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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Momodou |
Posted - 08 Nov 2022 : 21:19:49
Not too difficult to understand…
By Mustapha-Swandi K. Darboe
Malagen
Just as recently as 2005, ex-president Yahya Jammeh ordered the killings of close to 60 West African migrants. A lot of the facts on this case would be before the TRRC. We saw how the security officers took turns to explain to us how unreasonable it was the decision to kill the migrants.
Not a single officer who testified could provide a single evidence that the migrants were armed. Not even with a cutlass.
Then think about it. Why did Jammeh kill the migrants? The answer is simple. FEAR! Jammeh may come across as a strong man or a very brave man. He wasn’t. Bravery is to overcome your fears. Not succumbed to them.
A killer is a coward for killer kills in the fear that he will otherwise be killed… But what role did the security services of the Gambia played in that killing? Everything!
Regardless of whatever they wanted us to believe before the TRRC, not a single evidence is available to show that anyone had told Jammeh that the migrants were not mercenaries. They did not carry a pen on them!
But we now know it is not too difficult to understand why Jammeh was afraid, the fear that made him a drastically irrational man. It is our police and intelligence outfit!
Take some time to read their operation plans for the November 11 planned protest. First, they don’t even know their name. They called them “Coalition of Progress”. They are Coalition of Progressive Gambians. How do you write an operations plan for a group whose name you don’t even know?
Then they went into assumptions that can only prepare a soldier for an ALIEN INVASION. They claim there is a threat that some people could cross the borderline from Casamance. Any reasonable person knows that a threat needs to be precise. You must know whatever is a potential threat to be able to make a necessary assessment.
For example, if I record a whatsapp audio and claim I want to kill the president. It will be foolish, knowing me, to arrest me for that. Even those of us who are not security officials know that a security threat assessment accounts for the circumstances, capability and ultimately the action of the person who wants to cause harm. Do I have the capacity? NO.
Nothing constitutes a threat where there is a lack of capacity! What threat is coming from Casamance? You mobilise a whole army (500 on standby) only to sit and wait for an “intrusion of borderlines by foreigners”. What is even interesting about the assumptions is this:
“Considering the newly found democracy of the post Jammeh era, the submission of the white paper by the TRRC, social disorders within the sub-region namely the recent crisis in Sierra Leone, Ghana extra (SIC) and also the creation of various WhatsApp groups and platforms for the purpose of inciting violence amongst others, there is a great tendency of an increase in criminal activities and public unrest by unscrupulous individuals who would use the space created by the above.”
Whoever wrote this does not watch television—never mind the grammar. This is the sort of sentence that makes people choke on television: unnecessarily wordy and lacking basic punctuation.
The police need not go this far in the sub-region to find cases of protest. The situation in Sierra Leone is different from Gambia in so many ways, including their past history.
We could simply focus on our own ‘3 years jotna’ protest. The folks behind the ‘3 years jotna’ were asking more than the current group of people. They were calling for the resignation of the President. These ones are asking for the president to address rising costs of living and corruption.
We had ‘3 years jotna’ protest here without descending into any violence. In fact, the violence that happened during the second protest, many observers blamed it on the conduct of the police. Before that same protest, some intelligence operatives and army officers came on GRTS to spread conspiracy theories about potential threats such a protest pose to the security of the country.
Yet, it passed. But even if we were to ready ourselves for a threat, can’t we do better than such incoherent assumptions.
- Post Jammeh era
- The submission of TRRC report
- Social disorders in Sierra Leone and Ghana
- WhatsApp groups for inciting violence
- Deportation from Europe (number?)?
Based on the above unprecise, incoherent, meaningless phrases comes this conclusion:
“There is a great tendency of an increase in criminal activities and public unrest BY UNSCRUPULOUS INDIVIDUALS who would use the space created by the above.” A reasonable person may be tempted to ask, what sort of condition existed among those mentioned above that were not here in 2017, 2018, 2019 or 2020?
The President should understand that protests, unlike anything his security forces wants to make him believe, is pro-peace. The only societies that degenerated into violence and ultimate destruction is societies that do not tolerate protest. This is because protest is a way of venting anger and frustration.
