July 22^nd. 1994 began like any other day. But, by mid morning, it became apparent that this was no ordinary day. Thirteen years later this week, the military take-over of our government has become the biggest blunder in Gambia’s short history. However, looking at the commercial activities in the Kombo area, it is easy to over-look what is actually not happening elsewhere around the country. As the countryside is quietly silenced by the massive migration to the Kombos, the pressure on services there is creating all kinds of problems for the population. Specifically, the influx of provincial residents to urbanized Kombo has caused an unprecedented level of unemployment, which is a harbinger of crime and social decadence. The social and economic implications of the internal displacement caused by poor public policy choices are enormous, and include among other things, the gradual death of our agricultural sector. The incentive to remain in the provinces to make a living from the land is by far outweighed by the dreams of an easier life as a vendor of small goods on the streets and in the markets of the Kombos. Consequently, without any other economic generating activity outside the Kombos, the movement of people there seems not only logical, but a foregone conclusion. The result is that rather than being invigorated, the rural countryside is falling apart. Agricultural production has fallen to an all time low, and the cattle population is being disseminated. Moreover, our villages are crumbling as donkeys and other animals that seek refuge from the hot afternoon sun overrun entire compounds that once bustled with human activity. As the shadows of silence blanket our countryside, the Kombos are teeming with humanity for who the government is unable to provide any gainful employment. The consequence is that girls who should be in school have taken over the financial burdens of providing for their families. The level of prostitution is mind boggling, but even more bothersome is the age of the young teenage girls who are forced into prostitution to help feed their fathers, mothers and siblings. For the more unfortunate families, the situation is so dire that their little children are forced to fend for themselves by foraging for leftover food at some garbage dumpsites in the tourism areas. This government that has created the conditions for this to occur, deserves to be out power.

Jammeh: Revolutionary or murderer?

                   As if the economic nightmare is not enough, this government has consistently failed to recognize that the citizens’ security is not only the most important obligation of any government, but that it is also a fundamental right of our people. Today, violent crime is the norm rather than the exception, and crimes like murders are being perpetrated on our fellow countrymen without the benefit of protection by the laws of the land. The security our people enjoyed under the previous government, today seems like only a fable from the distant past. But while the spectrum and seriousness of the crimes at the street level has skyrocketed and intensified, it is the government’s own crimes against our fellow countrymen that has left concerned people and organizations around the world gasping in incredulity. Beginning with the cruel murder of Koro Ceesay, the government of Yahya Jammeh has continued to spill the blood of the brothers, sisters, friends of many, and fathers, uncles, and sons and daughters of others. Around the country, in unmarked and unidentifiable graves, the corpses of countless number of Gambians are buried in places where they are not supposed to be discovered by their families. The regime in this sense is guilty of the murders, attempts to destroy evidence, and the concealment of evidence. To date dozens of young Gambians have met their brutal and untimely deaths at the very hands of Jammeh’s NIA and Green Boys thugs.

The Lethal Green Boys at a State Function

 Yet, this is not the end of this story as the reign of terror continues with characteristic nonchalance. In addition to all the dozens of known Gambian casualties, there is a long list of unknown ones who just simply vanished from the face of the earth after being picked up by Jammeh’s enforcers: the NIA thugs. If that were not enough, the genocidal murder of fifty-five Ghanaian nationals in cold-blood helped to seal Jammeh’s actions as crimes against humanity, which automatically make him eligible for trial in the highest court in The Hague. Last year, in an apparent attempt to provoke Senegal, Jammeh seized some Senegalese nationals on false pretences and held them unlawfully for a lengthy period of time. These acts of provocations coupled with the murder of many innocent Ghanaians, has made Jammeh an international pariah and an embarrassment to our country. Sooner rather than later, Jammeh will be unable to travel overseas as a warrant for his arrest will be issued, making his travel to very many countries risky for him.

