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The Gambia: Yahya Jammeh MUST GO
Monday, 28 February 2011 00:37
By Mathew K JallowGood morning fellow Gambians wherever you are around the world; at home and abroad. A few days ago I granted an interview to Freedom radio in which I answered a few questions on issues relating to our country. I also dealt with other issues which were of far less significance to our collective interest. Today, I will endeavor to dwell entirely on the dire situation our country has faced for the past sixteen years under Yahya Jammeh’s reign. By now everyone in the country is aware of what is taking place in the Arab countries to our north. From Tunisia to Yemen, in more than half a dozen countries, the people in
cooperation their militaries, have risen up to demand changes of regimes, which for decades had incarcerated, tortured, killed, executed and treated their citizens like slaves. What is happening in those countries is important and relevant to us in The Gambia, because one of the countries affected is Libya, where Moumar Khadafy has ruled like a monarch for forty-two years. During this period, he controlled the life of every Libyan; arresting, detaining, torturing, incarcerating and executing the good people of that country. If this seems familiar to you fellow Gambians it is because Col. Khadafy is Yahya Jammeh’s role model and mentor. Yahya Jammeh has copied the way Khadafy has ruled his country and he has imposed that same kind of misery and suffering on the people of our beloved country. But today, as we speak, Col. Khadafy who welded so much power that his mere presence made people tremble with fear, is holed up somewhere in his capital, scared to come out into the streets as the people he brutalized and tormented for the past four decades are fighting to rid their country of his brutal regime. His capital Tripoli is surrounded and only a few loyalists belonging to his tribe and paid foreign mercenaries from Sub-Saharan Africa are fighting a losing war to regain control of the country. Like Libya, we must rise up to get rid of Yahya Jammeh, who for the past sixteen years has ruled exactly like his mentor, Col. Khadafy. For like Col. Khadafy, Jammeh is realizing rather too late that power belongs to the people. It is the people who through their votes gave Yahya Jammeh the power he has abused so miserably for the past sixteen years. It therefore stands to reason that as Col. Moumar Khadafy goes, so also must his most ardent disciple; Yahya Jammeh GO. For like the peoples and the countries all across North Africa and the Middle -East, the time has come for us to take back our country from the tyranny of Yahya Jammeh.
Fellow Gambians, it is time that we shed our fears and tell Yahya Jammeh we can no longer bear the burden he has put on us all these years. We demand the freedom to go about our business in our communities and in own country without fear and without being stopped at endless check points. We demand the ability to live our lives without looking over our shoulders to see who is listening or following us. We do not deserve the endless arrests and detention and incarceration without cause. We do not deserve to be dragged into the courts and thrown in prison for no justifiable reason. And we demand that our inalienable rights, guaranteed by our laws and our Constitution be respected. But above all, we demand that Yahya Jammeh step down NOW without any precondition. The three electoral terms he has served are more than enough. We do not want another fraudulent election which we know for certain he is not going to lose. But more importantly we must not extend his brutal reign by even one more day.
Fellow Gambians, we cannot afford another five more years of Yahya Jammeh; another five years of the same; the arrests and detentions that know no end, the endless court cases designed solely to intimidate and control our people; the murders and forced disappearance of our fellow citizens. If the tortures, the incarcerations, the murders and the endemic corruption are to stop, Yahya Jammeh must follow Khadafy, and Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak and others dictators who were overthrown in the recent past. My friends, Yahya Jammeh MUST go. For far too long we have lived in fear of one individual; lived in a situation where one individual; Yahya Jammeh, has behaved like a mad monarch.
In our country today, Yahya Jammeh owns everything. He owns the government; hiring and firing civil servants at a whim; he owns the country’s Central Bank wasting our money like a drunken sailor; he owns para-statals such as Gamtel/Gamcel, the Ports Authority and the Customs and Excise, which serve to fulfill his every financial need; from lavish parties in Kanilai to the wasteful spending sprees in high-end New York boutiques while most Gambian families struggle to put food on the table for their children. He owns the people, intimidating our military, civil servants and people around our country to work as slaves on hundreds of farms established for him by divisional Commissioners around the country. Additionally, Yahya Jammeh, contrary to the laws of our country and our Constitution, is involved in many businesses endeavors, undermining our economy and depressing the business climate in the country. And for the past sixteen years we had a one-man government and Yahya Jammeh makes decisions for the one and half million of our country entirely all by himself.
Fellow Gambians, the time has come for us to get the government we deserve, where people across the country can come together through their elected representatives to deliberate passionately about the needs of our people and work towards fulfilling their aspirations and needs; a government that will serve the interest of all Gambians; not just the few. The people’s revolution that forced Tunisian President Ben Ali to gather his family at the dead of night and flee to Saudi Arabia was sparked by an extraordinary street vendor called Mohamed Bouazizi. The peoples’ revolution that forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to hand over power was instigated by the youth who drew inspiration from the Tunisian people. The people’s revolution that will see Col. Moumar Khadafy, Yahya Jammeh’s friend and mentor driven from power, was sparked by Libya’s professionals; lawyers, doctors, journalists and human right activities who for years have demanded the regime of Col. Khadafy respect the human and civil rights of Libyans. But Col. Khadafy had refused to listen to the cries of his people for forty-two long years. In our country, Yahya Jammeh is doing exactly what Col. Khadafy has done to his people, and for more than fifteen years, he has refused to heed the pain and suffering he is inflicting on our people. It is time we as a country rise up against the brutal regime of Yahya Jammeh. To this effect, I will now address specific groups in our country.