The so-called new-found democracy is not the threat to national security. The blatant oppression of rights, corruption and poverty are the threat to national security. Stop treating the symptoms. Focus on the disease Mr President. Even your security people in their operational plans are telling you there is high price of basic commodity. That is the reality in the market.
You must understand that being the president is the most difficult responsibility in the world.
You will stand before the Bearer of the Throne, Allah, to account for how you treat every Gambian. When you do, and I pray it is easy on all of us, you will explain how you establish justice under your rule, how you distribute country’s resources, how the poor people fared under your rule.
How can a journalist conclude without a story? A story was once told of Abubacarr Sidiq. One of compassion, love and honesty. While he was a leader of faith, there lived a poor, blind woman in the outskirts of Medina. She was taking care of orphans.
Sidiq, having known this, was going there after every morning prayer to be, what you may call their house maid. They didn't even know who he was. He baked their bread, washed their dishes, laundered their cloths etc. Sidiq is a man of faith. He is compassionate.
He knows that everyone deserves to not just live but have a decent shot at life. He tried to do what he could for the blind woman and children under her care. But more than anything, Abubakary knows ‘laa chira beh koleh yaa laa leh deh’. Especially for a leader. This is why after his rule, he accounts for every bututs that adds onto his wealth after he came to power, at the end of his rule and hand it to Umar.
Take a walk to the National Assembly. Behind the building is the only grave within the complex, the resting place of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara.
You will realise that in the end, no one needs too much. All ends come to one end: THE GRAVE. We all end there and the story is the same. You will be alone. No corrupt officer or security officials will be there to help you account for your deeds before the Bearer of the Throne.
May it be easy for us all! Don’t take the easy route. It ends up in a regret. |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Momodou |
Posted - 08 Nov 2022 : 21:22:22
Commentary By Madi Jobarteh
That security plan is in itself a threat to national security and democracy and a direct assault on human rights.
The authors of that plan and those who approved it must be held accountable for unprovokingly and unnecessarily causing fear and alarm. That plan is nothing but a provocation. Indeed it only shows that the security of this country are yet to know what is their job in a democratic dispensation.
It is unbelievable that the entire armed and security forces including foreign forces in ECOMIG would be mobilized for a mere peaceful protest by ordinary citizens! That operational plans exposes glaringly everything that’s wrong with this Government and that this country is doomed.
How could the military, intelligence, drug enforcement and law enforcement agencies perceive a democratic action as a national threat? When you read that operational plan it only sounds like a large group of armed insurgents or terrorist groups are assembling across the border to invade the country.
I think the Minister of Justice should speak up and advise the president to immediately bring the IGP and heads of the security agencies to order. They are purposely injecting paranoia into the head and heart of Adama Barrow hence push him into the use of violence to quell an imaginary threat to his regime.
This is how dictators are created and sustained. They have security leaders who make them believe that every citizen and action is a threat intended to destroy his leadership.
As you rightly said, this was how the West African migrants were massacred. The security officers knew so well that these were hapless foreigners seeking greener pastures. But they made Yaya Jammeh believe that these migrants were invaders just to make Jammeh feel that they were loyal to him. And now Jammeh has to pay for that crime some day soon when the hybrid court is created.
Therefore someone need to tell Adama Barrow to kick these security leaders away from him. If he allows these people to scare and mislead him to become a tyrant surely he will pay for it some day.
I hope the CDS who I know to be sober gentleman will not allow the IGP and NIA DG to involve him in such criminal enterprise. Why would 500 soldiers be asked to standby for a protest in a democracy? Didn’t we see protests taking place everyday in Dakar and Accra and Lagos and Bissau and Freetown yet these countries remain as peaceful and stable as The Gambia!!??
This operational plan is a criminal plan that can only bring violent conflict in the country. The President should reject it.
What Barrow need to do is to respond to any citizen who has a concern. So let him speak to this group. If not, let him just let them enjoy their democratic right to protest as required in the Constitution. That’s all. |
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