Le Big Fitna Series: For The Gambia Ever True

Oh Jammeh Musa!!! 

This has been a tough couple of days for peace-loving Gambians.  There is no other way to properly justify what happened last week and the Jammeh government was totally wrong to put 9 prisoners to death without exhausting all the legal requirements as stipulated in the land of the law.  

Without reservation, I condemn the sole decision of the President of the republic to execute all inmates on death row by the middle of this month.  Jammeh must be stopped.  

I think we’ve all heard the saying that Gambians are peaceful people and that war is something very alien to us.  This is actually a delusional view of the Gambian disposition when it comes to the  affairs of the nation and politics.  Those who lived to see the war in 1981 will tell you that Gambians are very capable of the same things for which the rebels in Liberia and Sierra Leone are famous.  For now, and despite all the hype to take on Jammeh, he (jammeh) still has total control of the nation and the general feeling for those on the ground remains that surrendering to Jammeh’s will means peace and it’s going to remain that way in the foreseeable future.   However, our only problem is that we are ignoring important lessons from our brothers and sisters in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast; all once peace-loving nations, torn into shreds because of injustice, corruption, and the inability of their citizenry to say enough and demand that their leaders move towards good governance and respect the dignity of their people. 

Gambians must start calling Jammeh and his cronies to book and demand that he show Gambians more compassion and respect.   For the Gambian sycophant refusing to speak out against injustices in the Gambia just because he/she wish to protect the moments of convenience the system provides them, I say carry on.  Yesterday it was Dr. Janneh and countless others currently lodged at mile 2, today it is the people on death row, tomorrow may be you, your father, mother, sister, brother, son or daughter.  In Jammeh's own words, "the world revolves in 3 days - yesterday, today and tomorrow."

However, anyone in and outside of the Gambia that has anything in Gambia that they enjoy should start getting out of their shells and holding government more accountable.   Should anything happen to our beloved Gambia, all the moments of convenience and joy or pleasant attachments to our nation that we enjoy will disappear in thin air.   Your businesses will be gone, money gone, family displaced and loved ones gone.  The easiest route is that we Gambians start asking the APRC government stop being paranoid, stop making enemies, respect the dignity of Gambians and stop making our families destitute by continuing to arrest, jail and exile the breadwinners of our households. 

If not, we are looking at some angry Gambians willing to do anything to undo the travesty of justice that has been bestowed upon them by the APRC government since 1994.  One just has to listen to the callers on freedom radio, read blogs, listprocs/forums and other online newspapers to realize that Gambians are angry. We are now changing the discourse from regime change through the ballot box to Jammeh must go at any cost.   I take them seriously and I think we all ought to take them seriously.  The reason I say this is because, when clowns like Charles Taylor were making noise, Doe and his cronies were calling them empty barrels, cowards in exile, dogs etc.  When Taylor was ready,  and with the support of the morally bankrupt CIA,  it took only about 100 soldiers fighting on his side to cause havoc in Liberia.  Liberians today are still reeling from the effects of war and Liberians will tell you that they wish they had another chance to stand up to Doe to avoid the likes of Charles Taylor.  Same can be said for our cousins in Sierra Leone and many countries surrounding us, who have left fear and government repression get the best of them.  This cycle of abuse and impunity if left unchallenged will only lead to a total destruction of our nation.

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My message to every Gambian is that we ask Yahya Jammeh to unclench his fist and let Gambians and friends of Gambia help him develop the country.  Ask Yahya Jammeh to start sprinting towards good governance.  Tell Yahya Jammeh that he is not doing any favors to Gambia by building schools, roads and farms; it is a job he was hired to do and for which he is being well compensated for.  If anything, it is no surprise that he loves Gambia more than everyone else.  Gambia has made him a millionaire, because of Gambia he lives in a Mansion, because of Gambia he owns a plane, because of Gambia he sleeps in 5 star hotels, because of Gambia he can afford to make 30 people millionaires in one sitting.  Because of Gambia he rides in $500,000 cars while Gambians receive handouts from the west after a bad farming season.   Give the same opportunity and the comfort that comes with being a president to any Gambian and they will love Gambia more than any other Gambian and Yahya Jammeh is no exception. 

The Gambia, with 70% living in abject poverty, has done more for Yahya Jammeh than Yahya Jammeh can possibly ever do for Gambia.  Stop the rule of fear and give 70% of Gambians living in abject poverty a chance to have Gambia do more for them.  

I am 100% Gambian, I used to be quite about government repression against my people, but I am quite no more.

For The Gambia Ever True.