My Fellow Gambians,
As we are approaching a New Year, it is important that Gambians should take
stock of what has been happening in their country for the past eight years,
and ask themselves whether it is what they want for the country, or whether
they want something better.
In all continents of the world, the New Year is a time when people make
resolutions, re-state dreams and give pledges of what they intend for the
next year: it is a time when people plan for change, and hope for better
things to come.
Every New Year is therefore an important time and is a period when people
should examine their inner selves, should reflect upon their country, should
take stock of their political leaders and ask themselves which is the surest
way to lead them towards a better future.
Therefore, as we enter 2003, Gambians need to do some soul-searching: they
need to evaluate Yahya Jammeh’s rule; they need to assess Jammeh’s
performance at the helm. Gambians should be taking account of what has been
going on in their country since 1994, and asking whether in reality, this
Jammeh regime has what it takes to "deliver the goods" for each and every
Gambian and for the country itself.
This is an era when it is vital that we are vigilant: an era for asking the
right questions; an era for good positive and strong leadership. If
Gambians take a critical look at Jammeh’s rule, they will be convinced that
Jammeh is a miserable failure: that this leader does not have what it takes
to take our country into a prosperous future.
Jammeh has had eight years to prove himself as an effective leader, but who
needs convincing that these last years of his rule have been synonymous with
repression, corruption, tyranny, poverty, nepotism, favouritism,
incompetence, intransparency and unaccountability.
The longer Jammeh remains in power, these things will only become more and
more engrained into the fabric of Gambian life. All Gambians in their right
minds know that Jammeh will never take our country in the right direction:
in fact, he will do the reverse. Jammeh is the leading example of the worst
type of African military-turned-civilian leaders on our continent.
The military in Africa does not have a proven track record for fulfilling
grandiose promises, or for providing leadership of excellence. On coming to
power, these people make empty promises based on grandiose schemes. As soon
as they taste the sweetness of power, all the high-sounding promises they
have made are discarded on the rubbish tip of absolutism, tyranny and
corruption.
Therefore, for us, the crucial question is "what can we do as ordinary
Gambians to change the status quo in our beloved nation"?
The first point to make is that it is not easy to defeat political
incumbents in Africa, especially when the incumbent has been a
soldier-turned-civilian head of state. These incumbents have the whole of
the machinery of state to support them – the government coffers, the
national media, the civil service etc. – and to keep them in power. It is
therefore, a hard task to unseat these leaders with these sorts of built-in
advantages.
In fact, the distinguished scholar, Professor Patrick Chabal, has said that
as well as having all the state machinery in their pockets, incumbents in
Africa also have another advantage working for them: that is, a tendency
for the people themselves to collude in maintaining the status quo; to be
resigned to poor government and poor leadership. African people have a
respect for leadership and for authority, and they tend not to challenge it,
even when they know that the leaders will only continue to bring them closer
to doom and gloom.
Chabal’s thesis is shared by other renowned scholars of the African
political scene: they agree that in Africa there exists a tendency for the
people to be acquiescent, even in the face of the worst sort of tyranny and
corruption.
Therefore, we should not fool ourselves that it will be easy to defeat an
incumbent leader, but neither should we be dismayed by the task. I am
reminded of the saying that "God helps those who help themselves". Folding
one’s arms in quiet resignation to fate will solve absolutely nothing –
except the continuation of misery and misrule.
Consequently, the people themselves have to show vigour, determination,
dedication and willingness to effect change in their country. If the people
are not ready to take decisive actions, they will never be safe: their
country will only head further onto the rocks.
To this end, I challenge every Gambian in this coming New Year, to make a
resolution to do all in their power and legally, to unseat Yahya Jammeh from
the presidency.
However, how many times do we need to be reminded that the people cannot do
it themselves ? They need leaders of high calibre, an effective alternative
viewpoint, an organised and well-structured opposition to lead them. The
people need access to opposition parties who can organise them, give them
direction and strength of purpose, give them guidance. In this way,
tyrannical incumbents will meet with a united and vital force to reckon
with.
The Opposition parties in The Gambia have a duty to organise the people, to
tell the people what are their rights, to tell the people what constitutes a
violation of their rights, to provide an alternative and better programme of
government.
In more developed countries, the opposition parties are perceived as
governments-in-waiting; governments out of office. Their organisation is
pre-set for immediate takeover of the reigns of power at the earliest
opportunity. They are able to offer a revitalised and different programme
for the country, and better hopes and aspirations for the nation’s future.
However, in Africa, we are not yet at this stage of political development,
but nevertheless we should be doing all that we can to encourage our
opposition movements to form into effective oppositional parties with good
structures and lines of communication with the people.
The opposition parties in The Gambia have to get their acts together: they
have to take stock of their own actions over the years and ask themselves
what are their strengths and shortcomings. They have to undertake to act on
their weaknesses and to build on their many strong points.
Jammeh needs to go, but in order to send him on his way once and for all, we
need a strong and determined opposition: an opposition which is united,
which is coherent, which is sincere, which is fearless, which is determined
and which is energetic in pursuing change for the better.
Once the opposition parties in The Gambia can come together with the people,
and see Jammeh as the arch-enemy of progress and prosperity, then change is
bound to happen.
We Gambians overseas are limited in what we can do directly to bring about a
strong and united oppositional front, but nevertheless it is important that
we contribute in whatever way we can to the process of change at home.
We have seen time and again throughout history that the people ARE a force
to be reckoned with. In those countries where the people have succeeded in
bringing about change, there were effective oppositions which gave them
direction and inspired their determination for change.
However, having said that, the Gambian people MUST be proactive. They have
to take the bull by the horns and get ready for action. They are seeing the
hardship in the country at the moment and are bearing the brunt of it.
Under Jammeh, things can only get worse. The current situation is bad
enough, but what is to come if Jammeh remains at the helm is unimaginable.
Already, the Gambia's national debt is rising; government ministries are
cash-strapped; the health, education and agricultural sectors are in
disarray and struggling to maintain even the most rudimentary of services.
The new taxes being imposed now, are the tip of an iceberg of despair and
desperate poverty to come.
By March 2003, as one of my sources indicated to me the other day, things
will really start to get tough at home: Yahya Jammeh’s proposed dramatic
increase in the petroleum tax will hit our country in a way which we cannot
begin to envisage.
Gambians have to realise that when Baba Jobe, Yankuba Touray, Amadou Samba,
Lang Konteh, Tariq Musa, even Jammeh himself, hand out money to alleviate
people’s distress, then this forms only a very temporary solution to the
problem of poverty and need.
No matter how much the money handed out, after just a few days, the problems
will resurface in just as great a force as before. Jammeh’s cash handouts
only serve to paper over the cracks of a disintegrating economy and a
ravaged social climate. The problems which Jammeh and his ilk have brought
about in The Gambia are more and deeper than any temporary solution can deal
with.
The system of life which Yahya Jammeh has brought into being and over which
he continues to preside is rotten. Poor leadership – corruption – disregard
for human rights and civic decency – these are the building blocks of
Jammeh’s Gambia.
The way forward is for the people to join hands, to join hearts and to join
minds in a concerted effort to change the regime in our beloved country.
As long as this regime stays in power, then Almighty God have mercy on
Gambians everywhere.
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK
Post Script
Over this holiday period, I intend to write an open letter to Yahya Jammeh
himself, in which I shall directly accuse him of crimes against our nation
and its people.
I urge Gambians at home with access to computers and printers to ensure that
this open letter, and other oppositional messages, are distributed as widely
as possible throughout the length and breadth of the country.
_________________________________________________________________
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