Sections
DONATE
SUPPORT WWW.JOLLOFNEWS.COM
Account Login
Contradictions in the Gambian experience
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 23:08
By Kemo ChamIf you have ever wondered what influences President Yahya Jammeh’s style of governance – his characteristic alternation between seeming softness and toughness, his willy-nilly sacking of government officials, with absolutely no explanation, and all the other contradictions that emanate from Banjul these days, you are not alone in your thoughts.
While sacking of ministers is no new thing, its frequency and timing has made Gambia inimitable and its people ever more curious over what influence so many of these decisions from the president.
Aside from the long held argument that all these people sacked by Jammeh can’t be wrong, that some, if not most of it, must be the result of his own flawed judgment, there is also the question of constant failure to tell Gambians why the sackings - why no explanations? And of late, the situation seems to have taken an altogether eccentric dimension, with ministers getting sacked today only to be reinstated a few days later. This happened in the most recent cabinet reshuffle by the president.
As much as we would hate to see it this way, with the turn of events in the past few years, even though Yahya Jammeh would want Gambians to believe that he is doing all what he is doing because he wants the best for them, it could be argued that along the line his judgment of the people, in terms of how they perceive genuineness from sham, has clearly failed him. Or could all this just be shrugged off as mere coincidence that any time the president thinks of effecting change there is a mindboggling issue that is bound to arouse serious thoughts in Gambians?
If anything, the latest developments in the country have not been any different from the past. Just moments after the announcement of the high profile treason charge slammed on former senior security officers for allegedly attempting to overthrow Yahya Jammeh’s government, four ministers were sacked, and, as usual, no reasons were forwarded. And even before the dust raised by that minor cabinet reshuffle would set, another cabinet reshuffle was announced. Minister of Finance Abdou Kolley, who had just been axed a few days earlier, did not only make history by resurfacing after only about six days of moaning, but he came with an altogether new additional portfolio. It seems that Yahya Jammeh just jumps up over a night and creates portfolios. How that fit in our ‘democracy’ only God knows.
Besides, how on earth can the case of Mr Kolley be explained? Clearly he wasn’t sacked because he was corrupt; and certainly not because of incompetence either, otherwise he wouldn’t have been reappointed by Jammeh. So then why was Mr Kolley sacked in the first place?
Another convoluted mystery is on the case of Dr Njogu Bah. Just a day after he was sworn in, by Yahya Jammeh himself, as Deputy Minister of Works, Construction and Infrastructure, Bah was appointed Minister of Trade and Employment. Obviously, it took Jammeh only one night to decide on something as crucial as appointing a minister. If this is the pattern in all his appointment decisions, then it clearly explains OJ Jallow’s point on the reason why the president always appears to get the wrong people around him.
In essence, President Yahya Jammeh’s performance especially within the last few weeks has helped raised more questions about his state of mind – vis-à-vis his level of fitness to rule the country – than anything else. And, as you would expect, already questions are being asked; could this possibly be just one such perfectly calculated move to have the entirety of the Gambian population preoccupied while another stage-managed coup is exploited to garner more sympathy for the clearly perturbed government? Or was there actually a coup?
In any case, this latest development puts the fifteen year old AFPRC/APRC government in a bad light. While we must be careful not to jump the gun and brush aside the government’s claim, it is noteworthy that given its performance within these past fifteen years, its unpopularity among the security, as suggested by the frequency in coup plots, highlights the case of ‘He who lives by the sword, dies by it.’
When General Lang Tombong Tamba was fired from his position as Chief of Defense Staff, some six months back, the immediate justification Gambians were tacitly given was that he had embezzled funds meant for the military. GRTS practically invaded the privacy of the families of the country’s security personnel in a bid to convince Gambians about the grungy lives the men and women in uniform and their families lived in military barracks. If that move was aimed at indicting the sacked army General, who was effectively only the deputy to Yahya Jammeh who is the minister of defense, then the aim was clearly achieved. Because opinion on the issue was divided over the fate of a man who had fallen victim of a system he inherited. That has been the trend in Gambian politics within the last one and a half decade. As soon as you fall out with Jammeh, you are the enemy of the Gambian nation.
