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                          The Gambia a Sorry State- Who are We?           By Papa Kumba Loum 
Jan 22, 2008, 23:51   Banjul, The Gambia Journal   
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  The Gambia has been gradually and systematically reduced to a land where mediocrity and sycophancy is revered and celebrated. Gambians who are in a position of moral authority and power have abdicated their responsibilities to speak out against the injustices perpetrated by our moronic president who has completely lost it. Our beloved country has been reduced to nothingness.   
  The Gambia of today has been reduced to a land where nobody speaks the truth because of fear, hypocrisy and or sycophancy. A land where the ‘Mansa’ lords it over his subjects with impunity and supported by opportunists who unfortunately happen to be religious leaders, opinion leaders, ‘alkalous’, chiefs, civil servants, the judiciary and many more.
  No honest and conscious Gambian can be happy and proud of the way the affairs of state are being managed. We have a leader who has emasculated all and sundry, pillaged the economy, liquidated his perceived opponents and constantly interfere with the administration of justice. Jammeh has been able to hold the whole nation to ransom and sadly Gambians have acquiesced, aided and assisted him in this path of destruction which inevitably will one day come back to haunt Gambians. One wonders what we will say to our children when the events of history are replayed long after Jammeh has gone and they asked us the inevitable questions i.e. what was your role in Jammeh’s destruction of the country? And what did you do to stop him?
  Let us for instance take the issue of the so called “break through” in the cure of HIV/ AIDS which has been recently celebrated in a colourful event at July 22nd Square. Apart from some ignorant few who actually believe that President Jammeh has a cure for the dreaded HIV/AIDS virus, how many Gambians who actually know that Jammeh has no knowledge and or ability to cure the virus have been seen singing praises to his new allegedly found cure?? What will Dr Tamsir Mbow especially, a trained medical doctor, tell his children and peers tomorrow given the role he has played in this dangerous deception? Well I guess he will do the same like many shameless intellectuals have done (like former Attorney General’s, former IGPs, former Director General of NIA’s and many others who have assisted Jammeh to perpetuate himself)  - that is to say, just carry on living as nothing has ever happened hoping that Gambians with their enormous ability at ‘masla’ and their short memories will
 soon forget the horrible part they all played in assisting Jammeh in the destruction of the country and consequently bringing untold miseries to many Gambian families. 
  
Take for instance the recent appointments and swearing in of 3 female High Court Judges who were relatively recently called to the Gambian Bar. Two of the female judges appointed were not constitutionally eligible to be sworn in because Section 139(4)  of the Constitution explicitly states that,
  A person shall be qualified to be appointed
  as a judge of the High Court if he or she
  holds or has held office as a Principal
  Magistrate or Master in The Gambia, or an
  office, which in the opinion of the
  Judicial Service Commission, enjoys
  comparable jurisdiction in a common law
  country, in each case for not less than
  five years, or if he or she has practiced
  as a legal practitioner before a court
  having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and
  criminal matters in a common law country
  for not less than five years.
  Two of the female judges did not meet the said requirements yet they were appointed. It will be interesting to note, however, that the recommendations for their appointments were indeed made by both the Judiciary and the Attorney General’s Chambers. Both institutions are supposedly manned by educated and learned men and women who are conversant with the above mentioned provision but nevertheless went on with their recommendations regardless presumably because Jammeh wanted those specific individuals to be made judges. Even more shameful was the reluctance and refusal of the current President of the Gambian Bar Association to issue a statement regarding the above mentioned appointments. Other members of the Gambian Bar as usual kept silent. I guess none wanted to jeopardize their comfortable legal practice. Or could their silence have been due to the affliction of the Gambian bug called “masla”? Imagine the reaction of the Bar Association if the same scenario was to take
 place in neighboring countries like Nigeria, Ghana or Senegal? 
  The behaviour of our educated class is both shameful and criminal. The part they are playing is akin to that played by the dutiful ministers in Hans Christian Andersen internationally renowned story about “the Emperor’s New Clothes” where despite the stark nakedness of the Emperor, all his officials pretended to admire his new sartorial robes and made public praises of his magnificent attire. Jammeh knows that he is naked but that his lackeys dare not say because of patronage and plain opportunism. Should we be surprised that Jammeh has no respect for them?  
  Although it is fair to say that certain officials by virtue of their office cannot condemn and or speak out against the moronic actions of Jammeh openly and this is true of almost all civil servants and employees of  parastatals and given the hostile political climate in the Gambia, many businessmen are wary of the malicious tactics of a regime that will stop at nothing to destroy those who criticize them, there are however many Gambians especially religious leaders who are just plain hypocrites and shameless opportunist. They have been seen singing praises to Jammeh regardless of his abysmal human rights record and moronic behaviour. Jammeh basks in this sycophancy and shameless opportunism. Perhaps there is much truth in the saying that a country gets the leader it deserves.  Gambians I ask you where are the “Kelefas” who were known to speak the truth regardless and were also the guardians of the public conscience? The moral and social fabric of our once beloved society
 has now been destroyed thanks to Yahaya Jammeh and those who aid and abet him. Not forgetting of course the silent majority. 
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