A Derailed "Revolution"
                
  
    
<A HREF="http://allafrica.com/publishers.html?passed_name=The%20Independent&passed_location=Banjul">The Independent</A> (Banjul)EDITORIAL
April 7, 2003 
Posted to the web April 7, 2003 Banjul When Gambians should reflect on the 
very dark days of Yahya Jammeh's regime, they will find in "the revolution" 
an epoch seething with rage, plunder and recklessness. The rage of the 
disillusioned and the victimised as demonstrated by the events of April 10 
and 11 are indicative of the slow but steady growth of a backlash against 
further blindfolding and oppression of the common people. Never in the 
history of this country have ordinary people been so cruelly held to ransom 
by a gang of politicians who can employ any means necessary to stay on 
despite the deleterious effect their rule may have on the lives of the 
people. Utter disregard for the rule of law and of democracy have led to a 
situation of uncertainty. A torrent of arrests, sudden disappearances and a 
rising tide of sacked officials have left Gambians today more confused by the 
uncertain direction of a revolution which is supposedly guided by His 
Excellency The President in his "wisdom and magnanimity as the saviour of The 
Gambia". But many now are no longer fooled by the so-called justification 
that sackings and arrests are necessary against any saboteur of the 
revolution. Gambians are no longer taken in by the almost derisive official 
play-acting anytime an occasion arises when the government should shed light 
on an issue but elects to stay mum or feed the population with information 
that leaves its members evidently brainwashed. Gambians are no longer sure 
whether the revolution that they so readily fell head over heels for some 
eight years ago is with the requisite bite to carry on the mantra of 
democracy, accountability, probity and transparency. What happened to this 
post-coup anthem tells a lot about why morality and those basic decencies 
mean nothing to the ruling clique who are patrons of corruption, sycophancy, 
blind acceptance, God-acting. If the leadership could claim decency, why is 
it not responding to the latest scam about the diverted oil.Gambians are no 
longer oblivious to the chronic lack of delivery of politicians they so fully 
trusted to change the scarred face of history from one of poverty, 
depravation and wanton abuse to one of progress, economic buoyancy and a 
healthy and all-inclusive political vibrancy. We Gambians are just about 
convinced that we are today ten times unhappier, ten times uncertain and as 
many times dejected by the prospects of developments supposedly before us. 
Gambians have grown tired of tricks calculated to win their hearts when 
elections are not far away. We are all appalled by the unrelenting economic 
shrinkage. We are appalled by the outrageous price increases and fuel 
shortages. We are appalled by the dalasi's freefall. Gambians most of all are 
aware that their politicians past and present are of the same make - born of 
the desire to wine and dine in their quiet citadels of power and preside over 
a general landscape of misery and heart-rending sights of gloom and doom that 
is the fate of the overtaxed lot. Wining and dining at whose expense? The 
people.With the Dalasi on a steep free-fall and the cost of living at an 
all-time high, where is the APRC's positive impact? If development is not 
only measured in terms of infrastructures, the APRC should just own up to its 
poor performance when we talk in terms of providing job-chances for the 
ordinary man in the street. Dismally instead of living by its promise of 
engaging more Gambians, the situation has been the complete opposite when the 
generality of the people are increasingly hard done by.If the Jawara era 
could be blamed at all it is for setting the pace that today's politicians 
have acquired mastery and notoriety for just a few years after Jawarite 
ended. Who else is seen dishing white envelopes left, right and centre other 
than His Excellency? Where did Jammeh acquire the exorbitant sum spent on his 
"benevolent" Hajj gesture to unsuspecting Gambians? Where did the money given 
to schools to mollify angry students across the country come from? Certainly 
"Allah's World Bank" will not have passed any funds through him looking at 
the APRC government's terrible record of handling the country's economy over 
the years. The politics of waste which he so passionately condemned as one of 
the ugly hallmarks of the PPP era was being revived and consolidated with 
stupefying thoroughness. As a leader he took the lead. Others behind him are 
following in this mind-boggling programme of plunder.These among other things 
should be food for thought for our revolutionaries.



"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are 
evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
 - Albert Einstein
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change 
the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead 
"When the government fears the people, you have liberty. When the people fear 
the government, you have tyranny." 
- Thomas Jefferson
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" 
- Edmund Burke 

    
    

    





















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