Straight faced while people cry
How do you feel when you promise something
That you know you'll never do
Giving false hope to the people
Giving false hope to the underpriviledged
Do you really sleep at night?
When you know you're living a lie
To you it is just a job
To the people it hurts to the bone ----Lucky Dube
Here we go again, the fact that an institution owned by President Yahya Jammeh is calling Gambian journalists and online newspapers abroad liars, idiots, trouble makers, cyber terrorists, enemies of The Gambia and other names is not surprising to any Gambian.
This reminds me of one of the seven commandments in George Orwell's book, Animal Farm, which reads: whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
In other words, the Daily Observer is implying that people who bow down and sing praises of Yayha Jammeh even when he declares a public holiday in honour of his son are the friends who have the interest of the country at heart. And those who criticise the Jammeh regime for its lack of respect to our rights are the enemies of The Gambia, the very country of their birth. How interesting is that?
The Daily Observer like its owner, hates to see any one who is demanding for the full restoration of democracy and the respect of the rule of law in The Gambia. As the only daily paper in the country, the Observer is doing a great disservice to The Gambia and Gambians by trying to build a false image of the country and its leadership.
How sad it is to see a newspaper with the motto, Forward with The Gambia, glorifying a man who for the past 12 years has transformed our great country into his kingdom, which he rules any how he wants with no regards to the laws of the land.
The management of the Observer wants Gambians to treat Jammeh as God and believe in whatever he says. They are taking advantage on the fact Gambians are believing and trusting lot and they want us to believe in Jammeh when he tells us bed time stories of pigs flying, curing Aids, curing barrenness or having the ability to know things that are about to happen in 40 years time. How wonderful is that?
The leadership's gross disregard to the constitution and other laws of the country has indeed turned our blessed country into kingdom of the fittest. Criticisms are not tolerated and the men in power comes down heavily on anyone who try to speak out against them.
The Daily Observer has to differentiate between Jammeh and The Gambia. Yahya Jammeh is an individual and The Gambia is a country. While Jammeh will be history, whether today, tomorrow or day after, The Gambia which is home to 1.5 million people will remain forever until the end of time.
The Daily Observer got to understand that no matter what mechanism it employs, it cannot change the truth, the reality on the country. The more it tries, the more laughable its efforts will be to the Gambian public. Its effort to suppress the truth, can be compared to that of a person trying to hide from the sun with his hands.
While we maybe far away from home physically, the Daily Observer, got to know that our minds and spirit are still in The Gambia. We are proud to be Gambians and as a concern people, we follow the events back home minute by minute. The Observer has to remember that the world is now a global village. With the help of technology, we are aware of any development in Banjul within minutes. In most occasions, we are privy of events in Banjul even before the news reaches Serekunda.
While we may be hated by President Jammeh and his regime, which has since 1994 employed all sorts of brutality ranging from intimidation, arrest and detention without trial, torture and murder, we are loved and respected by the Gambian people.
Our newspapers have a much wider Gambian readership, which shows solidarity and support in our service of writing nothing but the truth without fear or favour. Day after day, we receive letters of solidarity from people around the globe thanking us for being sane Gambians, who are not seeking for any political office but trying to keep a tyrant accountable.
The Daily Observer got to realise that the Gambian people are fed up with Jammeh. They are tired of waking up everyday and seeing their president getting more and more obessed at their expense while they suffer with starvation. They are sick of being unable to meet the rising costs of living while the president and his associates diverts their taxes to fund their flamboyant life styles. They are tired of being held to ransome by a president who is being paid from their taxes. They are sick of seeing a President who does not have their interest at heart. They hate a president who waste millions of dalasis to feed exotic animals in his Kanilai zoo while the population cannot afford to a decent three square meal. They hate to see a president who treats them like kids and swears Billahi Wallahi Tallahi at them.
Gambians are not fools. And thanks to the gallantry of the independent media, they have now fully understood that President Jammeh is not representing their interest at State House. He is there for his own selfish interest.
What the Gambian people need at the moment is a stronger opposition leadership. When that is fixed, hopefullly soon, then President Jammeh and his cronies will realise how frustrated Gambians are to his rule.