                    But apart from the murders of Gambians and non-Gambians, our jails are full of innocent people who are there for no reason, whatsoever. Many of these have reported cases of torture, incarceration without the benefit of due process, long jail times without charges, the denial of bail contrary to what our laws stipulate, ignoring of the orders of our judges for the release of citizens held unlawfully, the list goes on. By these actions, Jammeh has demonstrated that he has no regard for our laws, and has done everything to subvert them and our Constitution. That aside, the corruption that Jammeh has introduced in our country is unprecedented in its scope and depth. Jammeh has become a one-man train wreck of corruption the like of which we have never seen in our country. As the sole employer and firer of government workers, Jammeh has taken over all the responsibilities of the Public Service Commission. In addition, in terms of providing scholarships and giving assistance to poor and needy school children and students, Jammeh has become the Education Department’s Scholarship Board, but so far all the students who benefited from his largesse, are mainly from the Fonis where he comes from. This geographic and tribal discrimination is dangerous for our country. Perhaps one of the other most disturbing aspects of Jammeh’s misrule is his misconception that he is The Gambia and The Gambia is Jammeh. He uses all the foreign assistance that has come to our country in the name of our people, as if it belongs to him personally. To make matters worst, and shamefully so, he personally receives checks hand to hand from various donors, but more specifically from Taiwan, a country that has consistently enabled and prolonged Jammeh’s reign of terror. At the time the AU was organized in Banjul last year, many countries like Senegal, and other international organizations, as well as ordinary people gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Jammeh at his State House residence, and to this day no accounting for these funds was done so that Gambians know where their money was going. Every time Jammeh organizes one of his many never ending festivals, companies and individuals in The Gambia are coerced into paying the bill. The Central Bank and other income generating governmental institutions such as Gamtel and Ports Authority are known to be Jammeh’s piggy banks. More recently, he opened an account and obliged Gambians businesses and individuals to channel funds there for his fake HIV/AIDS and Asthma cure, and Jammeh is giving away our money left, right and center to individuals who are in his good books. But all this does not include his overseas bank accounts and assets he holds outside The Gambia. The level of corruption and the absolute falling apart of the government system is beyond comprehension.

               Finally, as July 22^nd has come around again, there is no reason to celebrate. The revolution that was meant to save our country has become our biggest liability. As more and more people who ought to know begin to divulge information about this government, the horrifying truth of the illegal and criminal actions of Jammeh and his thugs is coming to light. Col. Sam Sarr’s accounts in particular, depicting the chilling and gruesome murder of Koro Ceesay is particularly disheartening. For the first time, the Singateh brothers have been convincingly tied to Jammeh’s murderous brutality, and for that there is a price to pay. We also know that Jammeh has placed the only people he trusts, his fellow tribesmen, the Jolas in every position of any consequence in the government. Positions that require a college graduate are being given to Jolas who barely graduated from high school. The Jolas either heads one government job after another or there is a Jola who is more powerful than the head, and that Jola reports directly to Jammeh. A Gambian who just this very week returned to the U.S. confided to me that his family members warned him not to say anything about Jammeh’s government for fear he may be arrested. He also added that education in general was crumbling and that children were learning nothing nowadays. He ought to know, as he too was a teacher and also a head master for many years. As Jammeh and his gang of thugs commit these nefarious acts against our people, their indulgence in celebrating July 22^nd, makes a mockery of our Constitution and the human values we hold so dear. Today the level of mediocrity in the halls of government is beyond belief, and our justice system is incapacitated in terms its ability to serve the people of our country, but especially in protecting them from the overreach of our government. Just this week, Mai Fatty, an attorney, who defended Gambians against their government, was mysteriously involved in a vehicular accident, and there is suspicion of an assassination attempt with finger pointing towards Jammeh’s thugs. Meanwhile, the trials of the former Mayor of Banjul Pa Sallah Jeng and Fatou Jaw-Manneh are being deliberately dragged in the court system to make them suffer. If this is not a travesty of justice and the denial of due process, then nothing is. Also the whereabouts of journalist Ebrima Manneh, Rambo Jatta and Kanyiba are still unknown despite the best efforts of many, including the court, which ordered the NIA to produce them. Jammeh does not feel obligated to obey the courts, which in effect makes him above the law. On this anniversary of the saddest day of our history, we should be collectively mourning for our country, not celebrating thirteen years of murder and mayhem. Copyright © 2007. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this article or any other article or image, or portions thereof, in any form or context without the expressed permission of The Gambia Echo Newspaper.