By Mathew K. Jallow, Associate Editor
Over the past few days, things seem to be happening at (home) a dizzying speed. However, a lot of the news that could potentially grab the headlines were buried under the weight of the Edward Singateh spell, news to which everyone seemed transfixed, and with good reason. The events that have transpired over the past two weeks mirror the state of our country, or rather, the unsettling social, economic and security issues that has pervaded Gambian society.
Senegambia News
This morning I woke up to the not unexpected arrest of
Edward Singateh. The embattled Singateh has seen his
luck run out over the past several weeks following the
revelations of his murderous spree during the thirteen
years of Jammeh's reign of terror. The man, who wielded
so much power, and never once used it sparingly, has
seen his downfall so suddenly and so unpredictably.
Over the years, Singateh successfully baffled most
Gambians by his quite demeanor and his ability to
project an image of himself as a man of the people.
But looks alone can be deceiving, and the once powerful
Singateh has proven that. The mightier they are, the harder they fall.
The revelations that some of our farmers are still
owed monies from their 2006 harvest is unconscionable.
This is the equivalent of not paying a Secretary of
State for one full year. How does the government
expect these poor farmers to take care of their
families? The monies owed to farmers in Sandu
totaling 174,203 Dalasis is too much for the
government to simply turn their face away from
especially when Yahya Jammeh gave one griot more than
150.000 Dalasis for just singing praises to him. Under
these circumstances, trying to ignore the plight of
the farmers is tantamount to criminal behavior.
Quietly and without much fanfare the death of
one of our most venerable musicians, Laba Sosseh came to pass, and not surprisingly, it did not elicit much media coverage and understandably so. Many of those practicing in the media, and I am guessing here, probably don't know
much about the man. Before Youssou Ndure, before
Ifangbondi, before my friend good Abdel Kabirr, and
before Gelewar, there was the mighty LABA. He started
a cultural revolution that swept across Senegal and
Gambia, and since he came to the scene, Senegambian
music has never been the same again. Growing up, I
remember his music, and the trademark Afro beats he
popularized. And how could we not learn to dance to
the only music we knew as young boys, teenagers and
young adolescents? Laba Sosseh, the Gambian who
started the Cultural Revolution that forever changed
Senegal and The Gambia. The Senegalese loved
him but they went further; they “snatched” him from us. And truth be told, Laba Sosseh too so loved Senegal, that he became one with it. And he swore to it too.
The Gambia Journal.
Abdoulie Wade's message to Jammeh is the markof a man who knows his way around the complex world of politics. For Wade to demand the releaseof MFDC rebels who are fighting his government shows how mature he is, but also how comfortable he feels about himself and his government. Everyonewho feels threatened by their own political adequacies like Jammeh is, will resort to brutality. Another President would have asked to have preferred that his political opponents remain jailed for as long as possible. Wade's demands would of course baffle Jammeh, who understands neither the color of sympathy nor the shades of compassion.
Jammeh's new initiative, Community Doctors, grew out of the arbitrary, impulsive, emotional and perhaps delusional way he tackles or makes decisions about everything. For Jammeh, nothing is thought out in a clear, concise and logical way. The art and science of planning is alien to him and his government, and so is the need for evaluation and accountability. The Community Doctors program, like his HIV/AIDS and Asthma campaign of a few months ago, will die a natural death sooner rather than later.
Three months from now, we will not be hearing a thing about it. Besides, personally, the Cuban doctors scare me to death, and we should never have brought them over to play guinea-pig with the lives of our people. God only knows how many people have died after being operated on by these experimenting medical mercenaries.
Freedom Newspaper.
I have a feeling that Babucarr Sankanu is either still composing one of his endless diatribes or he has finally found his match. Personally, at first I took Sankanu seriously, but after reading several of his purposeless and spineless thesis about Jammeh and of course his favorite subject; the griot Fatou Jahumpa-Ceesay, it dawned on me that there was a comic out there, and his name is Babucarr Sankanu. In fact, another person and myself never fail to laugh our hearts out over the phone when we read some of what Sankanu says.Sankanu might not be a bad guy, but he sure as hell is wrong to appease the murderer Yahya Jammeh. To do that is to upset Gambians; I mean every Gambian.
