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The National Assembly blinks; shamefully
Saturday, 05 February 2011 14:24
By Mathew K JallowThe ostentatious show of what in hindsight now seems like political bravado was an ambitious departure from the political norm. In a way, the move was a latent, yet innocuous display of political independence, which elicited the mortifying ire of Yahya Jammeh. But the dye was cast, and for once, the status quo was stood up to in a way that threatened, or at the minimum challenged, Jammeh’s hold on absolute power. By all accounts, it was only a small but extemporaneous challenge to a history of chronic political powerlessness; a brave move arguably made to
compensate for years of political complacency and neglect. But if our National Assembly hoped to burnish its chauvinist image in order to secure its rightful place on the good side of The Gambia’s history, their conspicuous act of independence turned out to be but an ephemeral taste of political liberty. After all these years, the National Assembly failed to contend with the eccentricity and craziness of their all-powerful demigod; Yahya Jammeh, and they paid dearly for it with their prides and egos bruised by Jammeh’s retributive justice. This was exemplified by the National Assembly’s recent handling of the GNOC case in relation to Sports Minister Sheriff Gomez, a move which touched on Jammeh’s raw nerves and quickly degenerated into a bruising exhibition of totalitarian bigotry. Yet what no one saw coming was the ignominious apology letter the so-called House Speaker wrote to appease Yahya Jammeh’s furious blowback. In their disgraceful letter pot-marked with spelling and grammatical errors, the National Assembly members in their contrite apology to Yahya Jammeh, shamed both the institution they represent and the Gambian people; to once again recoil into the ruinous apathy and indifference that has brought us to this level of political tyranny. In the space of a few days, the National Assembly oscillated from its exceptionally diligent handling of the GNOC case, to extending an undeserved apology to Yahya Jammeh for merely performing their mandates as our elected legislative body. By their apology, the Assembly once again retreated into its comfort zone; a place of darkness and ignorance characterized by fear and political ambivalence, and in so doing, left the art of misgoverning to the tyranny and unpredictable savagery of Yahya Jammeh. In every way one looks at it, their apology was unprecedented both in character and tone, and serves only to consolidate Yahya Jammeh’s unchecked power and vulgar disposition. At a time when the Middle-East and North Africa are literally on fire, demanding political transformation and human rights and civil liberties, one would think Gambians would be motivated to capitalize on the political momentum in North Africa and replicate the acts of bravery and sacrifice exhibited by ordinary people across the Maghreb and elsewhere. But once again, Yahya Jammeh’s idiosyncrasies won out, a matter that serves not only as a warning to our docile legislators, but will force Assembly members to editorialize and self-censure their actions and activities moving forward. Yet despite it awkward nature, the National Assembly’s apology was hardly surprising, considering the intellectual caliber of most of the members who sit as our representatives in that sacred institution of ours. Over the past decade and half, members of this august body, have individually and collectively, consciously and inadvertently, helped underwrite the policies that have made Yahya Jammeh’s power grab possible, by consistently conceding to his injurious demands and turning a blind eye to his considerable failures of leadership and criminal abuse of power; two hallmarks of this criminal regime. To many, this new saga is only a small reminder that the best days of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship are incomparable to the worst memories of Sir Dawda Jawara’s long reign; an indisputable reality that brings to mind the late House Speakers; Sir Alieu Jack and Momodou B Njie (BP), whose intellectual maturity, charisma and nobility contrast sharply with the boorishness and ignorance of the new Speaker at the helm of our National Assembly. No one can imagine a scenario under which these gentlemen, these models of citizenship, these embodiments of grace and integrity, in their time, and in their capacities as House Speakers, would be forced to write humiliating letters of apology to Sir. Dawda. Their prides dictated that they would rather resign than submit to fear, shame and ridicule; they would choose integrity over material rewards, conviction over the perceptible lack of moral resolve. After all these years, Jammeh has become accustomed to having his way with the National Assembly, and now the body elected to represent the voices and interests of the people, has metastasized into a purposeless institution maligned into irrelevance and redundancy. Everything the National Assembly has done to date militates against the enforcement of our laws and Constitution, having methodically undermined the hopes and aspirations of our people. The National Assembly’s morbid display of cowardice in the face of everything that has happened in our country is to some degree responsible for the obsequious political quandary into which our country has descended. Beyond that, Yahya Jammeh appears to have demanded that the apology letter he ordered written, be published in the open press to further maximize the humiliation of House members, and to prove to the Assembly who is in-charge, and in so doing, he has effectively forced Assembly members to acquiesce to his orders in order to mitigate the retribution and sanctions he would otherwise impose on them. In its generality, this saga further underscores the moral weaknesses and political immaturity of the Assembly representatives as a body, two essential underpinnings of an effective representation of our people to that discredited legislative body. And judging from the reactions of the press and Gambians in general, everyone appears miffed and disillusioned by the apology as patently wrong, which apart from consolidating Yahya Jammeh’s power; will create the conditions for further erosion of the National Assembly’s Constitutional authority. But despite his unspoken threats, Yahya Jammeh has no power under our Constitution to remove an elected National Assembly member, on the contrary, members are empowered by our Constitution to remove him if he can be remotely linked any of the murders, tortures and disappearances,; either by ordering them, authorizing them or participating in their execution. But for now, it is a misnomer to call the letter to Jammeh an apology; rather, it represents a remarkable surrender of the National Assembly’s authority and a further weakening of our system of government. The apology letter was surreal, a new first, a new descent into political morbidity, and an act of small-mindedness and defeatism that will further engender the political schism in our country. And as Gambians go through the grit, gristle and grime of everyday life; a life intermittently punctuated by murders of innocent citizens, there still are no demonstrable indications that Yahya Jammeh’s regime will change its ways, but for the people of our country, the fundamental crucible is how much longer must we continue to endure the deaths and dying, the misery and hopelessness, the agony and helplessness, and this abominable nightmare that is Yahya Jammeh. For truth be told, Yahya Jammeh has so efficiently emasculated the National Assembly, reduced the judiciary system into a mere circus, and sapped the life out of the superfluous political establishment, and as worrisome as this may seem now, we as a country will be burdened by the emotional heft this will leave in our minds for a long time. As of now, only a popular revolution or a military revolt will save our country from the despicable journey down a ruinous path of destruction and social anarchy. To save our country from the chaos below the horizon, Yahya Jammeh must go while we can still control and manage the emotional outrage that has been building up in the hearts and minds of our brutalized countrymen. And the time for Jammeh to go was YESTERDAY; and not today, not even tomorrow.
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