by PK Jarju
“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right and desire to know, but besides this, they have a right an indisputable, unalienable, indefensible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge- I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers..." John Adams
The continuous arrests, detention and disappearance of people in the Gambia should indeed be a cause for concern to every Gambian living in the country and abroad. A week hardly passes by without someone being picked up and detained by the state security agents for one unexplained reason or another.
These arrests have gone far too long and many people are languishing at the Mile Two Prisons, Janjangbureh Prisons, NIA headquarters and police stations across the country without being charged or told the reasons for their arrests. Chief Ebrima Manneh, Kanyiba Kanyi, among many others are a good example of Gambians who are being arbitrarily detained for months and years without been brought before any court of law. These men are being punished for crimes that only Yahya Jammeh knows.
The Jammeh regime is becoming more and more powerful by the day and has ceased to be a government of the people. Forget about democracy and the rule of law. We are only a democractic country by name. The Gambia is owned by Yahya Jammeh and we are all his subjects.
You may disagree with me but we are not a free society anymore. The notion of living in a free Gambia is out of the window because we have allowed Yahya Jammeh and his cronies to snoop into our peaceful lives and violate our space while we all stood aside and watch with open eyes. As a trusting people, we gave him an inch to manage our affairs but he has taken a mile.
As president and head of state, Jammeh has become so intoxicated with power. All what he talks and dream about is POWER. He rules with the motto that, he as president should be good sometimes and be wicked on most occasions. He believes in god and the god he believes in wants him to be filthy rich, successful and reign over us forever and his opponents and critics dead and buried six-feet-deep. His god also wants him to be more powerful than even King Solomon and Samson in the New Testament.
Jammeh has grown bigger than the Gambia and he therefore expects everyone to bend their knees for him. Blinded and absolutely corrupted by his powers, today Jammeh maintains that he has the right without any basis in the constitution and laws of the Gambia to sack anyone from his job, label anyone a criminal, sabateur or detractor then lock him up and throw the keys into the River Gambia. He is the boss and cannot be challenged.
Despite the fact there exists three chambers of government with different duties and responsibilities as spelt out in the constitution, yet these chambers of government are far from being independent. They are directly under the control of the president and as a result, they do not live up to their responsibilities. They all dance to the tune of the big man.
In other words, though he has his offices in Kanilai and Banjul, Jammeh runs and controls every facet of the Gambian society from curing HIV/Aids, hiring and firing secretaries of state, expelling National Assembly Members, dismissing judges, civil servants and even seyfolu and village alkalolus. Not only that, he declares public holidays when ever he wants, sets the news agenda of the public media, decides what prices commodity goods are to be sold at and when we should all observer the two eids (eid-ul fitr and eid-ul ahad) among others.
Like Napoleon in George Orwell's Animal Farm, Jammeh regards anything that goes against him as an enemy. An enemy that deserves to be punished severly. His orders are always final and it makes me sick all the time when I see people jumping to execute his commands without even using their God-given brains to think. For these zombies, who often boost about how much they loved and cared for the country, whatever the president says or does is in the best interest of the country.
It is therefore not surprising that the bodies of hundreds of Gambians and nonGambians are today full of scares of torture while the unlucky ones are decomposing in marked and umarked graves across the country. Like angels gaurding the fire of Hell, Jammeh's henchmen do not have anything call sympathy in their hearts. They don't flinch a bit when commanded to do something by their master. As a result, these men are committing many heinous crimes against people with impunity in the name of the president.
Take the case of the 44 Ghanaians as an example. These young immigrants, who were travelling to Europe in makeshifts boats via Gambian waters, were in the summer of 2005 arrested and lynched by state agents, just because some idiots in the Quadrangle without any shred of evidence accused them of trying to destablised the country.
Daba Marena and others were also arbitrarily killed while in government custody just because someone accused them of treason. The student demonstrators were also brutally gunned down just because someone accused them of being used by some opposition elements to distabilised the country.
All these and many serious unresolved murder cases involving security officers are buried deep under the carpet. No investigations were conducted and will never be conducted because the president loves the Gambia so much and does not want anything that will tarnish the image of the country.
Recently, many butchers and traders are being harassed by security officers and local councils because Jammeh issued orders for the price reduction of commodity goods and meat. Again market vendors, traders and taxi drivers are harassed on set setal Saturdays because Jammeh gave orders that we should all be at home sweeping our streets and localities.
Today in the Gambia, despite the fact that there exist a book called the constitution, that was supposed to make us live in peace and unity, people are being governed according to the law of the jungle - survival of the fittest. The president and those close to him can do anything they want to the poor masses without being held accountable.
The country is now a nanny state and we are all being watch. Our daily activities are being monitored and recorded not by Close Circuit Televisions (CCTV), but by informers and the secret police. We cannot say anything about the government or Jammeh in the streets because someone elsewhere is listening. Our phone lines are tapped by NIA officers in the name of national security. Political debates are now out of our school curriculum because so many students are serving as the eyes and ears of the regime. Criticise the regime and you will never see the sun again.
These bullies have sown fear in the hearts of everyone in the country. So much arrests and disappearance have left people wondering who is next on the men in black's list. That irrational fear is what is making some people jump under their beds when they hear a car park outside their houses in the middle of the night.
All these evils are happening every day in our lives and yet we are doing nothing to stop it. We have accepted them as part of life and do not give a monkey as to who is bundled into a tinted glass pick-up and banged up in a filthy and mosquito infested cell or killed by the men in black. The only time we seem to care is when a family member or someone close to us goes missing. Like a former colleague of mine (name witheld) once told me after his arrest and detention at the NIA headquarters, he never believed in the stories people say about the brutality of the NIA officers until when he landed there.
Like my friend, we should not wait until we have all become victims before we start doing something. We should not continue sitting down and allow Jammeh and his cronies to rule us any how they want. We are a country and not a village. It is time to say enough is enough. Far too many wrongs have been committed by the regime and we must all not sit down and accept the these evils and wrongs the way they are. We are a talk and do nation and those who can talk must talk while those who can do must do every little thing we all can to change things for the better.
The political madness that has gripped our peaceful country can only be eradicated if we come together and form a united political front that will flushout Jammeh through the polls. Let's stop looking low upon ourselves or doubt our abilities. We are not a bunch of dummies. We are all literates and our labour power is a force, which when fully tapped can bring about the much needed changes in our land of birth.
This is the only way out. The Gambia belongs to each and everyone of us and we must all do everything we can to restore democracy and the rule of law in our God bless country. We are all blessed with different skills and we should use our those skills to let Jammeh know that we have seen and had enough of his brutal regime. Our spirit can never be crushed as long as we have the self belief that our dreams are attainable. Like my late grand dad (may Allah bless his soul) used to tell me during my primary school days, when treads unite, they can even tie and elephant.
Sitting down with folded hands and a sorry face or praying to the heavens for micracles to happen will get us nowhere. God's help only descent on a people who help themselves. As stated by Abu Darda in one hadith, you people must all command people to do good, restrain them from evil otherwise Allah will cause such a tyrant to rule over you who will not respect your elders and will not have mercy on your youngsters. Then you people will pray to Him but will not answer to your prayers, you will ask Him for help but will not help you, you will seek His pardon but will not pardon you.
Long live the great people of the Gambia. Long live the Gambia.
Wishing my esteem readers a happy Koriteh. Peace!
For comments, write to info@allgambian.net or papak196@yahoo.co.uk.
