By Adama Hawa

The imposition of Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay on the National Assembly as speaker by President Yahya Jammeh is certainly clearest indication of the type of despotic system operating in The Gambia. We were all witnesses to her total rejection in 2006 by the same National Assembly when she contested the position of Deputy Speaker. It is therefore, an insult to the calibre of our National Assembly members for that same person to be brought back to them as leader of the Legislature.

This is once again another indication of the lack of respect President Jammeh has for the House, and indeed the whole country. There is absolutely no doubt that if Fatou Jahumpa were to stand for an election for the post, they would have overwhelmingly rejected her for the second time. Every morally sound Gambian detests the slavish manner that she has been behaving.

 While the rest of the world is firmly on the road to democratization and good governance, we are all watching The Gambia being steered on a completely different direction by President Jammeh as if he does not care about what anyone thinks. It is a simple fact of democracy that the three arms of government; the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary should be operating on a parallel path if any country is to claim the most basic tenets of democracy. However, in The Gambia, we have seen that Yahya Jammeh has usurped control of all three arms of government, and he directs them to do exactly what he wants. We have seen how he has neutralized both the Legislature and the Judiciary by putting people with very low professional and moral ethics in charge of these important institutions.

It is hard to understand how our elected representatives would allow Yahya Jammeh to usurp their powers and authority and reduce them to mere rubber stamps of whatever he wants. Indeed by putting a puppet like Fatou Jahumpa in charge makes the National Assembly even less credible than it has ever been in the history of the country. It is quite unprecedented in any democratic state for the head of the executive to also have the unlimited powers to appoint the heads of both the legislature and the judiciary as obtains in The Gambia. This type of situation makes President Jammeh an absolute monarch who has control over executive, legislative and judicial powers. It is a well known fact that with Fatou Jahumpa in charge of the National Assembly and Abdou Karim Savage as Chief Justice in charge of the judiciary, then we should expect Yahya Jammeh to be taking all the decisions in these two institutions.

We have all been witnesses to how both Fatou Jahumpa and Abdou Karim Savage have been manifesting their uncondescending faithfulness to anything that President Jammeh wants.

Of course, it is easy to guess why Belinda Bidwell was suddenly removed as Speaker of the National Assembly and replaced by Fatou Jahumpa. Mrs. Bidwell was just too cultured and independent-minded for the liking of President Jammeh that he could not stomach her being in charge of the National Assembly for another five years. Therefore, he did not hesitate to replace her with someone who has shown how far she is prepared to mortgage even her very humanity just to do whatever he wants her to do.

In the Judiciary for instance, we all know that Abdou Karim Savage also does not have the professional and moral standing to become even a First Class Magistrate let alone, head of the judiciary. We have seen how he has been handling matters pertaining to the regime; always doing things that would satisfy Yahya Jammeh rather than be guided by his professional ethics.

It is even a well known fact that the APRC candidates in last National Assembly elections were quite meticulously selected in order to put in only those people with very low academic and moral fibre who would eventually see themselves as President Jammeh’s representatives rather than representing those who voted for them. In fact, we have been hearing virtually all of them paying for public announcements on GRTS to thank President Jammeh instead of the people who voted for them. That is certainly a fore-test of what we should expect in the next five years of this Legislature.

Therefore, with Fatou Jahumpa as Speaker of the National Assembly, whatever hope anyone ever had that the House would regain its credibility and composure has completely been eroded. Instead, what we will be seeing for the next five years is a National Assembly that would not only be ready to pass anything that originates from the Executive without any questions, but any member who attempts to even criticize any aspect of the regime would be called to order by the Speaker. It is hard to imagine Fatou Jahumpa sitting there to listen to anyone criticize her boss and whatever he represents. It is therefore; going to be the dullest legislature this country has ever had, as anyone can easily predict its every move. Indeed, it is just going to be like another APRC Political Bureau where only matters palatable to “His Excellency” would see the light of day.

Of course, the few genuine opposition members, no doubt to be morally led by Sidia Jatta would try to make their voices heard, but because of their insignificant numbers, they would be fighting a losing battle.