But make no mistake, there is a sizable few that couldn’t be totally drawn away from the shiftiness of the latest coup story. There are so many unanswered questions that make it more like the fairytale it is increasingly appearing to many people who refuse to accept the reality of the story. Not only that the charge sheet revealed a miserably deficient performance on the part of the prosecution, but also the thought of the men in question failing to succeed in executing such a mission is just hard to believe in itself.
But most importantly, the unlikely composition of the coup plotters makes it all the more an unconvincing case. The charge sheet produced by the Gambian government did not only indicate that the two obvious bitter foes (Lt General Lang Tombong Tamba and Colonel Ndour Cham) were involved in the latest coup, but it stated that they were part of a group of security men and civilians who met at the house of Tamba, to plan the coup.
In the aftermath of the March 2006 alleged coup, Gambians were told that Col. Ndour Cham, the supposed ring leader, had fled the country, and that he was believed to be in neighboring Senegal. And actually there was every reason to believe that he was indeed in Senegal. At the beginning of the trial in the latest alleged coup attempt, the prosecution requested that the names of two suspects, one of whom was the very same Col. Ndour Cham, be removed from the list of accused as they were out of reach and would be dealt with as soon as the state got hold of them.
Many people would have accepted, with some measure of doubts though, that there were plans to overthrow a government which increasingly appears to be immune from any form of military take over, especially given its impressive record of foiling them by suppressing them from the bud. But the thought of Lang Tombong Tamba conniving with Ndure Cham, the man whose alleged 2006 coup bid the former helped thwarted, is incredible. And the total absence of references to the fugitive former army chief in testimonies in the on going trial all the more reinforces the belief that Colonel Cham’s addition to the list was another grave missed calculation on the part of the prosecution. If Ndour Cham managed to enter Gambia purposely to discuss a coup plot with the man who foiled his last coup attempt, what could have prevented him from entering a less secure Guinea Bissau to work with his alleged accomplices?
How could Ndour Cham have been entering the Gambia to attend such meetings if, as it obviously is the case, he had fled the country after failing in his alleged 2006 coup bid? Could Senegal, which has been blamed on countless occasions for hosting the Colonel, have been naïve enough to allow him go in and out through its territory?
As if to compound the surging suspicion surrounding the whole story, the prosecution’s principal witness, Ebrima Marreh, a highly questionable character by every indication, mentioned Colonel Ndure Cham as one of the men who actually met at Lang Tombong Tamba’s house. Marreh went on to name former CDS Tamba as the head of the alleged coup, contradicting earlier report, based on the official version of the government’s claim, which came in the form of a press release from the Gambian Justice Ministry, aired on the Gambia Radio and Television Services (GRTS), that Brigadier General Omar Bun Mbye was the ‘ring leader’ of the alleged coup.
Clearly with all the time the prosecution had, they could not come up with a consistent account between them and their principal witness, who happens to be an estranged foster son to the alleged coup leader. Not only have Marreh’s accounts suggested strong inconsistencies, but his demeanor in court, as he gave his testimony, is suggestive of him having been guaranteed a pay off. As a matter of fact, if anything, Mr Marreh should himself be answering to treason charges for not informing the authorities while all this while he saw Colonel Ndure Cham, at the time the most wanted person by the Gambian government, meeting with General Tamba at his house. That is nothing short of conspiracy to treason. He is more dangerous to Gambia than a convicted General Tamba and co.
But again, how foolish could someone in the person of Lang Tombong Tamba have been, a whole Lt. General, someone so much trusted by Yahya Jammeh to the point of making him the most decorated security officer in Gambian history, to have included a school boy in a plot to overthrow a government like that of Commander in Chief Yahya Jammeh! Or are we to accept what they say just as they unfold?
Jollofnews Poll
Who do you think should be the next President of The Gambia?
Follow us on Twitter
-
Signs of Tunisia recovery; Europe weighs: IMFWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tunisia's economy is showing signs of revival after popular protests last year...
-
Bristol Rovers Speed Merchant Could Be Racing To Posh(GamSports) – Peterborough United are thought to be one of a number of Championship sides...
Comments
The heading & analysis said it all for it just can't be said better.Gambians are just staring a mentally challenged leader in his true-colour at the helm. Unless we are able to get rid of him at all cost, our predicaments are here to stay. Let's make no mistakes/fools of ourselves.
RSS feed for comments to this post.