First to the youth of our country: Organize yourselves into small groups of three to five trusted friends and help jump-start The Gambia’s people’s revolution. Tear down Yahya Jammeh’s posters wherever you see them on the streets of our cities and towns. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing; whether you are an unemployed youth, a street vendor, in secondary or high school, in college or at the university, take it upon your selves to spread the message and help lead the revolution to free our country from sixteen years of dictatorship, corruption, murders and executions. Remember the future we are trying to secure belongs to you. For what happens in our country today, will affect you for generations to come. Above all, work together and give no consideration whatsoever to tribe, regional origin and other differenciating social and economic barriers.
To the Gambian military: This is your moment. This is your time to help restore sanity to our country; to end the constant arrests and detentions that know no end; to stop the madness of dragging fellow Gambians into court and incarcerating them over false charges; to protect and serve your country in fulfillment of the purpose for which you took an Oaths as our country’s military or security officers. If we as a country are to live in a free society, Yahya Jammeh must GO and he must go NOW, so that we can once again reestablish a government not of a one-man, but of a people. As the protectors of our country, you as our military and security forces, have failed miserably in your obligation to our country. Today, you are faced with an old, new challenge which offers the best opportunity to serve your fellow countrymen and women and in so doing relieve them of the heavy burden they have carried on their backs for the past sixteen years. Look around you into the faces of your fellow citizens; see the fear in their eyes, the hardship and misery they face all around you, and ask yourselves if this is what you want for your country and your people. Is it this fear and misery that all of you took an Oath to protect? More than anyone else, you have the best opportunity to undertake undercover activities that challenge this murderous regime. Tear down Yahya Jammeh’s posters wherever you see them among other things. This would be a small, but a very significant gesture of defiance. The time to act is here again and the people of our country expect you not to fail them another time.
To the lawyers, journalists, doctors, politicians, members of the civil service and other professionals: The Gambia is at a cross-road due to what is happening across the Arab world. The past decade and half has seen the horrible erosion of civil and human rights manifesting in the arrests, detentions, murders, forced disappearances, incarcerations and untold stories of horror the people of our country have to endure everyday. Despite the gross and criminal abuse of state power, collectively we have been unable to respond to the dire situation faced by our country, and so the atrocities continued to this day. Today, we have an opportunity to challenge the fear-induced complacency and indifference that has rendered us incapable of rising up to the challenges of our times; to demand freedom and liberty for our countrymen and women. Everyone has a role to play and the educated class in particular, must be a role model for the rest of the population. It is time that we take the lead and move our country from a point where we are seen to take concrete action to remove the cancer in our midst; Yahya Jammeh and the regime that has held our country hostage for the past sixteen years.
To the women of our country: The time has come to wake up and look around you. Think of what is important to your children’s future. Yahya Jammeh’s women empowerment is a charade done only for his political interest. Jammeh professes to have your best interest, but he will turn around and arrest, torture, incarcerate and murder your sons, husband, fathers and uncles. Over the years, Yahya Jammeh has tried to separate you our women from your men-folk, and many of you have followed his lead without giving thought to the consequences of your actions. It is your sons, daughters, aunts, wives, husbands, uncles and family members of you and your fellow women who are arrested, imprisoned and murdered over and over again. Just because it has not happened to you family yet, it does not mean you ought not care about the pain of other women. There are hundreds of Gambian families and thousands of Gambians who have lost a family member to murder, disappearance and incarceration by Yahya Jammeh’s regime. If it has not happened to you yet, it does not mean it will not happen to your family, friend, neighbor or some one you know. Is this the kind of Gambia you want your children and grand-children, brother and sisters to grow up in?
To wrap up, my fellow Gambians, the time has come for us to look up north to the Arab world in order to take back our country. We must resolve to finally rid our country of Yahya Jammeh. Yahya Jammeh MUST GO. And the military working with the suffering people of our country can make that happen. But more importantly, we must make it happen. Sixteen years of Yahya Jammeh’s reign is enough already. Yahya Jammeh has said that his friend, mentor and role-model Col Maumar Khadafy must step down. He is right. But now The Gambian people want him to step down too or be forced to. We do not want anymore elections. We want Yahya Jammeh OUT. The time for our people and our military to step up and save our country is NOW.
After my very impromptu radio interview debut on Freedom radio this week, some asked sarcastically why I would not come home and lead an uprising against Yahya Jammeh; implying that I will be arrested upon landing at the airport and nothing will come out of it. That may be true, but I think there are enough capable people in our country who can also take leadership in this noble cause, not the least some members of our military. We must shake off our fears of Yahya Jammeh, a man who by himself is totally and utterly powerless. Thank you for listening fellow Gambians. And God Bless and save our beloved country; The Gambia.
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Comments
It is the same John F Kennedy who said 'Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism'. Unfortnately, the man in charge of Gambia doesn't recognise that...and by the way, both Gandhi and Dr King faced people more humane than this man in banjul...
Fanny, what would you have said to Deyda Hydara, Lawyer SIllah and the many who have gone missing without trace?
You people have to be sincere with your consciences. The evil here is Jammeh, not anyone...Not Jallow, not me, but Jammeh and you who ignore his acts.
Advocate for what is right. I just want to give you a feedback on how you can help your country. Go home on your vacations, volunteer in hospitals, schools, assist your fellow Gambians with medical supplies, books, and writing positive articles rather than "blunt rudeness" trust me it makes a difference.The human mind is powerful. It is not right to instigate "violence" Former U.S president Kennedy, said it best " ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." With that said, I ask that you go home, declare yourself a presidential candidate, let us know what you can do for Gambia and its people. Jallow if you have what it takes, I will give you my vote! Ghandi and Dr. King, are great examples of how to bring about change peacefully.
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