Commentary

 Yahya Jammeh: Stranger than Fiction

By Mathew K Jallow, Associate Editor

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh with AIDS infected patient

If any Gambian ever doubted whether Yahya Jammeh is possessed by a chronic inability to think rationally, then the events of two weeks ago ought to put their doubts to rest. But, this is hardly surprising, because throughout history, empirical evidence has shown that people, who hold and wield absolute power, have always tended towards self-destruction. With his ego saturated with conceit, Jammeh is walking along a route well traveled by previous powerful dictators like Hitler, or small-time village crooks like Jammeh himself. Dictators like Jammeh have a tendency to self-destruct, because the natural progression of holding and exercising unrestrained political power dictates it. The nature of the beast is such that Jammeh is now consumed by a false sense of invincibility, which is why he is exhibiting irrational behavior and carrying out acts that border on insanity. Jammeh has long ago lost the capacity to control the animalistic urge that will destroy him and the stolen power and glory he is basking in. For a while now, Jammeh has equated himself to the State, whose constitutional power he continues to usurp by obliterating the line that separates the power he has usurped from the state, and the power vested in our national Constitution. Today, Jammeh’s power is absolute, because when he wants anyone dead or arrested, his orders are carried out with a diligence and ruthlessness reminiscent of the Ton Ton Makuts reign of terror in Haiti in the 70s and 80s. Even after his brutal acts and orders are carried out, there is no one there to question or much less challenge the atrociousness and brutality of his commands. There is no one with the guts to use the power of our Constitution and act as Yahya Jammeh’s impediment to absolute power; not in the judiciary, not the power of the military and security forces, not the National Assembly, and certainly not among the political parties and their leaders. Today, even after more than a hundred Gambians and non-Gambians have been murdered, and an even larger number missing for years, or incarcerated in prisons deemed unfit even for animals to live in, while others are arrested, jailed and humiliated on a daily basis, not even our incompetent, unqualified and spineless bar members, judges and magistrates have the nerves to stand up to Jammeh. Yet, despite the failure of our government system, Yahya Jammeh is by every measure, his own worst enemy, and sooner or later, he will bring about his own downfall. Like the schoolyard bully who does not know when to call it quits, Jammeh lacks the will power to stop his excesses; not until someone blows his brains out of his empty skull. For a sickeningly ignorant and a regrettably uneducated animal like Yahya Jammeh, power has become the addictive antidote to his feeling of worthlessness. As this article is about to go to press, there are rumors circulating that Jammeh, accompanied paramilitary and other security contingents, has crossed over to the North Bank where they are reportedly arresting innocent Gambians from Barra and Essau and accusing them of being witches. Those arrested, most of them elderly, are being shipped across the sea to Banjul.

The firing of Fatim Badjie-Janneh and Crispin Gray-Johnson come as no surprise, because with Yahya Jammeh, always expect the unexpected. And I am not saying this as a cliché. The firing of the two ministers has occupied the airwaves for the past few days and with good reason too. But, with regard to Crispin Johnson, for all I care, he can go to hell. For him, a man who could easily be Jammeh’s father to allow himself to be used as a football by a vicious killer over all these years is beyond belief. I am, however, more sympathetic to Fatim Badjie-Janneh, for although I criticized her hiring based on tribe last year, the noticeable changes she was implementing at Gamtel were a step in the right direction for the embattled corporation. If these changes are attributed to her, then she deserved to continue re-designing Gamtel as a client-oriented service provider with an orientation towards generating profit while ensuring that Gambians are well served in a fair manner. Gamtel must operate with the brutal efficiency that we can once again be proud of, as we once did under Bakary Njie’s management all those years ago. We must recapture the old glory of Gamtel, which had made us proud of the African success story we proudly and gleefully showcased to the rest of the world. But, over the past several years, thanks to Jammeh’s meddling, Gamtel was busy replacing our old Gambia Cooperative Union as a corrupt and inefficient enterprise where people sought employment, not to serve our country, but to enrich themselves at the expense of our citizens. However, Mrs. Badgie-Janneh should be proud of her accomplishments within such a short space of time, even though I admit I do not know the internal political dynamics at play within the wall of Gamtel. Yet, whatever the dynamics, the culture there must be very poisonous after all the management and politically induced tremors of the last dozen years. When we heard that Yahya Jammeh, for his own selfish interest, was about to sell Gamtel to a Lebanese company with a dubious and questionable business record, and without the knowledge or approval of The National Assembly, the whole country rose simultaneously in an uproar of disapproval. But, what was more telling, however, was the contemptuous disregard that Jammeh showed to members of our Assembly. As far as Jammeh was concerned, they did not even exist, much less be of any consequence to provide input to what he planned to do. And then and now Jammeh is right, because the Assembly is a toothless bulldog that exists for the sole purpose of propping and propagating a false sense of democracy-at-work in our country. With the power he has at his disposal, Jammeh does not need the National Assembly for anything, because he can do whatever he wants, without anyone daring to question the wisdom, sanity and motives of his actions. What is transpiring instead is that our representatives intermittently crawl before Yahya Jammeh begging him for pennies and loose change, rather than questioning where all the millions he is wasting are coming from, and holding him to account just like every other Gambian. It is clear to every Gambian that Jammeh is the real problem, not the people he has crucified in public view ever so often. And as far as we are concerned, Mrs. Fatim Badjie-Janneh is not the problem and has never been the problem. Yahya Jammeh is. He is the real cancer in our midst.

