Friends of the struggle,
I bring you tidings. Tidings, that are both pessimistic and optimistic.
And as the bumper sticker puts it, first the bad news and then the good news
to assuage morale dampened by the bad news.
Friends, anecdotally, the situation in the Gambia virtually strikes the same
notes of despondency, fatalism, despair, doom and gloom shared all over the
African continent. The tentacles of the post colonial despair is so pervasive
that clichés like "failed states", "intractable civil wars", "poverty",
"dictatorships", "bad governance", etc, etc, somehow just fails to adequately
choreograph what is happening to Africa and the African peoples. This state
of affairs is such that even the grand narrative inherent in the "African
condition", is virtually left to intellectual activism outside the continent
to delineate: What has gone wrong, what is needed and where it is needed.
Even with vacuous aggrandized slogans like the "African Renaissance" we have
to wait for outsiders like Clinton to coin for us! A graphic illustration of
the intellectual, moral, social, political and economic destitution of the
African continent, if any was needed.
Friends of the struggle, the Gambia, like virtually all African states, has
not escaped this brutal state of post colonial despair. Far from it. The
Gambia, if the situation is not arrested, will be the next time bomb to go
off and in extension plunge another sub-region into chaos and mayhem, the
magnitude of which cannot be speculated upon at this stage. Assuredly, the
Gambian situation is - and I cringe at the mere thought of this - ripe for
one of those chronic African situations in which patient ordinary folks are
pushed too far hence teetering on the last reserve of their patience and the
barrel of the gun becomes the most viable option out of their quagmire. The
Gambia is currently accursed with a very lethal, brutal, crackpot and
intolerant dictatorship that remains impervious to demonstration about the
need for moderation, tolerance and the basic ingredients of good governance.
Fresh from murdering innocent children as young as three, the dictatorship
remains remorseless and bursting with fiery rhetorics galore. Added to this
rugged political terrain is a general economic meltdown that has seen the
decline and rapid deterioration of whatever economic base there ever was pre
Jammeh.
To this worryingly bleak vignette, comes the increasing numbers of refugees
fleeing civil wars from other parts of the sub-region in the Gambia that the
country can in no way cope with - socially and economically. And worst, most
of these refugees were former gun toting thugs fighting for various factions
wherever they hail from. If you add the rebel insurrection in Casamance,
Southern Senegal, which is very capable of igniting/fuelling, an intractable
civil war in that sub-region, to this vignette, the situation makes a very
bleak prognosis. If you think the vignette I just painted above is
far-fetched, alarmist or ill-conceived, look no further than Guinea Conakry:
Take a closer look at the mayhem in that place and the ingredients that made
it possible; then do some comparing and contrasting calculus at the back of
your envelope and you will figure out what I mean. Why else do you think
renegades like SOS Dr. Sedat Jobe have resorted to issuing squeamish pleas
for "restraint" and "tolerance" and contrasting the Gambian situation with
that unfolding in Conakry - if the virtues of "restraint" and "tolerance" are
not exercised in the Gambia. Suffice to say that if left unattended, the
Gambia could well be on her way to joining the Conakry equation and with it
all the decent efforts of Wade and Senegalese progressive forces' attempts to
bring some degree of normalcy in that sub-region. Of one thing that is not in
doubt, is the fact that if the Gambia goes down, you can bet your last dime
that Senegal would be dragged into it and with it the whole sub-region.
In the event, and as I pointed out earlier, all is not lost - as of yet.
Friends of the struggle, I can confirm that that our little efforts -
especially through the medium of Gambia-L - have not gone un-noticed.
Friends, things are gearing up to the level in which Jammeh is being and will
be taken to task over the situation in the Gambia by international
heavyweights whose good will he needs very badly in order to maintain a
credible bulwark against the unmitigated popular militancy that - as sure as
the sun will shine - will arise if the pulses of the situation remains
unchecked. Again, I can confirm - through very reliable sources - that the
crack of the whip has started leaving lacerated marks on the regime's back.
As I write this, Jammeh is being taken to task over all the things we have
charged him with online. Specifically, the international heavyweights have
raised concerns over the following grey areas which they have the Jammeh
regime in wanting:
i. the unconstitutional sacking of the IEC Chairman, Bishop Tilewa Johnson;
ii. the proposed constitutional amendments, which they view as bludgeoning to
death any democratic space the Gambia can lay claims to;
iii. the gov't's rejection of the both the Coroner and Commission Reports
into the April Massacres and their refusal to prosecute those responsible for
the crimes;
iv. the executive's incessant interference in the judiciary especially the
recent sackings of senior judges and other officials of the judiciary which
has virtually placed huge question marks over the independence of the
judiciary;
v. the continued trend of blatant human right violations of opposition groups
and individuals who are still languishing behind bars illegally without any
trial.
