By Plarke M. Caneckouteh, London, UK
President Jammeh Is Gambia’s HIV Virus
I think any meaningful Gambian, no matter your political persuasions, should be convinced by now that the present regime has reached a state of decadence. Those trying to sustain the regime know it themselves, that the manner the country is being run is not healthy and it is just a matter of time that it will face a total collapse.
Development is not all about building giant infrastructures such as roads, hospitals and schools, it also embraces how people live and interact in that society. It is good that we have a university, the schools, the hospitals and health centres as places for providing social services but it is also disturbing to rule your own brothers and sisters with sword and blood all the time. This is not development; and no theory ever existed to promote that type of development. In fact, people will be served in those infrastructures if they have peace, love and freedom to express their opinions. Development entails a lot and it cannot all be discussed in this letter.
President Jammeh has turned himself into a brute whose motives are beyond comprehension. Since he came to power the country has experienced bloodshed constantly and he has succeeded in instilling constant fear to the point that people no longer trust each other. This is not what Gambia was known for. The Gambia that I grew up was well reputed for smiles, tolerance, peace, friendliness and good neighbourliness. That was why we have been peaceful and stable through the turbulent period in the West African zone. It was the only country without any major crisis during eras of the Taylors and Sankohs. We became the only haven in the region despite our poverty. We could welcome anybody who loves to live with us. This virtue has paid off and anywhere you go to in the world, The Gambia was praised as a nice and peace loving country. We couldn’t even be compared to our immediate neighbours. Then how on earth should we just stand aside to allow this half-baked soldier to rob us of our great values and integrity? How can the Heaven of the world be turned into Hell overnight by a stupid brute that cannot speak his own language properly? Why should we be so naïve to believe that God has brought the idiot as our saviour? Mr. Sankareh, I cannot understand and I will never understand. The Kanilai wrestler has fabricated coups upon coups just to eliminate innocent souls gradually and we are standing idly watching him. What is wrong with us? Yahya Jammeh is just like the HIV virus; he is claiming to have a cure for. We are allowing him to finish us slowly and gradually. He is a dangerous “clever idiot” who is pursuing his evil deeds with fire and honey. He uses people, frames them and kills them. He is a real monster that we should not joke about. This is the hour we have to stand up and boot him out. This is the time to cleanse that nation and restore its dignity. No jokes. We need a forum of mature and responsible Gambians in or outside The Gambia to get the idiot out once and for all. This is the hour!!!
Imagine, Sankareh, what is going on now. A President turning to be a witch doctor!! A President calling a meeting to declare that he has been mandated to participate in curing HIV/AIDS!!! Who mandated him? Which Constitution has given him that power??? I know and appreciate traditional healers in Africa. They are all over and they are doing wonderful work within their limits. It is not strange to any African; but we all know what they can do and what they cannot. We should not be fools!! I respect them because they are part of Africa’s socio-cultural set up but not the likes of Jammeh. He has nothing. I Know that. It is no hidden secret that some of the Jammehs in Kanilai cure broken bones but not AIDS. The guy is nothing but a liar and a bigot. He is the worst coward you ever see. All what is under his grand boubou is jujus from his marabouts of any walks of life. They may not all be marabouts from his tribe. After all, we all know these marabouts and their limitations. He is zero and because of that fear he chooses to be a brute and a killer to maintain his position. Sankareh, you a historian, you know how despots and tyrants try to maintain power. So this is what he is desperately doing now.
But what shock me most are the behaviours of the Cabinet and members of the National Assembly. How can the so-called Parliamentarians and Secretaries of State sit down to condone the garbage from Yahya that he can cure HIV/AIDS? What are they afraid of? They fear to lose their positions and salaries? What are the roles of NAMs? Is it not to prevent national disaster like this one, which is about to happen? Can’t they openly tell the man the truth? Can they tell Jammeh to stop interfering with the health of the unfortunate victims? What is their worth? It is not only maddening but also equally saddening and devastating. It is disgusting to hear the fool claiming to be a doctor who can cure AIDS in The Gambia!!!! I think it was a big mistake for St. Mary’s University to award him an honorary doctorate degree. Being the fool he is, Jammeh thinks he now has the know-how to treat people. This is the problem with half-baked people. They are worst than those who could not go to school at all especially, when given power. Samuel Doe, Idi Amin, Emperor Bokassa are rude reminders for Africans. History never fails us; it’s we who always fail to learn the lessons it provides. It is a disgrace to talk about it to any sensible person on this planet. For me, I don’t even mention Jammeh’s proclaimed mandate to anybody who is non-Gambia for fear of being ridiculed.
More disappointing of late has been the rhetoric from the ceremonial Vice President, Isatou Njie-Saidy a mother, who described Jammeh’s purported ability to cure AIDS as “a timely intervention.” Anyway, since I have great respect for her, I suggest that she resigns to save her dignity and uphold her integrity people have for her. She should not allow herself to be caught off guard. The sooner she resigns, the better for her and family. Madam VP do not allow yourself to be pointed at as those with stains.
The worst ones are those at the Department of Health especially, the SOS for Health and those medical practitioners at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH). They are terrible and are shameless to endorse what is going on in their area. It is an insult to their profession. What are they waiting for? What do they fear? They should be tendering their resignation letters in protest of what is happening to their profession. Are they not qualified medical personnel? I was shocked when I read the comments of one of them. It was so hypocritical that you can imagine a trained doctor making those comments. These people are not only enemies of the state but also enemies of their own families.
Sankareh, imagine if some of the patients that may undergo Yahya’s treatment are declared free from the illness, should return to their communities, convinced that they are safe and start having unprotected sex. What would happen? Imagine the gravity of the repercussion!! So we are in serious trouble in all fronts. Our so-called parliamentarians, legislators and doctors have terribly failed us. They are failing us to the point that their irresponsible actions can annihilate the whole country. Sorry to go that far, but I am concerned and something must be done to stop the madness. Our Cabinet and civil service are nothing but a disappointment. They are so selfish to the point of being blind of what is destroying them. They behave as if they do not belong to the country. Everybody is just after his/her pocket to the extent of hanging himself or herself. Beloved Gambia I am sorry. If I were one of them, I would have tendered my resignation because I prefer dignity in poverty than riches in slavery as Saikou Toure eloquently put it to the French colonialists. Some of them are fearful that Jammeh can do anything to them. He may bully some of his SOS so badly yet none of them raise a word of protest. Gambia, in terms of administration, has retreated to the Stone Age.
I am sorry to appear very radical and sentimental on certain issues. But I only feel betrayed by my fellow citizens especially, Gambian graduates and intellectuals. They are boot licking the idiot that they can teach for the next twenty years!!! They behave, as they cannot stand by themselves. They are only mourning. If this is how things will continue, I am sorry for my fellow graduates for letting down the country by being stooges to the devilish idiot.
Sincere,
Plarke M. Caneckouteh
London, UK