Witness the Jammeh Circus if you will!
 
Signs Of Desperation In The Jammeh Camp 
By Mbaye B. Sarr & Mohammed L. Sillah 
Sep 13, 2006, 16:21  

About ten days to the presidential election, there appear to be a  strange 
sort of desperation hovering over the Jammeh campaign.  Wherever he  goes now 
Jammeh has been swearing by the Holy Koran, which he holds like a magic  charm, 
to impress upon voters that he can be unseated neither by the ballot or  the 
bullet. “Bilahi Wallahi Taalahi, “ he screams, “I will not be removed from  
the position as President of this country, that I have toiled for so much,  
neither by votes or by coups.” He has also warned listeners in campaign rallies  
in many places that “ IN 1996 some of you did not vote for me, but that did not 
 stop me from bringing development to your area. I did this because I thought 
I  should give you the benefit of the doubt since you had just known me for 
two  years. In 2001 too many of you did not vote for me, but that did not keep 
me  from bringing development to your doorsteps. 
This I did because of my Muslim  heart of forgiveness. But this election will 
be after my twelve years in power.  If you do not know me enough now, you 
will never know me better. If you do not  vote for me this time, I will know you 
do not want development and I will treat  you accordingly. If you do not vote 
for me, do not expect any development from  my government. Yes, it is tit for 
tat now.” The 2006 presidential elections,  Jammeh has said repeatedly, is 
between those who want “progress” and the others  who are for “retrogression.”  
Yesterday, Monday September 11th, addressing  crowds at the Foni district 
town of Sintet, where many of his close associates,  including Army boss Lang 
Tombong Tamba, hail from, Jammeh shocked his listeners  by saying that though he 
is aware that people there were witches who wanted to  feed on his body, they 
will find it impossible if and when they try it on him.  The signs of 
desperations are not just to be found in Jammeh’s queer rhetoric,  but also in his 
comportment and in the make up of his massive entourage.   

To embark upon his campaign trail, which is being masqueraded as a  
non-partisan Meet-the-People-Tour, President Jammeh and his men have  commandeered the 
whole civil service and their flashy vehicles, half of the  army, many police 
men, divisional Governors, almost all the militants of his  APRC party to take 
along in a countrywide show of numbers and support. On his  way around the 
country, President Jammeh has been throwing out close to a  million T-shirts, 
base-ball caps and the APRC party’s green flags to crowds  running after his 
long entourage of hundreds vehicles, according some estimates.  Meanwhile all 
office and public buildings, police stations, schools, hospitals,  military camps 
and premises of public enterprises have been draped in the ruling  APRC party’
s green color. It reminds many of the days of one-party era of the  1960s in 
Guinea Conakry or Mobutu’s Zaire. 
It looks as if there is no  Independent Electoral Commission that is 
independent and non-partisan enough to  put a stop to these anomalies and clear 
violation of all the laws, regulation  and spirit of fair play and leveled playing 
field. It also looks as if there is  no Memorandum of Understanding signed 
between the country’s political parties,  initiated by a special envoy of the 
Commonwealth Secretariat and sponsored by  Nigerian President Obasanjo earlier in 
February this year. What it looks like,  or what Jammeh and his henchmen are 
trying hard to make things look is that a  Jammeh victory is inevitable.  The 
irony is that President Jammeh, while  painting this picture of inevitability 
seems to be confronted with more and more  doubt that has been steadily leading 
to what looks like desperation. Perhaps the  cause of the desperation is 
explained by what Secretary of State Edward  Singhateh told the people of Basse a 
couple of days ago. He told them “While we  in the APRC appreciate the warmth 
of massive welcome you have just shown us,  records show that you are not as 
enthusiastic when it comes to actually voting  for us.”  But Jammeh and his men 
are also not civil to communities that do  not welcome them jubilantly 
enough. 

Those communities are branded as “tribalist” and at times even get insulted  
at APRC rallies.  This has been the electoral tactic of the Jammeh regime  
since 1996. By presenting a picture of inevitability to a largely fatalistic  
population Jammeh hopes to win the elections without default. But he also wants  
to avoid depriving the electoral process of acceptable legitimacy and  
international endorsement. The later being an important ingredient or the  
requirements for access to badly needed IMF, HIPC, Millennium Challenge  Corporation 
and other international facilities. Therefore, though international  opinion 
have a responsibility in ensuring free and fair election in The Gambia,  
opposition parties, civil society organizations and right groups should expose  and 
condemn these flagrant violations of the country’s constitution, The  Gambia’s 
laws and the IEC’s regulations. Thanks God Jammeh’s sojourn of two  weeks has 
been cut short and ended without any loss of life. He must however  hold back 
his bands of thugs who have been constantly source of traffic hazard,  
nuisance to calm and order and even perpetrators of harassment against innocent  
onlookers and passersby.   
 

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