A little more than three weeks ago, I was dumbfounded to read Jammeh’s speech at the invocation at the University of The Gambia. For Jammeh to stand before young Gambians who are the future of our country and challenge them to go to his office and complain to him about his regime” if you are brave enough,” he told them, is the height of arrogance and stupidity. But, what was most shocking was his ignorant view of the role of the university in the formation of our students as future leaders of our country. Contrary to Jammeh’s narrowly defined view, the University of The Gambia should be the training grounds for our future leaders, but especially in the field of politics. The university is the citadel of free expression and its lecture rooms must be the training grounds that prepare our young students for future life in politics. Ironically, Waa Juwara had the guts to open his loud mouth to admonish students against any political engagement. Apparently, Waa Juwara’s attempt to restrain college students from political activity is manifestation of the inferior college degree he earned from Bulgaria or Rumania. President Jawara never tried to influence the curriculum or dictate what students were permitted to learn. It did not happen then, and it should not happen now. What the university teaches and what students are taught must be left to the discretion of the university faculty and educational professionals; not Jammeh, particularly because he has no idea what university education is about. If our students fail to engage in open discussion about politics or participate in the political life of our country by educating the population through involvement in civil society organizations, they would have failed one of their most fundamental responsibilities to their country. Years ago when then Director of Education Sam Jones came to the college and ordered Habib Badjie and myself to shut down our wildly popular anti-government newspaper; The Students’ Voice, because he was embarrassed by it, we vehemently refused to comply. By the same token, Yahya Jammeh should never tell students what they are allowed to learn, because it is not for him to determine what knowledge the university chooses to impart to its students.

A few days ago, an online paper questioned why Jammeh did not stay at the African Union meeting long enough to participate in all the deliberations. Jammeh’s record with regard to international and regional meetings is abysmal, because he, I have observed, does not feel comfortable around Africa’s other leaders. He has an inferiority complex the resulting intimidation does not permit him to engage in any meaningful discussion with such luminaries as President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal or President Umaru Ya’ar Dua, Nigeria’s President. In the psychology of personality, he is exhibiting a coping mechanism psychologists refer to as “flight” as a way to deal with the stress this presents to him. 

The recent arrest and subsequent charge of Point Newspaper Manager, Pap Saine, is a continuing attempt by Yahya Jammeh to shut down dissent voices. In the recent past, Point Newspaper has carried stories of protest over the murder of Deyda Hydara, and it was the first time such a determined tone of voice has been reported in the newspapers at home. But, the concerns expressed by O.J. Jallow, Halifa and another lone voices at the National Assembly, is the right direction to move. We must not be afraid to speak truth to power, and if everyone speaks up, we will soon reach a critical mass that will be unstoppable by even the mightiest armies. Given all the power past African dictators had surrounded themselves, no one ever in a million years thought that they could be removed from power, yet one by one they have been brought down. Hussein Habre is languishing in Senegal, Nkrumah died in exile in Guinea, Idi Amin also died in exile in Saudi Arabia, Emperor Bokassa died in France, Mengestu Mariam of Ethiopia fled to Zimbabwe, Mobutu also died in exile in France, Strasser of Sierra Leone fled Sierra Leone and he is a child of the wind, a man without a country and if Charles Taylor is not executed, he will likely live in prison for the rest of his natural life. So Yahya Jammeh, your day is coming. Be afraid, be very afraid, you son of disgrace.

Some years ago, I took a taxi from London University to visit Buckingham Palace and be awed by the history that surrounds it. As always there were many tourists like me from around the world there, taking pictures, admiring and chatting to each other, all the time expecting the Queen to show up at one of the windows. And many years before that, as a hippie, hundreds of us young men and women slept of the grounds of the King’s Palace in the center of Oslo, Norway. The leaders in these countries understand that they served at the will of their people, and the palaces where they lived, were the peoples’ houses. In contrast, not long ago, we were on a sightseeing tour of Cotonou, Benin, and when we arrived at the President’s palace, our guides suddenly began to speak in hushed voices, and proceeded to instruct not to point towards the palace. The demeanor of our guides betrayed the palpable fear and reverence, which President Matthew Kerekou had planted in the hearts of his countrymen. This contrast in behavior between western leaders and African rulers is so unpleasantly different, that is hard to even think about without being angry. Today, Yahya Jammeh commands the same fear Matthew Kerekou did when I was in Benin in the 90s. Like Kerekou, people are now scared to mention Jammeh’s name in public, or be seen reading the Diaspora online newspapers. The question for us is, how longer must we tolerate this condescension and unseemly behavior from Yahya Jammeh?

The ongoing blockage of The Freedom Newspaper is another naked attempt by Jammeh’s regime to censure what our people read. No government should have the right to decide what people read, and certainly not a regime riddled with corruption and forever tainted by the blood of our citizens. Gambians have every right to choose to read any newspaper without Jammeh’s interference. The Freedom Newspaper, like The Gambia Echo, Senegambia News, The Gambian Journal, Allgambian.net and Gainako News, is providing public service through educating and enlightening Gambians around issues that affect their lives. But the fact that people in our country have found a way to circumvent the blockage on the Freedom Newspaper, is a testament to the fact with the internet as a new medium for disseminating information, artificial boundaries do not matter and there is always a way to go around technical blockages. So in solidarity with the Freedom Newspaper, we declare shame on you Yahya Jammeh. You are just running scared.

Finally, the notion that Gambians are obligated to attend and participate in ceremonial rituals involving Jammeh and his family members are ridiculous. The recent death of one of Jammeh’s family members, who no one knew or ever heard of, much less care about, was virtually turned into a state affair, with Cabinet members, justices and religious leaders in attendance at Kanilai. This is absurd considering the amount of fuel wasted on the never-ending journeys between Banjul and Kanilai. Moreover, Jammeh’s family must not be allowed to live on the backs of Gambians, but with the caliber of submissive leaders and elders we have in our country, I am not betting that will happen anytime soon.