I and a thousands of other Gambians wants a leadership that will rule the people according to dictates of the 1997 constitution. We want a government that will not enslave Gambians. We want a government that will not seize the rights of the citizenry. We want a governemnt that will respects the opinions of the electorate. Jammeh and his cronies may not be hearing from these people, certainly not in the Daily Observer, but they are out there in our streets, work places, ghettos, everywhere- and their anger is brewing just beneath the surface.
As a democratic minded journalists, all I will keep doing is to continue telling the Gambian people what they need to hear as well as provide them with the space- the space they are shamelessly denied by the Daily Observer to freely express themselves. This will no doubt enable them to exercise their democractic rights by voting Jammeh out of power.
President Jammeh and his cronies and indeed the Daily Observer, got to realise that the so-called return of the country to civilian rule in 1996 does not in anyway make us a democratic country. The mere periodic voting in general elections does not make us a democratic country. The mere existence of the three arms of government does not make us a democratic country. What we have is The Gambia is Jammehcracy, a system of government that can best be define as government of Yahya Jammeh, by Yahya Jammeh and for Yahya Jammeh.
In Jammehcracy, while there exist the three arms of government, yet the president gets total control of their activities. He hires and fires ministers, legislators and judges. A minister who disagrees with him during cabinet meetings gets a good kicking on the backside. A member of parliament who fails to vote for any bill drafted by the executive is whack from the National Assembly and a judge who delivers a verdict against the state gets his contract terminated or remains at the bottom of the judiciary ladder with no prospects of promotion.
In Jammehcracy, the president becomes so intoxicated with power and will do everything in his powers to remain president for life. Like all dictators and tyrants, he becomes so paranoid thus trusts no one. He surrounds himself with his tribal men from the same village or division, who are pampered with goody goodies as long as they remain loyal to him. These tribal men in uniform spend sleepless nights arresting, torturing and in most occassions killing anyone who refuses to bend his knees for the president.
This of course reminded me of an article, The Portrait of a Tyrant authored by one of my mentors, Baba Galleh Jallow. In the article, Mr Jallow said: "Democracy, it is often said, is the tyranny of the majority. It is a political arrangement in which the majority elect representatives who then make and impose laws on the minority, whether the minority likes such laws or not. But it is universally acknowledged that a well-ordered democracy with the necessary checks and balances to prevent abuse of power is the best-known form of government. The situation becomes tricky when there is but a semblance of democracy, when there are no checks and balances, and where the elected representatives lack the personal wisdom and integrity to do the right thing and abstain from abusing their powers.
"The elected minority, knowing that those who elected them are really not in any position to control or punish them, begin abusing their power. Under the leadership of the would-be tyrant, they throw all care to the winds and employ every sort of conceivable device to deceive the people. They steal and get rich, lie and lavish goodies to blind the minds of the people, and become veritable sycophants to their leader, the would-be tyrant. When they are adequately corrupted and stripped of all honor and integrity, the would-be tyrant would start eliminating them one by one. So that in a short while, he would be the only surviving member of his former companions, thus beginning the rapid transition into a fully fledged tyrant. He would have been transformed, by his greed and insatiable lust for power, into a monster in human skin. For he would have lost all sense of proportion and would see himself as the very paragon of virtue and righteousness, thanks to the creeping and cringing sycophants groveling at his feet at every moment of his waking life."
The Daily Observer needs to know that while it is willing to blindly glorify President Jammeh and his bandwagon, sane Gambians will not. Gambians know that the APRC leadership is a complete sham. It is a bunch of currupt and selfish individuals who are using their positions to enrich themselves.
Take for example, we all know how much the president and his ministers are earning. Their earnings are not even upto £12,000 a year, yet they boast of fleet of cars, uncountable houses, zoo, foreign accounts and other properties far beyond their wages. How can they acquire all these riches if is not true bribery and corruption? Well you tell me that?
To conclude, let me make this clear once and for all. The Gambian media is here to stay. While the management of the Daily Observer is willing to bend its knees and bow its head to President Jammeh and his band wagon as they embark on their quest to milk the country to dry, we will not. We will always remain steadfast and committed to our principles. We will never abdicate our responsibilities no matter what bullying tactics you use. We can never be silent. NEVER.
Peace
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