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Momodou
Denmark
11806 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Dec 2005 : 09:34:51
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TIME WILL TELL
There Is No Escape For Violators
The ball is the court of each and every Gambian. The task is to either save or break the Gambia. It is becoming apparent that the objective of the leadership under President Jammeh is to break the Gambia hoping that a conflict-ridden Gambia will serve their purpose of clinging onto power for a longer time. This seems to be the rationale for the arrest of the NADD leaders and others.
President Jammeh has already lost credibility both nationally and internationally. At the local level he has proven to be incompetent to manage the affairs of the country. He has created a conducive environment for corruption to flourish. Otherwise how does one explain the setting up of a corruption inquiry under Justice Paul, and then turn around to re-appoint Yankuba Touray and Sheikh Tijan Hydara who have been confirmed by Justice Paul to be corrupt and subsequently sacked by President himself?
That aside, in the recent imbroglio with Senegal, President Jammeh approached the issue with a nationalist rhetoric that the Gambia has sovereign rights to increase ferry tariffs. However within a short space of time the same Yaya Jammeh led a government delegation to Senegal only to come back to heap blame on his own government for violating the agreements made with Senegal since last year on the issue of ferry tariffs. While Gambians are trying hard to understand such an about-turn, the same president went ahead to declare before religious leaders that it was the Opposition who fed President Wade with false information about the Gambia with the intention of bringing the two countries to a collision.
As is natural, NADD calls for proof, or charge with impeachment if Yaya cannot back his unintelligible fuming. Political decency based on democratic principles and justice should have first advised Yaya that his ways are not the ways of wisdom and progress that will ensure the freedom, peace and prosperity of his motherland and compatriots. If not, common sense and a mere observation of the times should have advised him that no leader in these times can engage in atrocities and still escape law and justice. Hussen Habre, Augusto Pinochet, Charles Taylor are living examples. Faggots like Mobutu, Abacha, Bokassa and Samuel Doe have always served as good examples for bad behaviour and its consequences. And the good souls and encouragements are all over – Nyerere, Mandela, Ketumile Masire and Abdou Joof among others are living dignified and secure lives. Why can’t Yaya endeavour to be like Mandela? Once, Nyerere said if one honours power more than your person then you will not want to leave office honourably, which means you will be forced to leave dishonourably.
The question of how and when to leave office is left with Yaya Jammeh. The task with us the citizens is that we should not allow to be the sacrificial lambs in his project, now or later. The arrest of the NADD leaders and others is all intended to provoke a situation such as a demonstration whereby the government will use agents-provocateurs to create mayhem including looting and then turn around to blame the opposition and innocent citizens for the crimes. The scenario is like the unplanned April 2000 student demonstrations in which the Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy declared on national television that shooting emanated from the children leading to the clamp down on GAMSU!
The people of the Gambia must not allow any provocation from Yaya and his cohorts, but to remain steadfast and committed to the peace and security of the Gambia, and to maintain a sustained concern and interest in national affairs until the evil wear themselves out. Yaya Jammeh will answer to how the Gambia has been run since 1994 and all that have happened in this country. He will answer to these today or tomorrow, in the Gambia or outside, but the day shall come. In Rwanda even the equivalent of Alkalolu and Seyfolu, priests and business leaders are answering to crimes against humanity in Kigali, Arusha and The Hague. This list also includes mercenary intellectuals who are ready to save their salary and fringe benefits at the detriment of the human rights and development of fellow citizens? Why will the Gambia be different therefore?
As they say no condition is permanent and no one’s idea of being powerful should make one feel that one is invincible or untouchable. After all where is the ‘almighty’ Baba Jobe, or Abdoulie Kujabi or Sana Sabally? As it happened to them so shall it happen to all others like them, one by one until the last one who is Yaya Jammeh? This is the verdict of history.
Having said this, I borrow a note of wisdom from Madam Sallah in her letter to the president. She writes,
“To end this letter your Excellency, it is not a weakness or a shame for the perpetrators of the illegal practice to repent, rather it is an act of patriotism, love and respect that they hold for their people who believe in forgiveness for peace, tranquillity and stability to be the eternal wealth of our dear motherland, The Gambia.”
Yaya Jammeh and his government have no power. The Gambia Armed Forces, the Police and the NIA have no power. Abuse of power is no power. Power that is abused and misused without conscience does not only kill the victim but also ends up consuming the perpetrator in the most dramatic way. People who just execute the orders of any person, especially blindly are not powerful. People who give unjust orders that violate the rights of human beings by abusing the authority entrusted to them are not powerful. Power that is not used in the public good but used to brutalize the people is tyranny. Tyranny by nature is an act of cowardice. It indicates that one is not only dishonest and unjust but also incompetent and weak. A study of all dictators since the beginning of history has proven that all of them are incompetent, dishonest, corrupt with a high inclination towards vanity and deception. Thus in order to cover-up their weaknesses and calumny and fear of being exposed they abuse authority by employing treacherous means to silence everyone even if that means killing, jailing, exiling and suppression in all forms.
Our 1997 Constitution states clearly that the Government and all its organs derive their authority and legitimacy from the people whom they must serve. Power therefore lies with people both in principle and practice. All throughout history the people have shown out to be the only almighty power in the world, which no force on earth can and has ever defeated. People are stronger when they are enlightened and organized. In these present circumstances, Gambians need to make themselves aware of what is happening in their country and organize so that no force can defeat us. It is a person, who dies, but the people always live, and people have always outlived dictators and wars all throughout history. The people of South Africa have outlived Apartheid. The Jews have outlived Hitler. The Liberians have outlived Doe, and surely the Gambians will outlive Yaya. Time will tell…
By: The Patriot
Source: Foroyaa Issue No. 97/05, 19-21 December,2005
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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