Once again, through the Secretary General and head of the civil service, Njogu Bah, President Yahya Jammeh has surprised everyone with his call for the resignation of his mentor, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for over-staying his welcome and not respecting the will of the Libyan people.
However, although everyone was surprised by the call, especially considering how Jammeh was seen by many Gambians as a mere protégé of Colonel Qaddafi, but Njogu Bah’s speech on TV on Wednesday night was certainly not taken with the seriousness that it deserved, because most Gambians saw it just as another of President Jammeh’s usual comedies being casted by Njogu Bah, who has recently been transformed into an actor/comedian. It is quite hard to imagine how any reasonable Gambian would take Jammeh’s call with seriousness because it is hard to see any fundamental difference between what obtains in Libya and the present system in The Gambia. Just like Qaddafi has virtually closed the door on any legitimate opposition to his regime, so has Jammeh also made life extremely hard for opponents of his regime as well as all those with different views, including journalists.
While there have been several examples of the harassment of journalists and opposition elements by the Jammeh regime, but a good recent case in point was the one year imprisonment of the former UDP Propaganda Secretary Femi Peters, whose only crime was organizing a political meeting without permission, when the police had consistently refused the UDP permits to hold meetings. That of course was a good example of how the regime has created the most unleveled political playing field, especially considering the fact that Jammeh’s own ruling APRC not only holds meetings wherever and whenever they want to, but they also do not seek permission from the police. In fact, which crazy policeman would even have the guts to refuse them a permit even if they were to apply for it as a formality?
We can all vividly recall what happened to the innocent school children who attempted to stage a peaceful demonstration in April 2000. No less than 14 of the unarmed children were shot to death in cold blood by the security forces, apparently on ‘orders from above’, and instead of prosecuting those responsible for such a horrible crime, the regime rushed in an indemnity clause through the National Assembly in order to indemnify those who committed such a crime against humanity.
We can recall that when President Jammeh first assumed power through a coup d’état in 1994, he said no one would ever again be allowed to rule the Gambia for more than two terms of five years, “In fact 10 years is too long for anyone to be in power,” he was quoted saying. And yet, here we are, more than 16 years after, Yahya Jammeh is still in power and he does not seem to have any intention of ever stepping down. In fact, his military junta even had to remove a clause of the draft constitution which called for a term limit before it was put to the people in a referendum.
Later, we also witnessed how he used the subservient National Assembly to repeal the section of the constitution which called for run-off elections in the event of any candidate failing to obtain more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round, after he realized that his share of the vote was being reduced at every election. He therefore had to do that in order to forestall any possibility of being forced to a run-off vote. This is no doubt yet another machination by the regime to cling on to power forever at whatever cost.
Therefore, it is quite interesting to hear President Jammeh calling on his fellow African leaders to start respecting the will of their people, calling on them to put public interest ahead of personal interest.
Obviously, it is this sit-tight attitude of Muammar Qaddafi and his refusal to create a conducive atmosphere for his opponents to even exercise their constitutional rights to manifest their opposition to his regime which has angered ordinary Libyans to rise up against him. It is however quite a similar situation operating in The Gambia. There is constant harassment of the opposition and they are quite often refused police permit to hold meetings when the ruling party constantly organizes meetings and other activities without any police interference.
Also, the very fact that President Jammeh is not only now involved in almost every business activity, no doubt unfairly competing with the business community, but he has also acquired large tracks of prime land in various parts of the country, most of which may no doubt have been given to him through coercion of the local villagers against their will. While at the same time compelling those same villagers and civil servants to go and provide “voluntary” labour on his farms.
Now that President Jammeh has publicly acknowledged that African leaders should respect the will of their people, this is an opportunity for the besieged Gambian opposition to test the waters by organizing rallies and even peaceful protests and see how President Jammeh’s state machinery would react. In the past, they had never entertained such prospects, but we can only hope and pray that he has taken a cue from recent happenings in North Africa and he would respect the constitutional rights of those with different points of view to also express those views without being harassed or being subjected to similar brutalities that were meted out to the students in April 2000.