jammeh has been involved. The latest of such is what we have all witnessed during the run up the last month’s naming ceremony of his son, Prince Mohammed, for which he received millions of Dalasis worth of “gifts”, some of which came from public institutions, and therefore money that belongs to the Gambian tax payers which he had no right to use for his son’s private naming ceremony.

Even the very practice of compelling public institutions to pay thousands of Dalasis worth of media advertisements to praise and pray for him during such occasions like his so-called July 22 Revolution and other national occasions, is sheer corruption. Those sycophants who use public money to pay for those adverts have no right to use taxpayers’ money to bribe Yahya Jammeh with their sweet words just to remain in their jobs.

We have also witness how several private companies and other corrupt individuals had to give him cash and material gifts during the run up to his son’s naming ceremony. For instance, we saw how the Africell mobile company alone provided him with 200 sheep for the naming ceremony. This is obviously a classic case of corruption because there are several worthy causes in which Africell could have spent that huge amount of money they used to purchase those sheep which would have benefited the ordinary Gambian rather than give that to President Jammeh, which will only benefit him and his cronies. It is therefore quite obvious that the main objective of Africell making such gifts to Yahya Jammeh was to give them more leverage to continue exploiting the poor Gambians without anyone daring to raise a finger against them.

The business community in the Gambia knows the weakness of the system and the corruptibility of President Jammeh and his clique and as such, they are ready to capitalize on it in order to continue to exploit poor Gambians, knowing fully well that as long as they remain in President Jammeh's good books, they can do anything in this country and no one would dare to sanction them.