From the gross violations of Dumo et al's fundamental human rights to the
unfair dismissal of senior civil servants to the refusal to prosecute anyone
of the student murders to the democratic deficit that is the Gambia's body
politic, Jammeh is quietly being flayed from all corners and by heavyweights
who have the calibre to contain and diminish him to oblivion. In lieu of the
aforementioned, I can confirm again that in fact concerted and co-ordinated
efforts on the part of these international heavyweights have already
commenced. In fact evidence is beginning to surface that Jammeh is cracking
under the pressure: I can confirm that he will attempt to redress some these
democratic deficits by rescinding the obnoxious Decree 89 which places a
wholesale ban on First Republic politicians. A pre-emptive strike to deflect
criticism of the dictatorship that his gov't really is, if you like.
Friends of the struggle, not only are things gearing clandestinely against
the dictatorship, but equally, us in the UK and concerned friends of the
Gambia will on this Wednesday 28th, February 2001 hold a briefing session at
the House of Commons which will serve as a launching pad for an international
crusade against the dictatorship. The briefing session will be attended by a
cross section of MPs, interested and concerned international organisations,
the Gambian Diaspora in the UK and concerned friends of the Gambia from all
works of life. Friends, this briefing session will not only publicly
inaugurate the MRDG (UK) as a platform for change and renewal of decency in
the Gambia, but will also be a server to inform, enlighten and complement the
efforts of those who care but to date have not responded in kind to the
increasingly forlorn Gambian masses because they were bamboozled by tacky and
silly propaganda from the allies of Jammeh.
Friends of the struggle, all these developments did not come of the blues: It
is largely attributable to a long, concerted and sustained campaign to get
attention on the rapid deterioration of the Gambian situation. Left to the
indifference of what some espouse here about being apolitical and neither for
nor against Jammeh, none of the things I take great joy in informing you of
today will ever see the living daylights. The real enemies of Africa and the
African peoples are those Africans who see evil and within their limited
powers could have contributed but remained on the side-lines/fence claiming
to be apolitical and neither for nor against evil. How can any conscientious
human being proudly stand in the midst of evil and claim neither support nor
umbrage against it. This is a very disingenuous stance and at best reeks of
hypocrisy froth and nonsense. If anything, it is a very futile attempt to
ride two horses at the same. It is this type of indifference that has helped
sustain evil in our midst. Friends, when we hear people proclaim that they
are neither for nor against Jammeh, we must effectively conclude that they
are either closet or unwitting allies of Jammeh and in extension unwittingly
or wittingly plotting the death of decency in the Gambia.
Friends of the struggle, the post-colonial despair is such that it is
increasingly churning out more and more cynicism, smug fatalism and pessimism
in both Africans and those who talk or write about Africa elsewhere. Some of
these cynics, pessimists and smug fatalists have totally given up on a
renewed Africa of decency and better. Indeed, Clinton - who more than any
other American president of living memory devoted his time and agenda towards
Africa - once and out of exasperation quizzed: "What is to be done about
Africa?" With exasperated friends like Clinton, who needs African cynics,
pessimists and smug fatalists? This present generation of Africans have a
sacrosanct moral obligation to do whatever is within their powers to renew
the African hope. As of this new millennium, the West owes Africa no moral
obligation towards African woes that have the imprints of African tyranny and
despotism. The argument that because of slavery and colonialism, the West
owes Africa the moral duty to ride in town and turn things around is
exhausted and very antiquated. The West no longer has a moral duty to do for
Africans what is their duty to do for themselves. If there is any role left
for the West in Africa, it is to complement locally initiated endeavours to
turn the tables around - especially with "preventive diplomacy" and working
with democratic opposition forces to fight the scourges of African despotism.
In the very end - and this is to paraphrase Krugman - if those of us who are
still optimistic that post-colonial African despair is a transitory phase in
Africa's history, and that decency, tolerance and respect can be re-ignited
again on the continent, do not go out there and fight for the moral high
ground, devils in the forms of Jammeh and their allies - closet and open - in
the forms of the indifference of cynics, pessimists and smug fatalists of all
shades, will prevail.
Hamjatta - Kanteh
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URL: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/hamzakanteh/myhomepage/newsletter.html
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