The arrests and release of Mam Sait and the continued detention of Malick Jones has many Gambians talking and wandering, but like Singateh, both Mam Sait and Malick Jones are getting little or nor sympathy. These are people who have executed Jammeh's dirty deeds, and it is for this reason Gambians are now looking the other way as all three do battle with the demons of Yahya Jammeh. In any way one looks at it, this is the continuing tragedyof Yahya Jammeh's legacy, and deep down, many of us are not gloating over the demise of these bad boys of Yahya Jammeh.
The Point.
The latest Cabinet reshuffle may be an attempt by Jammeh to deflect attention from his troubles, but also to make right a deterioting situation. But this is perhaps too little too late. The damage has been done, and the genie cannot be put back into the bottle. There is only one solution; the immediate resignation of the Jammeh regime, and the restoration of a Democratic Government. We have a cadre of well qualified Gambians to take over the government for a period of exactly only 5 years to restore democracy and allow political parties to build themselves and grow to contest the freest and fairest Elections ever held on the African continent.
My own partial list of ideal Cabinet names are:
B.B. Dabo (United Nations).........President-in-Waiting
Sidi M. Sanneh (Senegal)..........Central Bank Governor.
Sajo Jallow (Sweden)........Finance/Banking
Dave Manneh (U.K)..........Technology Development (New)
Dr. Abdoulaye Saine (U.S)...............Foreign Affairs
Mbye Baboucarr Sarr (United Nations)...Trade and Economic Dev.
Hassan Jallow (United Nations)........Chief Justice, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda (United Nations)....Attorney General
Dr. Seedat Yaffa (U.S.)...............Agriculture
Ms. Mariam Denton (Gambia)............... D.P.P.
Dr. Pap John Williams (United Nations)....Health and Welfare
Dr. Saba Jallow (U.S.)................. Chancellor, Gambia University
Dr. Isatou Touray (Gambia)..........Rural Development (New)
Dr. Alhagie Jeng (Sweden)............Fisheries/Natural Resources
Shiek Tijan Nyang (Norway)..........Tourism/Hospitality
Mathew K Jallow...........................Secretary General/Head Civil Service
Vice President .............????????
Defence...........................?????
Homeland Security...........................???
Information and Broadcasting............???
Education.....................................?????
Local Government & Lands ............????
Youth, Sports & Culture...............????
Others.
Bakary Njie (Gambia)............Gamtel/Gamcel
Andrew Silva (Gambia).............SSHFC
Ports/Customs and Excise.............??????
Other parastatals to be filled
Ebrima Ismailia Chongan (U.K)......Inspector General of Police
U.N. Representative (New York).........
E.U. Representative (Brussels).........
Ambassadors.
United States................................
Great Britain.................................
Nigeria.........................................
Senegal......................................
Middle East.................................
China (Beijing).............................
South Africa....................................
With the level of education of this proposed Cabinet Permanent Secretaries will have a lesser burden.
Readers can suggest new names to fill various positions.
The Echo
The Echo has done a wonderful job hammering at Edward Singateh, and there is a general feeling that this has weakened Singateh and gave Jammeh the window of opportunity to do what he always wanted to do but was afraid to: fire Edward. In particular, the efforts of the brave one Officer “X” (a.k.a. OX) from our Yundum Barracks, and Mr. Samsudeen Sarr’s revelations in his book have made the difference. As of now, as Mr. Singateh languishes in jail, (based on the veracity of Senegambia News), it does not give us any pleasure, but he has enough time to reflect upon all the evil he has done, destroying families and killing and maiming innocent Gambians. Edward Singateh's litany of brutalities, and the callousness with which he executed his victims, our fellow brother Gambians, can never be forgiven. Additionally, both Senegambianews and the Gambia Journal have echoed the sentiments expressed in the Echo regarding Edward Singateh's string of murders. We would have been surprised if Britain ever gave Edward sanctuary in that country after all the murders he has committed here. Thankfully, he is now in captivity. The next person on the list is YahyaJammeh himself. He belongs to Mile II Prisons. There is no way he can separate himself from the atrocities committed by Singateh or any other member of his regime.